Tutorial: Configuring pfSense as VPN client to Private Internet Access
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One thing I was thinking if you are testing multiple devices, you should test if the registered external IP is the VPN IP or not?
Also you should do a DNS leak test to ensure that the DNS resolution is coming from the correct DNS server, be it be the VPN or local DNS server.
So what I do to troubleshoot the VPN issues is to use the below:
https://www.dnsleaktest.com/
http://whatismyipaddress.com/ -
I've done both of those things already.
The DNS that comes back on DNS leak is always the VPN DNS, but when I'm on my normal WAN the inaccessible content is accessible.
As far as IP check, behind the VPN I'm getting my VPN IP and on the WAN I'm getting my normal IP from my ISP.
That's why I think my alias for Hulu and Disney are incomplete. They must connect to another DNS or IP that I'm not bypassing in my alias. I've pretty much given up on it for now. I just wanted it to the convenience of accessing those apps from the Fire TV.
Is there a way to make it so certain source IP's use the VPN DNS and my sources going through WAN use the local DNS? I couldn't figure this out without having a DNS leak which is why I just left it on the VPN DNS.
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if you want to have specific DNS for specific interfaces, you can do it two ways.
One you forward all DNS requests via the firewall to the interface you want to the specific DNS server OR
Go to System -> General Setup. Under DNS servers you can specify specific DNS servers based on the Gateway, or in your case the "VPN Gateway"
Let me know if that helps your cause or not.
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Anyone else experiencing slower download speeds through PIA when upgrading from pfsense 2.1.5 to 2.2? My download speeds have been constantly 10-14 Mbps and with 2.1.5 they were 100+ Mbps.
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Nope, I personally haven't had that problem. My speeds to PIA are the same before the upgrade.
Also for the record going from 2.1.5 to 2.2 solved a lot of issues that I was having when opening multiple OpenVPN clients to PIA.
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edit the firewall at my work was blocking all images.
Thank you
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Great tutorial. Setup my pfsense on the first go-round, thanks! Now, the 2 issues. 1 is really just speed, I'm only getting 1.6-2.x mbps but that's not really a pfsense issue, more of a PIA issue. Using Texas server seems to be fastest but still slow compared to my 50mbps VDsL. #2, Email. Email pop3 doesn't work over PIA (goDaddy) and they know it. Can receive, can't send. Is there a rule? or setting to let smtp bypass the VPN and use the Wan? I tried a few tests, obviously unsuccessfully. Again, great stuff!
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Try setting your mail server to use port 587.
Sending email is not POP3. Sending is SMTP. Port 587 is the SMTP submit port. You will have to authenticate. Hopefully your mail provider supports STARTTLS. Make it required.
A quick telnet mailserver 587 will either result in an SMTP banner or it won't.
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Thanks for the response. I'm not hosting a mail server. What I need to do is route my SMTP requests from my pop3 outlook account thru to the wan, bypassing the PIAVPN. Currently all LAN machines are using pfSense DHCP and pfSense is configured to automatically connect and route to PIA's VPN connection. Can (How?) do I take an smtp request from a machine that is using the vpn connection and have it's outlook pop3 route past (bypass) the pia vpn? Let me know if this makes sense. Thx
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I know.
I'm sure PIA blocks port 25. Try 587 instead.
That or make a rule above the rule that routes your traffic to PIA that routes connections to your mail ports (TCP 110,143,993,995,25,587 and 465) out your WAN gateway (or the default route).
Note that any application you use that attempts to bypass firewalling by using one of these commonly-passed ports will no longer go through the VPN either. If you only use one to a few mail servers, you might want to create an alias using their FQDNs and set the destination address to that to limit the scope of the rule even more.
![Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 7.10.59 AM.png](/public/imported_attachments/1/Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 7.10.59 AM.png)
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Thx Derelict. Your advice on the ports worked but only without SSL so I'm not connecting securely to send/receive. Can you outline in a few steps how to add an smtp to a rule for bypass? smtp.out.secureserver.net is what godaddy uses for sending, if I can put that in a rule to bypass the vpn and use the wan it should work with encryption (SSL) applied.
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Should have nothing to do with negotiating SSL. I don't know how that server is set up but there are two ways to get SMTP over SSL/TLS:
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Connect on port 465. This usually expects SSL right off the bat like an HTTPS connection. You can test this with openssl s_client -connect smtp.out.secureserver.net:465. Port 465 is a de facto standard for this thanks to Microsoft. YMMV.
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Connect to port 25 or 587. This establishes a normal SMTP or SMTP Submit connection. The client must then issue a STARTTLS command to negotiate TLS prior to sending authentication credentials. You can test this with openssl s_client -connect smtp.out.secureserver.net:[25|587] -starttls smtp
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Can you outline in a few steps how to add an smtp to a rule for bypass?
Post your LAN rules (or the rules for whatever interface is being used for forwarding to PIA.)
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Hmmm. smtp.out.secureserver.net doesn't resolve. You need to figure out where you need to send your outgoing mail.
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I just started using pfSense again after a long hiatus and can't get OpenVPN to work with PIA. I had it working in an old version of pfSense but the options are different in v2.2 and I'm tearing my hair out. Everything looks setup right but the gateway never stays up.
After restarting the OpenVPN service the 'PIAVPN' Interface shows an IP address, but when I go to the Gateway status, the 'PIAVPN_VPNV4' gateway is always 'offline.' According to the Gateway log:
Feb 14 14:31:57 apinger: SIGHUP received, reloading configuration.
Feb 14 14:31:57 apinger: alarm canceled (config reload): PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.100.4.5) *** down ***
Feb 14 14:32:08 apinger: ALARM: PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.153.1.5) *** down ***
Feb 14 14:32:13 apinger: SIGHUP received, reloading configuration.
Feb 14 14:32:13 apinger: alarm canceled (config reload): PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.153.1.5) *** down ***
Feb 14 14:32:23 apinger: ALARM: PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.183.1.5) *** down ***
Feb 14 14:33:26 apinger: SIGHUP received, reloading configuration.
Feb 14 14:33:26 apinger: alarm canceled (config reload): PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.183.1.5) *** down ***
Feb 14 14:33:36 apinger: ALARM: PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.182.147.5) *** down ***
Feb 14 14:33:40 apinger: SIGHUP received, reloading configuration.
Feb 14 14:33:40 apinger: alarm canceled (config reload): PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.182.147.5) *** down ***
Feb 14 14:33:50 apinger: ALARM: PIAVPN_VPNV4(10.181.1.5) *** down ***This repeats constantly. I checked the OpenVPN logs:
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45195]: client = ENABLED
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45195]: pull = ENABLED
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45195]: auth_user_pass_file = '/etc/openvpn-password.txt'
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45195]: OpenVPN 2.3.6 amd64-portbld-freebsd10.1 [SSL (OpenSSL)] [LZO] [MH] [IPv6] built on Dec 1 2014
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45195]: library versions: OpenSSL 1.0.1k-freebsd 8 Jan 2015, LZO 2.08
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45195]: MANAGEMENT: unix domain socket listening on /var/etc/openvpn/client1.sock
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: WARNING: No server certificate verification method has been enabled. See http://openvpn.net/howto.html#mitm for more info.
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: NOTE: the current –script-security setting may allow this configuration to call user-defined scripts
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: LZO compression initialized
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: Control Channel MTU parms [ L:1542 D:138 EF:38 EB:0 ET:0 EL:0 ]
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: Socket Buffers: R=[42080->65536] S=[57344->65536]
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: Data Channel MTU parms [ L:1542 D:1450 EF:42 EB:135 ET:0 EL:0 AF:3/1 ]
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: Local Options String: 'V4,dev-type tun,link-mtu 1542,tun-mtu 1500,proto UDPv4,comp-lzo,cipher BF-CBC,auth SHA1,keysize 128,key-method 2,tls-client'
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: Expected Remote Options String: 'V4,dev-type tun,link-mtu 1542,tun-mtu 1500,proto UDPv4,comp-lzo,cipher BF-CBC,auth SHA1,keysize 128,key-method 2,tls-server'
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: Local Options hash (VER=V4): '41690919'
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: Expected Remote Options hash (VER=V4): '530fdded'
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: UDPv4 link local (bound): [AF_INET]73.34.122.142
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]66.85.147.138:1194
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: TLS: Initial packet from [AF_INET]66.85.147.138:1194, sid=97ab86e1 7dcc85ab
Feb 14 14:33:35 openvpn[45424]: WARNING: this configuration may cache passwords in memory – use the auth-nocache option to prevent this
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: VERIFY OK: depth=1, C=US, ST=OH, L=Columbus, O=Private Internet Access, CN=Private Internet Access CA, emailAddress=secure@privateinternetaccess.com
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: VERIFY OK: depth=0, C=US, ST=CA, L=LosAngeles, O=Private Internet Access, OU=Private Internet Access, CN=Private Internet Access, name=Private Internet Access, emailAddress=secure@privateinternetaccess.com
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: Data Channel Encrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: Data Channel Encrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: Data Channel Decrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: Data Channel Decrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: Control Channel: TLSv1, cipher TLSv1/SSLv3 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, 2048 bit RSA
Feb 14 14:33:36 openvpn[45424]: [Private Internet Access] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]66.85.147.138:1194
Feb 14 14:33:38 openvpn[45424]: SENT CONTROL [Private Internet Access]: 'PUSH_REQUEST' (status=1)
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: PUSH: Received control message: 'PUSH_REPLY,redirect-gateway def1,dhcp-option DNS 209.222.18.222,dhcp-option DNS 209.222.18.218,ping 10,comp-lzo no,route 10.181.1.1,topology net30,ifconfig 10.181.1.6 10.181.1.5'
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: OPTIONS IMPORT: timers and/or timeouts modified
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: OPTIONS IMPORT: LZO parms modified
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: OPTIONS IMPORT: –ifconfig/up options modified
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: OPTIONS IMPORT: route options modified
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: OPTIONS IMPORT: –ip-win32 and/or --dhcp-option options modified
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: ROUTE_GATEWAY 73.34.122.1
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: TUN/TAP device ovpnc1 exists previously, keep at program end
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: TUN/TAP device /dev/tun1 opened
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: do_ifconfig, tt->ipv6=1, tt->did_ifconfig_ipv6_setup=0
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: /sbin/ifconfig ovpnc1 10.181.1.6 10.181.1.5 mtu 1500 netmask 255.255.255.255 up
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkup ovpnc1 1500 1542 10.181.1.6 10.181.1.5 init
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: /sbin/route add -net 66.85.147.138 73.34.122.1 255.255.255.255
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: /sbin/route add -net 0.0.0.0 10.181.1.5 128.0.0.0
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: /sbin/route add -net 128.0.0.0 10.181.1.5 128.0.0.0
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: /sbin/route add -net 10.181.1.1 10.181.1.5 255.255.255.255
Feb 14 14:33:39 openvpn[45424]: Initialization Sequence CompletedNothing really stands out as problematic there…nothing else gets logged until maybe 15 minutes later when I get this:
Feb 14 14:48:59 openvpn[45424]: MANAGEMENT: Client connected from /var/etc/openvpn/client1.sock
Feb 14 14:48:59 openvpn[45424]: MANAGEMENT: CMD 'state 1'
Feb 14 14:48:59 openvpn[45424]: MANAGEMENT: CMD 'status 2'
Feb 14 14:48:59 openvpn[45424]: MANAGEMENT: Client disconnectedAny ideas where I should be looking to resolve this?
Thanks for the help!
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Looks like it's connecting to me. What's not working?
You probably can't ping the gateway directly. Just turn off monitoring or find something else to use as a monitor IP.
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Thanks for the tutorial and it works….but does anybody know how to force OpenVPN to route traffic from only one vlan? So, for example, I have the following interfaces:
WAN
LAN (10.0.1.0/24)
Guest (10.0.2.0/24)
OVPN (10.0.3.0/24)I want the LAN and Guest get routed through WAN. How do I make only the clients on the OVPN interface use the OpenVPN tunnel?
I've tried to limit the NAT to only the 10.0.3.0/24 net, but then the LAN (and probably Guest) wasn't routing any traffic out. I also tried to setup some firewall rules to route the LAN to the WAN and make OVPN route it through the OpenVPN gateway, but nothing.
Thanks!
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Looks like it's connecting to me. What's not working?
You probably can't ping the gateway directly. Just turn off monitoring or find something else to use as a monitor IP.
Thanks - the problem is that as soon as I adjust the LAN firewall rule to direct LAN traffic to the PIAVPN_VPN4 gateway, I lose all internet access. I can't ping, traceroute, etc. anything outside my LAN. I have outbound NAT rules setup for both WAN and PIAVPN gateways and firewall rules for each interface that are basically unrestricted:
sorry for the crappy spacing in the output below
WAN Firewall Rules:
ID Proto Source Port Destination Port Gateway Queue Schedule Description
IPv4 * * * * * nonePIAVPN Firewall Rules
ID Proto Source Port Destination Port Gateway Queue Schedule Description
IPv4 * * * * * noneOpenVPN Firewall Rules
ID Proto Source Port Destination Port Gateway Queue Schedule Description
IPv4 * * * * * noneLAN Firewall Rules (working)
ID Proto Source Port Destination Port Gateway Queue Schedule Description
IPv4 * * * * WAN_DHCP noneLAN Firewall Rules (not working)
ID Proto Source Port Destination Port Gateway Queue Schedule Description
IPv4 * * * * PIAVPN_VPNV4 none -
Umm. First thing you should do is delete that WAN rule. Do it now. Don't delay.
Also delete the OpenVPN and PIAVPN rules. Do it now.
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Now that you've done that. Show us your NAT rules.
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Now that you've done that. Show us your NAT rules.
Ha!! Yeah, those non-LAN rules were NOT active (disabled) and are now deleted - otherwise that would kind of defeat the purpose of a firewall, right? :) The only firewall rules I have right now are:
The Outbound NAT Rules:
When I activate the "PIAVPN" version of these rules and the corresponding firewall rule, I lose all connectivity outside my LAN.
***UPDATE: It's magically decided to start working now. I have no idea what the problem was but it's good to go now.
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You can leave the NAT rules active. They mean nothing unless that interface is being used for egress. They just have to be there if you're going from the source IP addresses out that interface.
Maybe PIA was having a problem? Who knows. Glad it's working and you don't have a pass any any rule on WAN.
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One additional question: I can get the OpenVPN/PIA tunnel up and functioning, but when I come back after a while the Interface is down and the OpenVPN service needs to be restarted. This is from the log:
Feb 14 23:26:43 openvpn[83612]: TLS: soft reset sec=0 bytes=494118/0 pkts=4201/0
Feb 14 23:26:43 openvpn[83612]: ERROR: could not read Auth username from stdin
Feb 14 23:26:43 openvpn[83612]: Exiting due to fatal error
Feb 14 23:26:43 openvpn[83612]: Closing TUN/TAP interface
Feb 14 23:26:43 openvpn[83612]: /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkdown ovpnc1 1500 1542 10.179.1.6 10.179.1.5 initIs this because I specified "auth-nocache"? If so, shouldn't this option cause the information to be re-read from the file, not stdin? I'll try and remove the -nocache option since, really, why should I mind having the login credentials saved in memory when it's OK to have them stored plaintext on disk…
Is it something else entirely?
Thanks,
Aaron -
If you added auth-nocache outside of the tutorial, remove it.
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/ticket/225
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Quick questions since I am still doing my research. If I wanted my VPN service (PIA) to use a different set of DNS servers, to prevent DNS leak, would it be possible? If so how would I go about setting this up? Or would pfsense as a whole have to use only one set of dns servers?
Sorry, still learning and haven't been able to get any hands on yet.
Thank you
- 7 days later
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great tutorial you guys have. I have a more complicated situation that I have been trying to get setup.
Having TWO openVPN client setup via PIA.
So the idea is this, based on IP range 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.20 it'll go to PIA USA west
The based on IP range 192.168.0.21-192.168.0.40 it'll go to PIA Canada
Then the remaining IP 192.168.0.41-192.168.0.254 will be on the WAN.
I've tried to follow the instructions before and just add a 2nd VPN client accordingly, but everything just default to the PIA USA West, is there anything I could be missing?
Hi there,
Not sure if you solved your problem, but if you haven't passed "route-nopull" as an advanced option to the OpenVPN client, that might be your problem. I wanted to selectively send some of my LAN clients to VPN and others not, and had to pass this option as it stopped OpenVPN from generating a default (0.0.0.0) route in my routing tables.
Good luck!
Rob
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First a huge thanks to the OP for providing this. Exactly what I was looking for.
Second - and please bear with me as I'm new to pfSense - what is the best way to have ALL communication to the internet shut-off if for whatever reason the VPN becomes disconnected? Or maybe this is already going to occur because of the NAT rules defined?
Thanks for clarification.
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I have found the best way to do this is to edit the firewall rules that policy route traffic over the VPN. Configure them to add a mark like VPN_ONLY.
Create an interface group for all your WAN interfaces.
Create a floating rule on the wan interface group direction out. Make it a Reject rule, Quick, matching any traffic with mark VPN_ONLY.
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Hi Everyone.
I have the service up and running but for some reason i am not getting a IP address?
what have i missed?cheers
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Hey friends
Can i make a vpn in pfsense firewall between the admin in my LAN to connect 2 dedicated servers with 2 public address x.x.x.x / x.x.x.x
its urgent thanks for your answer :) -
Hey friends
Can i make a vpn in pfsense firewall between the admin in my LAN to connect 2 dedicated servers with 2 public address x.x.x.x / x.x.x.x
its urgent thanks for your answer :)Start another thread.
- 11 days later
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Hey Derelict thanks for answering my other questiond. My problem is..uh, I'm not the sharpest at learning; I can follow tutorials (and even wrote some for wireless) and what I need is another tutorial for setting up NAT (or LAN?) rules. I followed this VPN tutorial and everything is running great! But like other's have asked, I need to have 1,2 or maybe only 3 IP's (computers) use the VPN, and all other bypass the VPN and go straight to the local internet. So the answer's I've read of 'create a Lan rule for xxx' are nice and I'm sure easy for some, but I don't know HOW to do that? I made some LAN rules, but it blocked everything and so I just removed them. Therefore, if you, or anyone, knows of another tutorial of 'How to create a rule for 1 IP to bypass the VPN' I sure would appreciate a link. I can follow directions and be successful (driving, making coffee, buying groceries) but I don't know the 'how-to' of pfSense rules. Thanks!
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Create an IP alias called vpn_hosts or something Firewall > Aliases
Add the IP addresses that you want to be forwarded through the VPN
Look at the first post in this thread. Find the section called Routing.
The walkthrough changes the LAN IPv4 Rule so it forwards all of LAN Net to PIAVPN_VPN4. You want to make a rule just like it but ABOVE it with the source network set to the alias instead of LAN net. Then change the LAN net rule back to Gateway: default
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That should work. You sure PIA is up when you try? Did you clear states?
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Probably a default route from the VPN provider.
on 2.2, check Don't pull routes in the OpenVPN client config. on 2.1.5 add route-nopull; to the advanced section.
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Derelict thanks for the reply,
I seem to of messed something up. :-[ :-[
A few questions:
1. Every time I enable and disable the VPN Client (which I do a lot while trying to set this up) it gives me a new IP which I then have to add to the firewall rules, is there a easier way of doing this?2. I seem to of lost ability to have traffic go through the VPN (I could once have all or nothing), I can see small amount of traffic on the VPN but when I check my IP I get my ISPs. What did I do?
3. What did checking "Don't add/remove routes" do?
I seem to go one step forward and two steps back every time I make a change on this.
Thanks,
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What rules are you talking about? You don't need to care what address they give you. That's the PIAVPN_V4 address and all pfSense does is NAT to it. That can change all the time. You are concerned with your client's LAN address that doesn't change unless you change it (presuming it's static or at least a DHCP Static Mapping which is advisable when you start policy routing based on the source address.
Many VPN providers push a default route to you so all your traffic gets sent through them. Checking that box adds route-nopull; to your client configuration which tells the client to ignore all the routes pushed to you. This leaves it up to you to policy route the traffic you want to go to the VPN.
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