Dual WAN Configuration – Second WAN not working properly

[Hayes119]

I'm running 2.0 RC1 and am having an issue with a second gateway not working correctly. I've been testing this for a couple of hours and can't really determine specifically what/where the problem is. When I configure the firewall to route traffic to the LoadBalance gateway group, certain websites either don't load at all or load only partially. I found a good website to test this at is speedtest.net; in IE8, the website loads all of the page content, but as soon as the flash application loads, the website disappears and instead a message stating that the page can't be displayed appears. In Opera, the page just never finishes loading.

In testing, I first tested each gateway separately instead of using the gateway group. WAN1 worked correctly, always displaying the website. WAN2 experienced the same issue both inside and outside of the gateway group. I then tested the gateway of WAN2 directly by connecting a computer to it (temporarily disconnecting the pfSense box) using the same configuration information as what pfSense was using. In this configuration, the website successfully loaded. Upon reconnecting the pfSense box to the gateway, I attempted the same tests I performed earlier, but this time selecting the gateway for WAN2 as the default gateway. I encountered the same results (page not loading).

I have a bit of a strange network layout due to space/hardware limitations here, but my layout is as follows: I have two modems (one cable, one DSL), each connected to a single switch (the cable modem is connected such as modem->router->switch). The pfSense box currently has each interface (WAN1, WAN2, LAN) connected to this switch as well. Each modem/router is operating over the same physical network, but different subnets. Could the problem be related to the physical configuration?

Does anyone have any ideas as to what/where the problem might be?

Thanks,
Chris

[Gilrod]

We appear to have the exact same problem as you…

Any luck with it?

[Nachtfalke]

For me it works fine since many weeks.

You have to remember, that not all ports can do LoadBalancing properly. Therefore I created an Alias with all the ports I know they could not do loadbalancing properly.

Then you need to create two gateway groups and two firewall rules.

And if you do not like to configure this all, just use "Sticke connections".

[Hayes119]

It seems that most of the time after having pfSense update to the latest release, the load balancing appears to work properly for a handful of minutes (less than 5) and then continues to malfunction.

I already have firewall rules in place to route certain traffic over only one connection, but as far as I can tell the problem I'm having isn't related to the load balancing. WAN2 runs extremely slow (or not at all) even if I disconnect/disable the WAN1 connection (and modify the firewall rules accordingly).

[egarnel]

Is the sticky for outbound wan load balancing as well?  The description sounds more like it is for hosted websites behind a pfsense box

[Nachtfalke]

@egarnel:

Is the sticky for outbound wan load balancing as well?  The description sounds more like it is for hosted websites behind a pfsense box

As far as I know it is ONLY for outbound.