PfBlockerNG

[RonpfS]

Perforado's solution modify the pfsense installation and could be overwritten when fpsense update happens. The BBcan177 solution only fixes the pfBlockerNG system, so it shouldn't break anything else. By default is is 512MB on a amd64 box, so you might rise it to 640M or 768M.

How big is swap? Do you have /var in ram? Is-it filling up ?

More info on your swap space issue : https://www.google.com/search?q=swap_pager_getswapspace&hl=en-US

As for pfBlockerNG have a look at https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=102470.msg645219#msg645219

Did you look at the pfblockerNG.log to see if things are running fine ?

[RonpfS]

@Perforado:

All the php-scripts spawned by the gui are constrained by the memory-limit set by suhosin. Which is 512MB.

That's what my perl-one-liner was for. I even increased the limit to 4GB for testing today …

For those wandering about suhosin, it is defined in /usr/local/etc/php.ini

; File generated from /etc/rc.php_ini_setup
output_buffering = "0"
expose_php = Off
implicit_flush = true
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
max_execution_time = 900
request_terminate_timeout = 900
max_input_time = 1800
max_input_vars = 5000
register_argc_argv = On
register_long_arrays = Off
variables_order = "GPCS"
file_uploads = On
upload_tmp_dir = /tmp
upload_max_filesize = 200M
post_max_size = 200M
html_errors = Off
zlib.output_compression = Off
zlib.output_compression_level = 1
include_path = ".:/etc/inc:/usr/local/www:/usr/local/captiveportal:/usr/local/pkg:/usr/local/www/classes:/usr/local/www/classes/Form"
display_startup_errors=on
display_errors=on
log_errors=on
error_log=/tmp/PHP_errors.log
extension_dir=/usr/local/lib/php/20131226/
date.timezone="America/New_York"
session.hash_bits_per_character = 5
session.hash_function = 1

; Extensions

; opcache Settings
opcache.enabled="1"
opcache.enable_cli="0"
opcache.memory_consumption="50"

[suhosin]
suhosin.get.max_array_index_length = 256
suhosin.get.max_vars = 5000
suhosin.get.max_value_length = 500000
suhosin.post.max_array_index_length = 256
suhosin.post.max_vars = 5000
suhosin.post.max_value_length = 500000
suhosin.request.max_array_index_length = 256
suhosin.request.max_vars = 5000
suhosin.request.max_value_length = 500000
suhosin.memory_limit = 536870912

Setting 'memory_limit' in the inc file is maxed by the suhosin.memory_limit.

The memory_limit is defined in /etc/inc/config.inc

// Set memory limit to 512M on amd64.
if ($ARCH == "amd64") {
	ini_set("memory_limit", "512M");
} else {
	ini_set("memory_limit", "128M");
}

So for those using many IPV6 GeoIP table on amd64, they probably have to change /usr/local/etc/php.ini /etc/rc.php_ini_setup and the pfblockerng.inc as well as the Firewall Maximum Table Entries

The php memory issues are not specific to pfBlockerNG, backup crashes when backup size is too big, the Diagnostics/Tables will crash when viewing huge table, etc.

[humm3r]

Hi There,

Let me start by saying this is an awesome package and I love all your hard work on it!

I have a bit of an issue from time to time with the DNSBL. It seems some sites, in this case youtube.com, are getting falsely blocked with unbound/DNSBL. It comes up with "No Match" yet the block rule is still firing away. Any thuoghts as to why?

I've tried reinstalling the package, doing updates/reloads, to no avail. It does seem to work temporarily if I disable DNSBL, and works for a while until the states reset or DNS refreshes I guess when I re-enable DNSBL.

Picture attached. Note that youtube.com is already in the suppress list as well to whitelist it!

Cheers
Humm3r


[RonpfS]

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=116490.0

[humm3r]

@RonpfS:

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=116490.0

This has been on and off for a week. I've tried updating as per the thread you linked to all week, but hasn't helped.

I'll keep trying to update and see what happens. let me know if there's anything else you can suggest, I do appreciate the link! :)


[RonpfS]

Did you put youtube-ui.l.google.com in the whitelist ?

[humm3r]

@RonpfS:

Did you put youtube-ui.l.google.com in the whitelist ?

That helped, but IE still gets an error about the certificates. I'm guessing this has to do with the ads being blocked. Just wanted to post back my findings, thanks for the help :)

It works fine in Chrome which is my main browser.


[RonpfS]

To install or re-install pfBlockerNG 2.1.1_2

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=102470.msg647719#msg647719

[N8LBV]

Crazy Question:
Have up to date PFsense,  2.3.2-RELEASE (i386)
built on Tue Jul 19 13:09:39 CDT 2016

Installed pfBlockerNG package from web interface.
INSTALLED SUCCESSFULLY as it said when it completed.

Could not find (it) anywhere in the web interface.

REBOOTED

Shows Installed: pfBlockerNG 2.1.1_2

Still cannot find it or anywhere in the web interface.
I understand it should show up under <firewall>in the web interface but is not there.

Rebooting does not fix it.

I have no clue what to try next.</firewall>

[RonpfS]

Check the installation logs, /var/log/pfblockerng/*, Dashboard for crash report etc.
and look here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=102470.msg647719#msg647719

[N8LBV]

Thanks will do.

[BBcan177]

Here is a link to PR # 175 for pfBlockerNG v2.1.1_3

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115357.msg649167#msg649167

[pfBasic]

I want to clarify my understanding of blocking and whitelisting here. I'm running a home network with no open WAN ports.

I have turned off default allow any lan, anti lockout rules, put up a floating block everything rule and write a couple LAN pass rules to allow the ports I need.

On pfBNG I'm using a bunch of lists the BBCan177 suggested. I'm also using DNSBL lists he suggested and the easy lists. Finally I have the top20 spammers country lists. ALL of these rules are LAN deny outbound.

I see everywhere that you should not block the world and only allow what you need, but it seems like that is directed to setups with open WAN ports. Is LAN deny outbound for country lists valid? I am getting a lot of blocks for the top spammers country lists.

[BBcan177]

@pfBasic:

I am getting a lot of blocks for the top spammers country lists.

If your just using the TOP20, that's not "Blocking the World"… Some users, are clicking every Country in every Continent except for a few, and that's what "B.T.W." was referencing...

You can review the Alerts Tab, to see what's getting blocked... You can also refine the Alerts by using the "Alert Filter" tool.

[pfBasic]

OK great, so setting up my pfBNG rules as LAN deny outbound is ideal and I'm not just wasting processing power?

[BBcan177]

@pfBasic:

OK great, so setting up my pfBNG rules as LAN deny outbound is ideal and I'm not just wasting processing power?

NP. ;)

[N8LBV]

@RonpfS:

Check the installation logs, /var/log/pfblockerng/*, Dashboard for crash report etc.
and look here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=102470.msg647719#msg647719

Been a busy week not had any time to dig into the issue yet. 
Looks like many people are having to change or increase memory limits and PHP stuff?
I'm guessing that may be the direction that I may need to go?

Please forgive my newbieness here but isn't the point of an installable package that they should just work?
Should not the package install itself modify memory settings as/if needed? and anything else?

I don't have any other packages installed nor am I doing anything crazy memory hungry. 
Wasn't going to do anything fancy with the blocker either just wanted to try it out and only have it block the "top ten" fist and see how that worked.

I'm also reading that uninstalling the package and/or reinstalling it is an absolute NO-NO and can break things even worse!!!  WTF! :) 
So being a package I'm not able to just uninstall it or reinstall it.   
I'll reference this if need be but right now I just noticed mention of it in a few threads I read.

[RonpfS]

An update to the package is now available https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115357.msg649167#msg649167 & https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115357.msg649605#msg649605

[metalliqaz]

Is there any real documentation for this package?

I installed it and all it seemed to do was destroy DNS lookups for all clients, including the firewall itself, for about 45 minutes.  The configuration page is a huge array of settings that are unexplained.  The package doesn't seem to be doing anything at all.  There are no new rules in the firewall, there seems to be no way of viewing any block lists at all.  I can't even find any obvious setting to tell it which sources to use.  Serously, where did everyone learn how to use this?

[RonpfS]

@metalliqaz:

Is there any real documentation for this package?

I installed it and all it seemed to do was destroy DNS lookups for all clients, including the firewall itself, for about 45 minutes.  The configuration page is a huge array of settings that are unexplained.  The package doesn't seem to be doing anything at all.  There are no new rules in the firewall, there seems to be no way of viewing any block lists at all.  I can't even find any obvious setting to tell it which sources to use.  Serously, where did everyone learn how to use this?

Start with the first pages of each of these threads:
pfBlockerNG
pfBlockerNG v2.0 w/DNSBL
pfBlockerNG v2.1 w/TLD
And over time ;) why not read all pages.

Also there are plenty of Information boxes on almost every page, click on them.
And start slowly, go with one feature at a time, IPV4, IPV6, GeoIP, DNSBL until you get things running.

Go to Firewall / pfBlockerNG / Log Browser, there you can see the log file and pfBlockerNG files. Also visit the Diagnostics /Tables.