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    Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved DHCP and DNS
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    • I
      IrixOS @bmeeks
      last edited by IrixOS

      @bmeeks No that flyer doesn't go up, it's useless.

      Dit you remember the thread about the lagg0 port, you said something about choose an other free port, well I configured the lagg0 port with a vpn tunnel on the wan, that's plain stupid but it did work. So you fix something inside from the outside, that's pretty lame.

      And now this problem, did I mention pfsense working before with a bunch of cisco ip routing behind it and it did work, did the version change in the mean while? What happened, it did work in the past with the same config you know
      Poor lord, this pfsense thing is harder than cisco IOS, how can that ever be?

      You know, I really really appreciate your time solving this problem but I am pulling my hair out at this moment ,reallly.

      I have a great idea, let's combine pfsense and OPNsense together, pfsense for openVPN roadwarrior but I doesn't offer more than that obviously and use OPNsense for firewalling internal windows server machines. The servers have their protection with OPsense, and pfsense to access the network from outside, period. So everybody is happy.

      Lets test OPNsense, see if it has the same anomaly under the same network conditions, if it doesn't, me and the CEO of Netgate gonna have some serious words!

      I would like to hear more possible solutions, thank you so much for your time,

      bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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        IrixOS @johnpoz
        last edited by

        @johnpoz I think we are iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin yipppieeeeeeee

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        • bmeeksB
          bmeeks @IrixOS
          last edited by

          @IrixOS said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

          Dit you remember the thread about the lagg0 port, you said something about choose an other free port, well I configured the lagg0 port with a vpn tunnel on the wan,

          No, I don't recall a thread about a lagg0 port, but I get involved in quite a few conversations on here and tend to get them confused sometimes ๐Ÿ˜€.

          I would do this on the Windows client --

          1. Configure the DNS server to be 8.8.8.8 in the TCP/IP settings in Windows. That will take pfSense completely out of the picture for DNS.
          2. Now try to ping something by name (www.bing.com or google.com, for instance). Does that work? If yes, then you know the client has Internet access and you can concentrate on why DNS on pfSense is failing or not working.
          3. If steps #1 and #2 fail, then try a simple ping to 8.8.8.8 from the Windows client. That drops DNS out of the loop and directly tries to ping the Google DNS server. If that fails, then you still have a basic connectivity problem you need to work out.
          I johnpozJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • I
            IrixOS @johnpoz
            last edited by

            @johnpoz Poor lord , it didn't expect it to work, yes indeed it became a square after the reboot of windows and pfsense.
            I thinkt it was the NAT rule and changed it to automatic like you mentioned.

            bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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              IrixOS @bmeeks
              last edited by

              @bmeeks It's working, the only thing i changed was from outbound to automatic, done a reboot of windows and then things started to pop up,...

              Many thanks to you, and God bless America, from Belgium,..

              Clever guys you Americans.

              ๐Ÿ‘

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              • bmeeksB
                bmeeks @IrixOS
                last edited by

                @IrixOS said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                I thinkt it was the NAT rule and changed it to automatic like you mentioned.

                That NAT rule was definitely suspect! Not sure why a handbook for the DSL modem would suggest that UNLESS the instructions were simply how to access an internal web GUI on the modem itself. But those instructions would not apply to general Internet access.

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                • johnpozJ
                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @bmeeks
                  last edited by

                  @bmeeks said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                  tend to get them confused sometimes

                  We can both be members of that club as well.. The old farts club, and sometime confuse threads club.. Maybe getting old and confusing threads go hand in hand? ;)

                  An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                  If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                  Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                  SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

                  bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • I
                    IrixOS @bmeeks
                    last edited by

                    @bmeeks I don't know where I got it from that MODEM config think, I think the handbook, not sure

                    bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • bmeeksB
                      bmeeks @johnpoz
                      last edited by

                      @johnpoz said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                      @bmeeks said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                      tend to get them confused sometimes

                      We can both be members of that club as well.. The old farts club, and sometime confuse threads club.. Maybe getting old and confusing threads go hand in hand? ;)

                      I resemble both of those remarks ๐Ÿ˜!

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • bmeeksB
                        bmeeks @IrixOS
                        last edited by bmeeks

                        @IrixOS said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                        @bmeeks I don't know where I got it from that MODEM config think, I think the handbook, not sure

                        That particular NAT may have been to allow access from the LAN side of pfSense to a web GUI inside the modem that has a private RFC1918 address. That would possibly explain the 172.16.0.x destination address. But to get to the Internet, the destination has to be * (which means "any").

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                        • I
                          IrixOS @bmeeks
                          last edited by

                          @bmeeks Of course, that was it, it was meant to access the modem. ๐Ÿ™„

                          bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • bmeeksB
                            bmeeks @IrixOS
                            last edited by bmeeks

                            @IrixOS said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                            @bmeeks Of course, that was it, it was meant to access the modem. ๐Ÿ™„

                            I think you understand, but just to be sure and to help someone else who stumbles across this thread in the future --

                            That NAT rule was to allow you to open something directly on the modem itself. Typically this is some type of configuration program either via an internal web server or maybe Telnet. So, if the modem had the IP 172.16.0.1 as its LAN port address, then from a client on the LAN side of pfSense you could open a connection to that IP and the NAT rule from the handbook would have translated that traffic to the modem's address. But that rule only works for talking to the modem's OS. It is not sufficient to send traffic from the pfSense LAN side out to the Internet.

                            You don't need to access the modem in order to send traffic to the Internet. When in bridged mode everything that comes in on the modem's LAN port is sent straight out the modem's WAN port without any change -- and vice-versa for WAN to LAN traffic on the modem. That is the definition of "bridged".

                            As for NAT rules on pfSense, you need a NAT rule that accepts traffic from whatever networks are behind pfSense and translates them to the pfSense WAN address. The "destination" for this NAT rule should be "any" because that covers the range of possible Internet destinations.

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                            • I
                              IrixOS @bmeeks
                              last edited by IrixOS

                              @bmeeks said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                              Reply Quote 0

                              Yes, you are completely correct, I was confused, and yes classically the modem is accessed via webbrowser, now I get the concept of bridge modus better.
                              My sincere thank you!

                              bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • bmeeksB
                                bmeeks @IrixOS
                                last edited by

                                @IrixOS said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                                @bmeeks said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                                Reply Quote 0

                                Yes, you are completely correct, I was confused, and yes classically the modem is accessed via webbrowser, now I get the concept of bridge modus better.
                                My sincere thank you!

                                Glad it's all working now. Must be quite late for you in Belgium! Go to bed now and celebrate success tomorrow.

                                I 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • I
                                  IrixOS @bmeeks
                                  last edited by

                                  @bmeeks HAHA, yesterday I couldn't wait for you guys to answer the thread, it's 00:05 here right know.

                                  bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • bmeeksB
                                    bmeeks @IrixOS
                                    last edited by

                                    @IrixOS said in Windows Clients cannot access the internet, very strange unexpected DNS problem.:

                                    @bmeeks HAHA, yesterday I couldn't wait for you guys to answer the thread, it's 00:05 here right know.

                                    I'm six hours behind you. 6:07 PM here now (I'm on US Eastern Time).

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • I
                                      IrixOS @johnpoz
                                      last edited by

                                      @johnpoz Hey Jhonpoz, thank your for the time you put in my thread and the commitment (fast replies) ๐Ÿ‘ ๐ŸŽฉ Chapeau!

                                      johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • johnpozJ
                                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @IrixOS
                                        last edited by

                                        @IrixOS your more than welcome - glad you got it sorted.

                                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

                                        I 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • I
                                          IrixOS @johnpoz
                                          last edited by

                                          @johnpoz Hmm JohnPoz, you are never gonna believe this. DNS lost its grip, yesterday and the day before. Rebooted twice.
                                          The bottom right task square turned into the world icon. Couldn't connect to any webpage, DNS server unavailable, don't know what caused it. Didn't do troubleshoot either.

                                          I don't mind rebooting the firewall once in a while, but if the website comes online with other future stuff, then I'm beginning to worry...

                                          johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • johnpozJ
                                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @IrixOS
                                            last edited by johnpoz

                                            @IrixOS you should never have to reboot the firewalll, unless your updating it to be honest..

                                            My pfsense has been up 82 Days 14 Hours 23 Minutes 31 Seconds, and I even had a power outage - but it wasn't long enough that my ups couldn't cover it.

                                            Pfsense rebooted when I updated to 23.09.1, which came out 85 days ago, so I was a couple days behind when it dropped ;) when I got around to doing the update..

                                            If you have an issue with anything - the last thing I would do is reboot pfsense, after you have gathered info and not able to recover by any other means.. If you just rebooted and it then works you have no clue to what was the actual cause.. A reboot of pfsense should be your last thing you do, or if you can not access it at all - not via gui, not via ssh, and also console.. You want info of what is going on before you just reboot something..

                                            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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