Recent issue with PfSense

GBR

Greetings,

Let me start by mentioning that PfSense is great product, I am using it for about a year now. Recently (3-4 weeks) I am experiencing issues where FW is rebooting every day, or two (I think).
Around same time last month I upgraded to most recent version (2.0.3), also switched the ISP from cable to PPPoe. Shorty after I started noticing frequent change to public IP address, and the Uptime (Dashboard and shell) never been more than 2 days. So I am not sure now if ISP is frequently changing IP address on me and that is resetting the Uptime, or PfSense is really rebooting for some reason.

So my question is how can I based on Log tell that PfSense box is indeed rebooting, or be able to pin point on what is going on?

Thanks in advance.

GBR

wallabybob

@GBR:

So my question is how can I based on Log tell that PfSense box is indeed rebooting, or be able to pin point on what is going on?

The home page of your pfSense box shows the system uptime, the time since the last boot.

I believe in pfSense 2.0.3 the log files are preserved across a restart (unless you are running the "nano BSD" variant).

The pfSense shell command```
clog /var/log/system.log | grep "FreeBSD Foundation"

2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfsense.example.org]/root(3): clog /var/log/system.log | grep "FreeBSD Foundation"
Jun 11 20:54:40 pfsense kernel: FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
[2.0.1-RELEASE][root@pfsense.example.org]/root(4):
showing the system was last booted at 20:54 on 11-June. Unless a lot of events are getting into your system log I expect you would see a number of such entries if your system is rebooting after a "short" uptime. (My system log goes back more than 11 days.)

GBR

Awesome. Thanks for your response. So I just learned that my PfSense box rebooted 13 times since May 22. Unusual since I remember this box being online for months at some point.
I guess is time for me to backup config and build new box, unless someone has any other suggestions.

Thanks,

GBR

wallabybob

@GBR:

I guess is time for me to backup config and build new box, unless someone has any other suggestions.

Your system log might give some clues to the cause of the reboot. For example, you could use pfSense shell command```
clog /var/log/system.log > log.txt


Many problems will leave some indicator in the system log. Shutdowns due to thermal issues (e.g. the CPU shuts down because it gets too hot because the CPU fan stopped turning) and power supply issues such as power dips don't tend to leave clues in the system log.

GBR

Another nice command…thank you.

Jun 21 00:41:35 pfsense syslogd: kernel boot file is /boot/kernel/kernel
Jun 21 00:41:35 pfsense kernel: Copyright 1992-2010 The FreeBSD Project.
Jun 21 00:41:35 pfsense kernel: Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
Jun 21 00:41:35 pfsense kernel: The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Jun 21 00:41:35 pfsense kernel: FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.

Couldn't find anything useful from log. There are hours (or more) between the time when reboot sequence start and previous log entry. The previous log entry is always different line, so no consistency there.

I will try to swap HD, NICs etc. since I have another box with same hardware and see what gives.

Thanks again,

GBR