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    Lost connectivity after exiting CARP maintenance

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • A
      aborsic
      last edited by

      Hi All,

      I am inexperienced user of pfSense. By reading the online instructions I was able to setup a HA cluster configuration with two Netgate 7100 routers for my small business.

      Recently I have updated them from pfSense 23.05.1 to 23.09.1 following the instructions for upgrading a HA cluster at https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/reference/highavailability/upgrading.html

      I followed the instructions, and precisely I have:

      • upgraded the secondary
      • looked at the logs on the secondary and all was looking OK
      • on the primary set CARP status to maintenance
      • verified that the secondary kicked in and all was OK
      • upgraded the primary
      • looked at the logs on the primary and all was looking OK
      • on the primary exited the CARP maintenance mode

      as soon as I hit the button "exit permanent maintenance" under CARP status, all connectivity on the cluster was lost and I had to ask someone local to power cycle the two routers, which fixed the problem.

      Does anyone know what might have been the cause of this, or have any suggestion for investigating the problem? I would like to be able to reliably update the cluster in the future ...

      Thanks for any kind suggestion,

      Best Regards,

      Andrea

      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • S
        SteveITS Galactic Empire @aborsic
        last edited by

        @aborsic That's not normal behavior. Had you previously tried maintenance mode/failover in regular usage, outside of upgrading? You should be able to enter/leave that at will. Do the logs show anything useful at the time of exiting maintenance mode?

        Pre-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.
        Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

        A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • A
          aborsic @SteveITS
          last edited by

          @SteveITS

          Hi Steve,

          Thanks for your comments. This was the first time I was using the CARP maintenance mode. I did not find anything obvious (to me) in the logs at the time of switching out from maintenance mode. I will try entering / leaving the maintenance mode again - I am currently physically far from the site, and I will try that as soon as I can be at the site in case power on/off is required again to regain connectivity.

          Thanks,

          Andrea

          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S
            SteveITS Galactic Empire @aborsic
            last edited by

            @aborsic It is hard to say without more details but it could be something like:
            https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/high-availability.html#both-nodes-appear-as-master
            https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/high-availability.html#both-nodes-in-maintenance-mode

            If it's working correctly, you can normally just upgrade/reboot/maintenance mode the routers without anyone noticing.

            Pre-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.
            Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

            A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • A
              aborsic @SteveITS
              last edited by

              @SteveITS

              Thank you, I will re-examine the logs and see if for any reason it appears I was in one of the two cases. I will test as well again entering and exiting the maintenance mode.

              Andrea

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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