Accessing GUI without Internet
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@elitehuskarl Well, if your workstation isn't configured to be on the same network then it won't be able to talk to the router. Either switch your workstation from static IP to DHCP (assuming DHCP server is running on pfSense) or give your workstation an IP address and mask that fits within pfSense LAN network.
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Sadly this is where I have to plead ignorance. I've looked for guidance in the pfSense book and here on how to configure the router and PC so that they can talk to each other. The router's IP for the LAN interface is 192.168.123.254 on a /24 subnet and I manually set PC IP to 192.168.123.38 (could be any number, just chose randomly). When trying to connect I just get a time-out error, and I haven't found any guidance on whether my DNS settings need to be configured a certain way. I did turn off Windows Firewall... not sure what else to do.
(Full disclosure: I'm completely new to both pfSense and FreeBSD. We use pfSense for our firewall at work and I've been tasked with learning how to use it as part of my new network management duties.)
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@elitehuskarl You don't need Internet access to get to WebGUI. If you have console access, you could restore it to factory defaults and then configure it from scratch. From your workstation, can you ping 192.168.123.254?
Edit: Are you using http or https to access WebGUI? It could be either depending on how it was initially configured.
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@elitehuskarl
If you edit the LAN settings in the console pfSense will display the whole URL (protocol, IP, port) to connect to the GUI.
Ensure that your PC is within the same subnet and that it is connected to the LAN interface.
pfSense will also give you feedback on the console when you connect an Ethernet cable to an interface to detecet the correct one. -
@kom I've pinged it with varying results - 2-4 of the 4 packets get lost.
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@viragomann I will try that this afternoon when I am at the workstation - thanks for the tip.
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@elitehuskarl Any chance there is a duplicate IP on the network? I would also try swapping cables to rule that out.
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@kom It's literally one computer and the router - I unplugged both devices from the Internet and am just trying to connect the two of them with a direct Ethernet connection.
I've done both HTTP and HTTPS.
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@elitehuskarl You need to get to the bottom of why 50% of your pings fail on a two-node network. It's usually all or nothing.
Edit: They may have placed rules on LAN to only allow admin access from specific LAN IPs. Again, a factory reset may be the fastest way to get it up & running.
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@kom I agree; a factory reset may be what is needed. Do you know if there's a way to save a config xml from the console, so that later on I can restore this configuration if I want?
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@elitehuskarl SSH in and then go to /conf. There you will find config.xml.
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@kom Thank you - I appreciate the help.
