PFSENSE Load Balance with Fail Over From Version Beta3

PFSENSE
Load Balance with Fail Over
From Version Beta3
Following are the Installation instructions of PFSense beginning at first Login to setup Load Balance and Fail
over procedures for outbound Internet traffic. Outbound Terminology means LAN users Internet requests. It is
advisable to check for any current updates and apply them prior to configuring PFSense. It is also advisable to
configure PFSense manually for each installation; it is not recommended that you import a previous configuration
file. This configuration manual also assumes that you understand how to install PFSense and that you PC
Hardware is configured with 3 or more Network Adaptors. This tutorial covers a basic Load Balance and Fail
over installation only and does NOT cover Hardened Firewall procedures.
What hardware will I need?
PFSense Hardware compatibility can be found at the following link. To load balance Internet connections you will
need a minimum of PC with a
133MHz CPU but 400MHz CPU is recommended with
Minimum of 128MB RAM and a
1GB Hard Drive
3 Network Interface Adaptors
2 ADSL Ethernet Routers
2 Static IP Addresses from your ISP
Most Likely 2 ADSL Accounts
2 Telephone Lines with ADSL enabled
http://www.pfsense.com/index.php?id=37
The PFSense Firewall PC specifications that this document was create on uses the following
Intel P4 2GHz CPU
1GB pc2700 RAM (2 x 512MB Dual Channel)
40GB IDE ATA100 Harddrive
4 Netgear GA311 Gigabit Network Interface Adaptors with the Realtek 81695 chipset
2 DLInk DSL-502T ADSL Routers
2 Static IP Addresses from ISP
2 ADSL Accounts
2 Telephone lines ADSL enabled
Alternative PFSense compatible Hardware configurations can be found at;
http://www.pfsense.com/index.php?id=40
Plan your PFSense Network Configuration Addresses prior to setup, it makes it easier during the
setup process. Ensure that you DO NOT use conflicting IP Address ranges and Subnets. LAN and
WAN and OPT addresses can not begin with the same IP range. You will ADSL Routers to suit the
Static IP Address Range that you have chosen for your Gatway’s for both WAN and OPT Interfaces.
If you require instructions on configuring an additional LAN or DMZ interfaces, please visit the
PFSense website for Tutorials and the Support Forum for additional assistance.
1

FIRST LOGIN
The first Login to PFSense using your web browser and navigate to http://192.168.1.1 and use the
Username: admin and the Password: pfsense to administer your PFSense firewall. You will be
greeted by PFSense System Overview page which will look like:
PLANNED CONFIGURATION
LAN IP Address: 192.168.1.1
WAN IP Address: 190.165.30.30
WAN IP Gateway: 190.165.30.2
WAN Router IP: 190.165.30.2
Internet Static IP: ISP Assigned
OPT1 IP Address: 189.165.20.20
OPT1 IP Gateway: 189.165.20.2
OPT1 Router IP: 189.165.20.2
Internet Static IP: ISP Assigned
2

STEP 2
Selecting from the System Menu, use either the Setup Wizard or General Setup to manually setup
your PFSense Firewall.
STEP 3
Using the Setup Wizard, it will lead you through the setup process to customize your PFSense
Firewall to your global location time zone, the DNS server IP addresses of your ISP, set your Admin
password, your LAN IP (Recommend leaving set as default) and then to the WAN Interface.
It is advisable to plan ahead what IP address ranges you are going to use.
3

STEP 4
Setting up your WAN Interface for Load Balance, you will need to set a static IP address for it, not
using PPPOE or PPPOA as are options. Below is an example of this static IP configuration and static
gateway. When this is done, you may save this WAN configuration. If you fail to have internet access
due to your IP address range, you may need to unblock private networks to allow traffic to pass
through.
4

STEP 5
If you have not selected the your OPT interface for your second Internet connection during your
installation, you can select it from the Interface Assign Menu. Your OPT Interface can then be
configured at OPT1 on the Interface. Below you will WAN2 this is OPT1. OPT1 can have a description
that is easier to remember, this can be of your choice. Save your selection.
5

STEP 6
OPT1 Interface configuration uses static IP address also. OPT Interfaces do not currently support
PPPOE or PPPOA. The best Alternative is to manually set static IP addresses then click the save
button.
6

STEP 7
Setting up the Load Balance Pool, from the services menu select Load Balancer.
7

STEP 8
Create your Load Balance Pool by selecting the symbol. It will bring up the window below. As an
example I have created one IP Address ready to add to the Pool. Select Add to Pool when your have
chosen either your WAN gateway IP or your OPT Gateway.
*** IMPORTANT*** Ensure that your WAN and OPT Monitor IP Addresses are not the same IP. It is
advisable to use an IP address that is associated with your ISP for that Interface. EG: WAN ISP is
ABC then use their Gateway for the monitor IP, OPT ISP is XYZ then use that gateway for that
monitor IP.
EXAMPLE:
WAN 190.165.30.30 ====== [Router Static IP] ======{Internet Monitor IP 202.173.144.33}
||
LAN192.168.1.1========[PFSense]LoadBalance
||
OPT1 189.165.20.20 ====== [Router Static IP] ======{Internet Monitor IP 202.173.144.81}
When you have finished creating your balance pool click the save button.
8

STEP 9
Next step will be to setup the NAT part of the firewall. In my selection I have NAT for both Inbound and
Outbound for each interface, WAN and OPT1 (Alias WAN2). By default Advanced outbound NAT is
not selected, but are automatically generated. You will need to enable the advanced option and SAVE
it. Please note that the IP address range in the NAT below is required to be from your IP Address
Range. IP Address below are and example.
After Advanced NAT has been enabled, you may then create each NAT rule.
9

STEP 10
A Blank form for creating NAT rules below demonstrates allowing NAT from OPT1 to LAN. Create
these NAT Rules for both WAN and OPT1 Interfaces. Also order placing these NAT rules will have an
affect on how your PFSense firewall behaves.
10

STEP 11
When creating firewall rules for each Interface, you will have to place rules that require a higher
priority first. This due to which ever rule is first in the List will take precedence above the others. So if
you want a Particular protocol to take a set path, then these must be in a higher priority.
You will have to create rules for each Interface for both Incoming and outgoing. Below are some
examples of rules set on another PFSense machine.
LAN RULES
11

WAN RULES
OPT1 RULES
CREATING RULES
When creating rules for the LAN interface for Load Balancing ensure that you select the Load Balance
Pool. If you require a specified path for a given protocol or port, then specify that Port, Protocol and
destination and selected gateway and place a higher priority to that rule.
12

When creating Rules for WAN and OPT Interfaces, ensure that when you select the Gateway, ensure
that it is the gateway for that Interface as specified on the WAN and OPT1 Interface pages.
You will also have to create a Rule to “Invert the sense of the match”, which means if the default is to
go to the internet, then to invert means to bring back in to the LAN.
EG: WAN IP Address: 190.165.30.30
WAN IP Gateway: 190.165.30.2
STEP 12
Router Setup When you setup the Ethernet port on the Router allocates the LAN side (not Internet
side) the IP Address of either the WAN Gateway IP or the OPT1 Gateway IP. Ensure that you enable
NAT, this will assist PFSense gain the DNS information that is required for Internet access.
If you are unable to gain access to your Router through PFSense itself, then it is probable that you will
have to connect it directly to a LAN client and configure it prior to connecting to PFSense Firewall.
Router Security To assist in securing your PFSense firewall, it may be a desired feature that each
Router does not respond to “Denial of Service Attacks”, “Flood Pings”, External Pings” and other
undesired Internet Based attacks. If you’re Router have these Firewall features it may be advisable to
utilize these security features. Please refer to your Router Manufacturer Users manual.
DMZ Access Enabling Router Security Firewall and blocking or dropping External Requests, may
prevent you from having DMZ or Remote Access to Servers or PFSense itself. If remote access is
required and you desire to tighten up the Security on your PFSense Firewall, use the following. This
will take time by Closing all access and then slowly easing security until you have a secure Firewall
but have the desired access control.
Testing Firewall Security To test firewall security, Internet Based Security companies have Website
features that will test Firewalls, Routers and Clients from a remote location. This is done by you
inviting the company to test your security which also produces a report that may assist you in your
Firewall Security. There are a number of User Pay and Subscription options available. For a quick
security check that is FREE, try using the Gibson Research Centre Website “ShieldsUP Test” on
http://www.grc.com
Finally When you have configured all your Rules and NAT and Pools it may be a desired choice to
reboot PFSense. On reboot you may want to test your Load Balance and Fail Over configurations.
The fail over option can be simulated by either unplugging the Ethernet patch lead or turning off the
power from each ADSL Router independently one at a time and testing Internet access. To test Load
Balance you can use a website that replies to your IP Addresses.
http://dynamic.zoneedit.com/checkip.html if you refresh the page it will give you your alternate IP
Address. Another way to test the Load Balance is to have two or more users on the LAN and search
for a Web Page at the same time. They should take alternate paths.
13

Remote Console AS much of PFSense is able to be configured by Web Browser, some other options
may be to use a Remote Console Utility called “Putty and WinSCP3”. These utilities are free
downloads and are able to access PFSense remotely. Putty is a remote console, while WinSCP3 is an
Explorer styled remote access tool. To access PFSense remotely using either of these tools, on the
System Menu is the Advanced Option. Select it and on the Page is Option to enable SSH (Secure
Shell). To use them use the admin name and the password that you saved.
14

DHCP Server It is advisable in your DHCP server to enable it and to set the DNS that you want your
LAN Clients to use. The DHCP will also issue the default of DNS Address of 192.168.1.1 if no other
DNS Addresses are specified. It is advisable to use the DNS Addresses that your ISP has issued your
accounts.
Another option might be if you have a particular user or devices that need a set IP Address that does
not change may be to dedicate an IP by Mac Address association and NetBIOS name. PFSense
DHCP will never give out that IP Address to any other machine except to the one with that MAC
Address. The MAC Address or each is unique, unless it is being replicated by using spoofing tools.
The easies way to find the MAC Address of device is by using the ARP command found in the
Diagnostic Menu or in the command console enter the command arp –a. Allocate these MAC
Addresses an IP Address outside of the DHCP IP Address List and each time that device logs onto
the LAN, it will be issued the IP Address allocated by MAC Address.
Troubleshooting Using the command console is a good option for troubleshooting Network and Internet
faults. Use the “ping and tracert” commands will assist you in diagnosing your problems. In the Diagnostic menu
the ping function is available to ping through each Interface, LAN, WAN and OPT Interfaces. First try pinging
your WAN gateway and then your Monitor IP through your WAN. If no problem exists there, then ping through
your OPT Interface the OPT gateway and monitor IP. These are just a couple of simple troubleshooting
techniques. For PFSense assistance please refer to the PFSense Forum, Support List and Archives.
If loss of Internet still persists, connect your ADSL Routers directly to a client and test for Internet browsing
ability. Your fault may lie with your Router Setup or incorrect WAN, OPT patching to WAN and OPT interfaces.
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PFSENSE Load Balance with Fail Over From Version Beta3

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