My pfSense keeps breaking (novel inside…)
-
Can you put the modem in bridge mode and let the router do the login?
-
Thank you for any and all help in setting up my equipment. If setting my dsl router to bridge mode will simplify, speed up, make more stable or just all around better my connection I will be more than happy do it.
Now, please don't take this the wrong way as me being rude, I just want this post to get back on track… so I'll reiterate:
It's not my equipment that is the issue here.
I AM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH 1 DSL LINE WITH A ROUTER, 1 T1 LINE USING AN ADTRAN CSU/DSU, AND 1 T1 LINE USING A CISCO CSU/DSU TESTED WITH ANY AND ALL PORTS ON MY PFSENSE.ALL DO NOT WORK. ALL WITH THE SAME EXACT SYMPTONS.
It is NOT equipment OR how I've configured pfSense. I've had pfSense up and running perfectly fine countless times. It works great. The problem is that out of no where when I've reset states one too many times it breaks and NEVER COMES BACK... that is UNTIL I COMPLETELY REINSTALL PFSENSE. <<=== That is the issue. There is a bug somewhere. I want to know where and I want to know if there's a way to fix it without me having to re-install the entire program entirely. Because currently re-installation is the ONLY way I have been successful in getting pfSense to work properly again.
So again: I can't communicate THROUGH pfSense with ANY equipment I plug on the other side of it. Communication FROM pfSense itself works great! But THROUGH it doesn't. <<=== AND ALL OF THIS IS ONLY AFTER PFSENSE BREAKS. After I've had everything setup and working hunky-dory and then I tweak a few firewall rules, reset states one too many times and BAM! Broke and unreparable (unless someone can help me find the broken part and fix it).
Again, please don't take offense, I just want to keep my eye on the prize.
-
No worries- I guess I missed any mention of you resetting states to make this happen…. I did lose my glasses so need new ones...
But the DSL modem bridge comment... Im of the opinion that you shouldn't double NAT unless there is no other way... Bridge mode just keeps it simpler...
In my case- Ive reset states here quite often and guess Ill go back and read more about resetting states and see if I can reproduce it here...
Id be curious what your MBUF is at...
And how many states your machine maxes out at...
-
Well, I've turned Dynamic Routing Version 2 ON in my DSL router.
Why?
Is there anything else I need to enable in pfSense in order for it to send RIP data back and forth between the two routers?
Considering the difficulty you have had so far, why would that be a better solution than adding a static route to your DSL router or NATing in pfSense or adopting chpalmer's suggestion of using your DSL router in bridge mode?
While I was remoted in to my laptop (using LogMeIn) I switched it back over to use the pfSense as it's default gateway and lost my connection and can't get it back (which I expected).
Did you expect to lose your connection because your analysis of traffic paths showed a problem in that configuration or did you expect to lose the connection because your experience has shown you the network was fragile over configuration changes?
So obviously traffic still isn't flowing through it. I'll have to continue work on this tomorrow morning since I'm at home now.
What approach will you adopt for solving this?
Thank you for any and all help in setting up my equipment. If setting my dsl router to bridge mode will simplify, speed up, make more stable or just all around better my connection I will be more than happy do it.
DSL router in bridge mode is an option but depending on how the other equipment that connects you to the internet behaves you might might want to adopt a different approach.
It is NOT equipment OR how I've configured pfSense. I've had pfSense up and running perfectly fine countless times. It works great. The problem is that out of no where when I've reset states one too many times it breaks and NEVER COMES BACK… that is UNTIL I COMPLETELY REINSTALL PFSENSE. <<=== That is the issue. There is a bug somewhere. I want to know where and I want to know if there's a way to fix it without me having to re-install the entire program entirely. Because currently re-installation is the ONLY way I have been successful in getting pfSense to work properly again.
As best I can tell you need NAT in pfSense to pass traffic through since your DSL router doesn't seem to have a route to the LAN subnet downstream of pfSense. Somehow NAT was disabled in pfSense. Presumably as a consequence of a "few" firewall rule tweaks. I have no reason to believe that n+1 (n currently unknown) firewall state resets will disable NAT. Depending on what you call a firewall rule tweak (some action you get to through the firewall menu?) a firewall rule tweak can disable NAT.
Again, please don't take offense, I just want to keep my eye on the prize.
OK, I promise not to take offence. Please do the same for me.
I think the best ways you can accomplish your goal and help the pfSense project is to
1. keep detailed notes on what you do and the consequences of change. I doubt any readers of these forums have the time or interest to do a random sequence of state table resets and firewall rule tweaks in the hope of chancing upon the same sequence you claim causes your problems. Without knowing what you did no-one can say for any certainty if the system is behaving correctly or you have found a bug.
2. Before making a change answer the question "Why will this change make the behaviour I'm looking for?" If you can't answer that you shouldn't be making the change. If the change "doesn't work" find out why it doesn't work before making further changes. This will help you avoid making the same futile change in the future.
3. Take small steps and test changes carefully so you can easily go back to a working configuration. If necessary, backup your pfSense configuration frequently and document the features of that backed up configuration. In most cases you should be able to recover desired behaviour by restoring a saved configuration file and rebooting.
4. Read a few articles (e.g. from Wikipedia or a good IP networking textbook) on IP routing and NAT. With three different connections to the internet through three different pieces of equipment it is quite possible you will not be able to replicate configuration for one WAN interface onto another. Future troubleshooting will probably be eased if you understand how each device connecting to the internet is supposed to behave.
That's probably enough for now.
-
But the DSL modem bridge comment… Im of the opinion that you shouldn't double NAT unless there is no other way... Bridge mode just keeps it simpler...
I'm fine with that recommendation. But considering the multiple WAN interfaces proposed I would strongly recommend the "no other way" issue be settled by analysis rather than trying a few "firewall rule tweaks".
-
Just to chime in here. I agree that double NAT is best avoided but it only gives trouble in rare circumstances. I have run double NAT for months with no problems at all.
This is not a double NAT problem.You don't seem to have fully explored the packet capture that showed that pfSense was not NATing traffic. Simply switching from auto to manual should not stop NAT working. You would have to deliberately remove the NAT rules.
Switch it back to auto, I would reboot the box at this point, then rerun your packet captures to demonstrate that NAT is working.Also unexplained is the fact that you somehow ended up without a default route? :-\
Going right back to the beginning; is it a specific set of configuration changes that cause pfSense to stop forwarding traffic or simply making too many changes of any sort?
Steve
