Problems after enabling if_pppoe

[Gertjan]

@bigsy said in Problems after enabling if_pppoe:

I then realised that there was no DNS resolution at the CLI,

Check the resolver log ( and system log ) if you can find a reason why the resolver didn't start.
/var/log/resolver.log and /var/log/system.log.

[bigsy]

@Gertjan system.log during boot up has a lot of messages along the lines of:

May  6 14:27:56 bru php-fpm[16386]: /rc.newwanip: Unbound start waiting on dhcp6c.

and

May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[8553]: /rc.newwanip: Netgate pfSense Plus package system has detected an IP change or dynamic WAN reconnection - 82.x.y.z ->  82.x.y.z - Restarting packages.
May  6 14:27:57 bru check_reload_status[685]: Starting packages
May  6 14:27:57 bru php[53534]: /usr/local/sbin/ppp-ipv6: Accept router advertisements on interface pppoe0 
May  6 14:27:57 bru php[53534]: /usr/local/sbin/ppp-ipv6: Starting rtsold process on wan(pppoe0)
May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[8553]: /rc.newwanip: rc.newwanip: Info: starting on pppoe0.
May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[8553]: /rc.newwanip: rc.newwanip: on (IP address: 82.x.y.z) (interface: WAN[wan]) (real interface: pppoe0).
May  6 14:27:57 bru check_reload_status[685]: rc.newwanip starting pppoe0
May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[91042]: /rc.newwanip: The command '/usr/local/sbin/unbound -c /var/unbound/unbound.conf' returned exit code '1', the output was '[1746538077] unbound[68242:0] error: bind: address already in use [1746538077] unbound[68242:0] fatal error: could not open ports' 
May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[30102]: /rc.newwanip: Forcefully reloading IPsec
May  6 14:27:57 bru php[82727]: /usr/local/sbin/ppp-ipv6: Starting rtsold process on wan(pppoe0)
May  6 14:27:57 bru php[73254]: /usr/local/sbin/ppp-ipv6: Accept router advertisements on interface pppoe0 
May  6 14:27:57 bru php[73254]: /usr/local/sbin/ppp-ipv6: Starting rtsold process on wan(pppoe0)
May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[16386]: /rc.newwanip: The command '/usr/local/sbin/unbound -c /var/unbound/unbound.conf' returned exit code '1', the output was '[1746538077] unbound[88722:0] error: bind: address already in use [1746538077] unbound[88722:0] fatal error: could not open ports' 
May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[30102]: /rc.newwanip: Resyncing OpenVPN instances for interface WAN.
May  6 14:27:57 bru php-fpm[30102]: OpenVPN terminate old pid: 37576
May  6 14:27:58 bru kernel: ovpns1: link state changed to DOWN
May  6 14:27:58 bru check_reload_status[685]: rc.newwanip starting pppoe0

(WAN IP address masked)

[stephenw10]

Looks like it's looping. Do you have Do not wait for a RA set in the dhcpv6 settings?

Try unchecking that. If that allows it to connect normally that's a known issue that should be fixed in the next public build.

[bigsy]

@stephenw10 Thanks. 'Do not wait for a RA' is NOT checked in the DHCP6 client configuration.

[stephenw10]

Hmm, interesting. Do you see the connection logs repeating? Like it's continually re-connecting?

[bigsy]

@stephenw10 said in Problems after enabling if_pppoe:

Hmm, interesting. Do you see the connection logs repeating? Like it's continually re-connecting?

No, the connection seems to establish and stay up.

[stephenw10]

Hmm, but the logs are still filling continually?

[w0w]

@stephenw10
Sorry, but I'd like to correct you that "Do not wait for RA" should be checked to bypass this issue.

[stephenw10]

It depends which issue. If your ISP sends a lot of RAs you probably want it checked. If not then leaving it unchecked can avoid a race condition.

Both should be fixed in the next build.

[bigsy]

@stephenw10 said in Problems after enabling if_pppoe:

Hmm, but the logs are still filling continually?

No. The logs fill with those messages on rebooting after enabling if_pppoe and also on each subsequent reboot.

This stops once I restart unbound via the cli and then use menu options 11/16 in order to be able to access the webgui. Once that is done the continuous log messages stop.

[bigsy]

@stephenw10 Same problem here with the new 25.03-BETA (amd64) built on Wed May 7 17:11:00 BST 2025

[marcosm]

@bigsy Does applying this patch help?
https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/commit/e4f3b5ced884dd0bece804a296191f6a1746643c.diff

[bigsy]

@marcosm said in Problems after enabling if_pppoe:

https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/commit/e4f3b5ced884dd0bece804a296191f6a1746643c.diff

Thanks. Afraid it didn't help - I applied the patch, rebooted and the same behaviour was exhibited.

[bigsy]

I'm still experiencing the same problems as originally described on the latest 25.03-BETA (amd64)
built on Thu May 15 15:15:00 BST 2025 whenever if_pppoe is enabled and the system rebooted.
No problems when if_pppoe is not used.

[stephenw10]

Hmm, do you have a more complete log of what you're seeing?

If you set 'Do not wait for RA' does the behaviour change?

[bigsy]

@stephenw10 i can provide logs if you want to look at them. I previously tried the ‘do not wait for RA’ option and there was no PPPoE connection.

[stephenw10]

Yes, please upload anything you can here: https://nc.netgate.com/nextcloud/s/J28ziC2QCa2pym9

If you are able to please generate a status report and include that.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/diagnostic-data.html

[bigsy]

@stephenw10 Thanks, files uploaded.

[marcosm]

For reference:
https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/16235