Static route problem with L2TP/IPSec VPN

Feche · Nov 8, 2019, 11:12 PM

I have installed pfSense 2.4.4 on an ESXi virtual machine, and I use it as firewall/dhcp server/etc for other virtual machines - I use L2TP/IPSec VPN to connect my server to my home Mikrotik router.

pfSense L2TP ip: 172.16.0.254

Mikrotik L2TP ip: 172.16.0.100

So on my Mikrotik I have a static route pointing the 10.10.11.0/24 network to next-hop 172.16.0.254

And on pfSense I have a static route pointing the 10.0.0.0/24 network to next-hop 172.16.0.100

Until here, everything works FINE - the problem is when the L2TP/IPSec goes down for-what-ever-reason, for some reason, pfSense DELETES the static route from routing table, so when the VPN goes back up again, I can access from my home to server, but not vice-versa.

If I disable the static-route, and re enable it again (from System -> Routing -> Static routes), everything goes back to normal.

I found out that the l2tp1 interface that pfSense creates when a VPN client connects, it's deleted when the user disconnects, so I asume that this is the problem? is there any workaround or solution to this?

I have also tried with OSPF (so that the routes are sent automatically when the VPN reconnects) - but since the l2tp1 interface is deleted, I have to manually assign again the interface for OSPF to work with, so it's the same as nothing.

Any help please?

Thanks!