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    pfSense HA LAN Interfaces Only

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    HA/CARP/VIPs
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    • C
      CloudNode @viragomann
      last edited by

      @viragomann
      I just tested this evening and everything works as i visioned!

      LAN interfaces are using CARP and what i did was shutdown master node and my backup node became master for the carp LAN interfaces.. Great.. I then saw the GW from master go offline (which is good). I then swang the WAN cable over from master to backup node and right away WAN interface went UP and my GW changed to the PPPOE WAN Tier 1!! which was great.

      I then powered on master node and saw my carp LAN interfaces switch back to the master node and once i swang my wan cable back to the master pf node, link went up there and also noticed on my backup node, the GW from master went ONLINE and internet access was flowing!!

      One thing i noticed which may be normal after my CARP was active on my backup pf node for a short period before my master taking over again, but I noticed some of devices are showing the DHCP server IP of my backup node when i run ipconfig /all and if i do a release and renew, it will jump back to my master pf node. Is this normal and does this effect anything?

      Thank you for all your great work, I have learned ALOT!!!

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        viragomann @CloudNode
        last edited by

        @iptvcld
        Did you set the "Failover peer IP" in the DHCP settings on both nodes?

        The DHCP leases are bound to the hardware interfaces. So the interfaces on both have to have the same name. If you have different hardware or one bare metal installation and one virtual you can work around this with LAGG interfaces to abstract the hardware.

        You can find some hints in the pfSense docs:
        Modifying the DHCP Server
        Troubleshooting High Availability DHCP Failover

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          CloudNode @viragomann
          last edited by

          @viragomann
          Morning..
          Yes my enabled DHCP Server settings have my CARP VIP for the DNS, Gateway and for the Failover peer IP, i have it set to the interface IP of the backup node. (In the case my LAN interface IP) When i saved this, my backup automatically picked these settings up and applied the peer IP back to the master node IP.

          As for the hardware, I have the same setup on both units.

          Master Node Interfaces
          LAN Interface (lan, lagg0)
          IOT Interface (opt1, lagg0.10)
          NOT Interface (opt2, lagg0.20)
          SECURITYCAM Interface (opt3, lagg0.30)
          VPN Interface (opt4, ovpns1)
          SYNC Interface (opt5, em0)

          Backup Node Interfaces
          LAN Interface (lan, lagg0)
          IOT Interface (opt1, lagg0.10)
          NOT Interface (opt2, lagg0.20)
          SECURITYCAM Interface (opt3, lagg0.30)
          VPN Interface (opt4, ovpns1)
          SYNC Interface (opt5, em0)

          Status -> DHCP Leases on my nodes show My State: normal and Peer State: normal

          I checked Leases on my backup node under status - DHCP Leases and i see a bunch that say online active next to them - and these are also online active showing on the master node.

          Then i also see a bunch as offline / active on my backup service and online / active on my master

          Not sure if this is normal operation for the dhcp leases to be hand on hand with each other.

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            viragomann @CloudNode
            last edited by

            @iptvcld
            Your settings look well and should work this way.

            Then i also see a bunch as offline / active on my backup service and online / active on my master

            I don't use any DHCP on CARP set ups at this time, so I cannot verify.
            However, "offline" means that the machine holding the lease is actually not present in the pfSense ARP table. This seems normal as the machines doesn't communicate with the backup node in normal usage.
            After you try to access the backup from one of the offline machines (e.g. ping its IP) it's state should become online.

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              CloudNode @viragomann
              last edited by

              @viragomann
              Not a problem Sir! Might be normal operation as right now i just noticed my cell phone showing online/active on both master and backup nodes (same showing) Check my phone network info and i can see it has a dhcp IP of my backup node. Again not sure if this is the way it should be working.

              But i will post a new thread if i can not find anything on other forums as well.

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                viragomann @CloudNode
                last edited by

                @iptvcld
                I think, the important part is the lease state. Both nodes must be aware of all active DHCP leases. So that used IPs cannot be assigned a second time by the other machine. And that's the case as you mentioned.
                Then it doesn't matter which node has issued the lease.

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                  CloudNode @viragomann
                  last edited by

                  @viragomann
                  Yes seems like this is the case
                  Primary
                  84d2b583-a504-455d-8f7b-b30fe75343b8-image.png

                  Secondary
                  88eca05d-4f4e-444e-8989-6c3048b43ec0-image.png

                  Primary
                  0255158e-bff6-4847-8e9c-d8dadd61d720-image.png

                  Secondary
                  78589834-9df8-4e91-bed0-1728db0bdc09-image.png

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                    viragomann @CloudNode
                    last edited by

                    @iptvcld
                    Out of curiosity, which devices are belonging to your NOT subnet?

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                      CloudNode @viragomann
                      last edited by

                      @viragomann
                      That is my Network of Things VLAN which I have Smart switch devices such as Tasmota bulbs/switches that i dont want them to reach out to the internet or other devices on my lan. They are all internal controlled/accessed devices.

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                        viragomann @CloudNode
                        last edited by

                        @iptvcld said in pfSense HA LAN Interfaces Only:

                        That is my Network of Things VLAN which I have Smart switch devices such as Tasmota bulbs/switches that i dont want them to reach out to the internet or other devices on my lan.

                        Ahh. I don't have such devices in my network. All I have want to access at least internet.

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                          CloudNode @viragomann
                          last edited by

                          @viragomann
                          For that i have the Internet of Things VLAN which those devices have internet access but cannot talk to other vlans/networks on my LAN (inter-chatter)

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                            viragomann @CloudNode
                            last edited by

                            @iptvcld
                            Yes, I have an IOT subnet as well. On this only access to none-RFC1918 is allowed.

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                              CloudNode @viragomann
                              last edited by

                              @viragomann said in pfSense HA LAN Interfaces Only:

                              none-RFC1918

                              I have this - i guess pretty much the same; IOT can talk to each other on the same vlan but cannot chat to others outside of IOT including the firewall it self

                              9b9c3513-ee03-4e2f-b86f-521cd34dad85-image.png

                              19b9c008-0ad3-4393-9710-8b72afd5e845-image.png

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                                viragomann @CloudNode
                                last edited by

                                @iptvcld
                                I use an RFC1918 alias on pfSense which simply includes all private networks (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16).
                                So I'm still save, when I add or change a subnet without the need of modifying the alias.

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                                  CloudNode @viragomann
                                  last edited by

                                  @viragomann
                                  This makes sense!

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                                    CloudNode @viragomann
                                    last edited by

                                    @viragomann
                                    I was able to locate a video as per below that advises that both Master and backup nodes will share the DHCP lease information and also both hand out IP's

                                    YouTube link at the section he talks about that..
                                    https://youtu.be/Ac6U4xMFaxY?t=2423

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                                      viragomann @CloudNode
                                      last edited by

                                      @iptvcld
                                      Interestingly. Didn't know that. Was assuming only the master is handing out DHCP leases and only the lease state is synced to the other node.

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