pfBlockerNG sync not working
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I had to rediscover this today. Non-devel version, 3.2.0_7.
For me:
Force Reload on router1 does sync.
Force Update on router1 does not sync.and
The XMLRPC timeout won't save if it's set to a value over 150 (it reverts it to 150): https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/15158and
The XMLRPC Replication Target is required even if not using it: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/15159Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
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@SteveITS This is good info to have, thanks.
And meant to respond to your original thing from a month ago, my bad.
Agreed it a sync should trigger the reload if there are changes, seems pretty critical.
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@SteveITS It was my understandng that only the force reload would sync to secondary (and of course the hourly cron event), at least that's how it has been behaving for me for the last few years. A Force update would never sync. This was in fact an abnormal behavior in my opinion due to exactly what you pointed out, but I thought it was like that "by design" (and initially got me baffled).
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I'm on 3.2.0_7 pfBlockerNG-devel
Do we still need to apply the fix on the "patcher"?
It looks like it won't sync without it...
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@fmroeira86 on 3.2.0_7 pfBlockerNG-devel: yes
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@fmroeira86 Yes you do, probably best to swap to non devel though.
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Are there currently differences between the devel version and the normal version? I recall there were some years ago. If I decide to switch to the normal version, what procedure should I follow to ensure the continuity of settings?
Thank you so much!
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@fmroeira86 AFAIK the only difference right now is the typo fix mentioned above.
You can just uninstall devel and install normal to change.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/releases/23-01.html
“The pfBlockerNG package has been updated to match pfBlockerNG-devel. After upgrade it is safe to uninstall pfBlockerNG-devel (keeping settings) and install pfBlockerNG instead.” -
@fmroeira86 said in pfBlockerNG sync not working:
Are there currently differences between the devel version and the normal version? I recall there were some years ago. If I decide to switch to the normal version, what procedure should I follow to ensure the continuity of settings?
Thank you so much!
Thank you!
Just swaped to the regular version without any problem only by installing it.
It did uninstall the devel version and all configurations remained untouched :)
Cheers!
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@SteveITS Just wanted to note I finally got around to testing this in regards to syncing and learned the following:
- Update and Cron on Firewall 1 does not sync
- Update, Cron, and Reload on Firewall 2 does not sync
- Reload on Firewall 1 does sync
So, basically as you said, a force reload must happen on Firewall 1 to get the sync to happen.
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@planedrop said in pfBlockerNG sync not working:
So, basically as you said, a force reload must happen on Firewall 1 to get the sync to happen.
@BBcan177 The help says:
Setting changes are applied via CRON or 'Force Update|Reload' only!which is not true at this point.
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@Bob-Dig I think that’s more in terms of “make changes, click Apply to activate” as with rules, service config, etc. However all those other pfSense settings sync automatically unless unchecked in the HA settings.
If that’s the intent though, the text could be updated to say :
“Setting changes are applied via CRON or 'Force Update|Reload' only!
Settings sync to the HA secondary only via Force Update”
…so it’s at least obvious it’s different from other packages/pfSense.
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@SteveITS @Bob-Dig @planedrop Forgive my re-iteration on this sync issue but I insist for clarification purposes: the pfblocker package using a seperate and indipendant sync method doesn't rely on pfSense's native HA sync between nodes, it uses what I see as a basic "copy XML over to slave by cron job script" method which you specify in the package's sync page configuration. So if you happen to modify anything on the master node in pfblocker this will never trigger an immediate sync as with any other service in/of pfsense - it will only trigger every time cron is run (hourly). If you want to force it, then you have to issue a Force-reload. A normal reload will not copy the XML over to the slave. This is a "by design" behavior from what I can see - be it correct or not is another debate though and maybe this can be rectified. I have always been using the -devel version from the start so I don't know if the standard version behaves differently but I highly doubt it. Maybe @BBcan177 can shed some further light on the matter, but this is how I see the whole sync works with pfBlocker-devel.
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@IT_Luke said in pfBlockerNG sync not working:
it will only trigger every time cron is run (hourly).
No, it will only work on a forced reload. If you don't do that it will never be copied over.
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@Bob-Dig Let me verify this on one of my nodes - will get back to you.
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@IT_Luke said in pfBlockerNG sync not working:
will get back to you.
Do that. I have no problem with this behavior, kinda like it. But it should be mentioned there correctly.
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@IT_Luke Just to clarify, I do not think it was always this way. I just do not know when the behavior changed. We've had pfB in HA for like 9 years now.
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@Bob-Dig I confirm the failure to sync the updates from the Master at cron sync time (it only syncs with a forced-reload). Something is definitely broken with the change config detection. Will try to snoop around the .inc file and see if there's anything that stands out.
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@SteveITS I've been using it more or less 6 years I guess and ever since the sync was always cron based (not pushed at the change moment like the native HA sync). I have always been using the devel version as I started using this for the extra features and stuck to it. I guess that possibly some time earlier the XML config sync may have been done differently - I have no idea though it appears awkward to me that the dev would revert to a cron based sync. I recall initially this was even buggy (like it is now!) in that for some reason it would ignore the configured slave node and adding it twice would make it work (apparently this was fixed). In general, while pfblocker is a great and valueable add, it has never excelled in this feat unfortunately.
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@Bob-Dig @SteveITS I have taken some time to look into the pfblockerng.php and .inc files more in depth and (take this with a grain of salt) there is no calling the XML RPC with the normal update nor cron update (manual or scheduled). The only time the XMLRPC sync function is called is when there is a manual force-reload so it seems this is behavior "by design". However it is possible to add a variable in the array such as "sync_needed" every time the config changes and the user saves the changes (list order, update frequency etc). If the user then does not force a reload, the normal cron job (which calls the function pfblockerng_sync_cron() ) should check if this flag has been set and if so call the XMLRPC Sync function and reset the flag to 0. This way, if one does apply changes and forgets to execute a manual force reload the changes do get synched over to the slave where it will pick them up at next cron run. It is not a major modification and I'm sure @BBcan177 can implement it if requested. I will run some tests on a HA pair when I have more time and see if I can get this functionality working the way I'd like and keep you updated.
