Re: [pfSense] Strange problems with pfSense 2.1.4
- Original Message - One, the problem first appeared with the Tranquilnet unit. Two, I forgot to mention that I noticed that the heat problem (it's hard to miss if you don't read the directions -- the units are almost hot enough to burn skin :) and am using a laptop cooler for now. I'm trying out USB powered fans as a better long term solution, but the units are very cool with the laptop cooler. SNIP Do have any other ideas? *BLINK* So, you're installing multiple units across 15 sites for a hotel chain... a rather important installation I would expect given the potential ramifications to operations as well as guest access... and your long term solution is to use USB powered fans? As noted by others, given you can build/buy less expensive equipment, not wrought with heat/cooling problems, it might be a good idea to properly spec out and procure new hardware. In your shoes, I would not be moving forward with the current equipment. --Tim ___ List mailing list List@lists.pfsense.org https://lists.pfsense.org/mailman/listinfo/list
Re: [pfSense] Strange problems with pfSense 2.1.4
Jason M. wrote: I'm using the PFW201 hardware from Tranquilnet According to Tranquilnet: *Note: These units may run hot to the touch and we recommend eith a wall mount or to place them on a cool, dry and hard surface with proper air flow I can build systems that are much faster and more powerful for less than half the price so I've never used a PFW201, but I have seen it mentioned that units like them often have a cpu heat sink that makes contact with the case. Or, that they have a metal shim that connects the heat sink to the case. Heat transfer for these systems is often critical. Is yours overheating? Are you testing with one of the Tranquilnet units, or one of the units you got direct from the supplier? Now my question is, what is going wrong? I've tried the same config on multiple devices, so I don't think it's hardware. Could my config have become corrupted? I don't follow your logic about it not being the hardware, but yes, your config could have become corrupted. Try another CF card? Try installing from scratch and restoring a backup xml file? ___ List mailing list List@lists.pfsense.org https://lists.pfsense.org/mailman/listinfo/list
Re: [pfSense] Strange problems with pfSense 2.1.4
Hello, Jason M. wrote: I'm using the PFW201 hardware from Tranquilnet According to Tranquilnet: *Note: These units may run hot to the touch and we recommend eith a wall mount or to place them on a cool, dry and hard surface with proper air flow I can build systems that are much faster and more powerful for less than half the price so I've never used a PFW201, but I have seen it mentioned that units like them often have a cpu heat sink that makes contact with the case. Or, that they have a metal shim that connects the heat sink to the case. Heat transfer for these systems is often critical. Is yours overheating? Are you testing with one of the Tranquilnet units, or one of the units you got direct from the supplier? One, the problem first appeared with the Tranquilnet unit. Two, I forgot to mention that I noticed that the heat problem (it's hard to miss if you don't read the directions -- the units are almost hot enough to burn skin :) and am using a laptop cooler for now. I'm trying out USB powered fans as a better long term solution, but the units are very cool with the laptop cooler. Now my question is, what is going wrong? I've tried the same config on multiple devices, so I don't think it's hardware. Could my config have become corrupted? I don't follow your logic about it not being the hardware, but yes, your config could have become corrupted. Try another CF card? Try installing from scratch and restoring a backup xml file? Well, pfSense recommends the Tranquilnet hardware and the problem occurs with that. The problem also occurs with the units from the manufacturer which have the same part number and look identical. These units have a backup XML file restored to a fresh CF card. Sorry for not mentioning this in my first message -- I was kind of tired. I was trying to say that maybe something in the .xml config might have become corrupted, but I took a look at the .xml file and it doesn't look like there's room for corruption. The only thing strange is this: revision time1407542644/time description![CDATA[admin@192.168.182.10: /system_usermanager.php made unknown change]]/description usernameadmin@192.168.182.10/username /revision Do have any other ideas? ___ List mailing list List@lists.pfsense.org https://lists.pfsense.org/mailman/listinfo/list Thanks for the help, Jason M. ___ List mailing list List@lists.pfsense.org https://lists.pfsense.org/mailman/listinfo/list
[pfSense] Strange problems with pfSense 2.1.4
Hello, I have a project with a looming deadline that involves installing 15 pfSense firewalls at hotels to provide firewall and Captive portal services. I'm using the PFW201 hardware from Tranquilnet with the Intel NIC's (the first unit was from Tranquilnet, but when they stopped selling the units with the Intel NIC's I found the supplier and ordered direct from them. Here's what features the units are configured for (apologies for miswordings -- I don't have access to a device in front of me): Firewall rules to allow remote maintenance from specific IP addresses Gateway Groups Captive Portal After what I thought was thorough testing, I tried to deploy a unit last night at 4am. Here's what happened: At first I had a bad connection to one of my WAN connections and so Internet was slow. I fixed the cabling issue and rebooted, so far so good. Then I replaced a switch that was defective. Now things started getting strange. First the Captive Gateway stopped redirecting users. In other words if you knew the gateway's address and browsed to http://a.b.c.d:8000 and entered the password you could access the Internet So I turned off the Captive Portal. Now I later realized this deleted the captive gateway redirect page and the incorrect password page. I don't know if this is the design or not, but it seems strange. Anyway, I rebooted. For twenty minutes Internet access worked, then it stopped working entirely. I tried browsing to the admin page. I logged in and got to the main page, but it took forever to get to another page. I was accessing wirelessly, so this could have been part of the issue. Anyway, given that Internet access stopped working after 20 minutes under very light load (there were four users on the Captive gateway when I disabled it), I bailed on the install and put the old gateway back in place. Now my question is, what is going wrong? I've tried the same config on multiple devices, so I don't think it's hardware. Could my config have become corrupted? Or could there be some issue with my config and 2.1.4 (I tested things extensively with 2.0.3 and then upgraded to 2.1.3. But when 2.1.4 came around I didn't test. Also, when I started to duplicate flash cards on Tuesday I experienced the same issue with the captive gateway (redirects not working, browsing to http://a.b.c.d:8000 and authenticating allowed access to the Internet). I hadn't gotten much sleep, and when I got back to this on Thursday the problem went away. Final crazy thought. One of the last changes I made after testing the gateway but before deployment was to change the name and the domain name. Any chance changing the domain name could have anything to do this? Please let me know if there's any information I can add. Also, thanks in advance for any insight provided. Jason M. ___ List mailing list List@lists.pfsense.org https://lists.pfsense.org/mailman/listinfo/list
