pfSense 2.7.2 does not display interface description.

scilek

I noticed something today.

pfSense 2.7.2 does not print out interface description when the ipconfig command is issued.

[2.7.0-RELEASE][root@router.somesite.com]/root: ifconfig re0
re0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
        ether 00:e0:4c:68:46:31
        inet6 fe80::2e0:4cff:fe68:4631%re0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        inet 172.16.36.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 172.16.36.255
        media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
        status: active
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

Though it does print out the description for PPPOE interfaces:

[2.7.0-RELEASE][root@router.somesite.com]/root: ifconfig pppoe0
pppoe0: flags=88d1<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,NOARP,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1492
        description: WAN
        inet 1.2.3.4 --> 5.6.7.8 netmask 0xffffffff
        inet6 fe80::baca:3aff:fe85:46b7%pppoe0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x9
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

Maybe it does not register the description in the first place?

I know with no doubt that this is not the case for version 2.5.2:

[2.5.2-RELEASE][root@router.anothersite.com]/root: ifconfig
em0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        description: LAN_CREW
        options=81209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWFILTER>
        ether 00:15:17:bf:1d:61
        inet6 fe80::215:17ff:febf:1d61%em0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
        inet 10.121.96.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.121.96.255
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
        nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

Is there anything I can do about this?

stephenw10

Not seeing that here:

[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@t70.stevew.lan]/root: ifconfig igb0
igb0: flags=1008843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 1500
	description: WAN
	options=4e100bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,VLAN_HWFILTER,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6,HWSTATS,MEXTPG>
	ether 00:90:7f:b6:30:01
	inet 172.21.16.226 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 172.21.16.255
	inet6 fe80::290:7fff:feb6:3001%igb0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
	media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
	status: active
	nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

What do you expect to see on that re0 interface?
Is it using the default description or did you set something? Does setting something change the output?

Steve

scilek

@stephenw10 said in pfSense 2.7.2 does not display interface description.:

What do you expect to see on that re0 interface?

I expect to see something like this:

[2.7.0-RELEASE][root@router.somesite.com]/root: ifconfig re0
re0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
        description: LAN
...

@stephenw10 said in pfSense 2.7.2 does not display interface description.:

Is it using the default description or did you set something?

It is supposed to be what I configure from the web GUI, right?

@stephenw10 said in pfSense 2.7.2 does not display interface description.:

Does setting something change the output?

It does affect a script I have written to send me a summary of interface statistics before each regular reboot.

stephenw10

I mean LAN is the default description, it's the internal interface name. If you change it to something custom does that then get displayed?

Though LAN also works fine here:

[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@t70.stevew.lan]/root: ifconfig igb1
igb1: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	description: LAN
	options=48100b8<VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,VLAN_HWFILTER,HWSTATS,MEXTPG>
	ether 00:90:7f:b6:30:02
	inet 192.168.226.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.226.255
	inet6 fe80::290:7fff:feb6:3002%igb1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
	media: Ethernet autoselect
	status: no carrier
	nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

Also your output is from 2.7.0. I assume you see the same in 2.7.2?

scilek

@stephenw10
Something strange just happened. I connected to the router and changed the description for the LAN interface to LAN_A, and it worked:

[2.7.0-RELEASE][root@router.somesite.com]/root: ifconfig re0
re0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        description: LAN_A
...

Then I reverted back to LAN, and it worked again:

[2.7.0-RELEASE][root@router.somesite.com]/root: ifconfig re0
re0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        description: LAN
....

Then I rebooted the and the descrition was still present:

[2.7.0-RELEASE][root@somesite.com]/root: ifconfig re0
re0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        description: LAN
....

So it seems the description is registered only if the default is modified once.
Problem solved, matter settled.

stephenw10

Yup it's gets added to the config if you make a change to the interface. So I imagine you set the subnet there in the setup wizard and never changed anything since.

Anyway glad that solved it!