This model experiences frequent random restarts.
This model experiences frequent random restarts.
So I have a little bit of an oddball thing going on with the 24 port switch I recently bought. When I got done switching everything over from my TP-Link TL-SG1008D 8 Port Gigabit Switch over to my Dell Powerconnect 5324 24 Port Switch. (I did buy it used, unknown if it had a factory reset done on it or not), After the boot-up, everything was working fine for the first few minutes till my internet connection got knocked out. When I looked at the switch, only one set of the activity LED's were lit. So apparently the switch decided to restart itself. Few minutes later it did it again. It only seems to restart itself only when there is an active internet connection going into the switch from my router. Right now I'm currently waiting for my serial cable to come in so I can check the logs on the switch itself (since none of the stores I went too had the cable I needed). Here's a list of what I'm using on my network. Dell Dimension 3100 Running on PFSense Version 2.3.4 WAN Nic: fxp0@pci0:3:8:0: class=0x020000 card=0x01c41028 chip=0x10648086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00 vendor = 'Intel Corporation' device = '82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller' class = network subclass = ethernet Lan Nic: re0@pci0:3:1:0: class=0x020000 card=0x816910ec chip=0x816910ec rev=0x10 hdr=0x00 vendor = 'Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.' device = 'RTL8169 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller' class = network subclass = ethernet Dell Powerconnect 5324 24 Port Gigabit Switch Ubiquiti UniFi AP Dell XPS Gen 4 (Linux Server for file backup) Dell Precision T3400 (As my main server for my network) HP d220MT (Windows XP machine hardly on) Blu R1 HD (My Mom's phone) Dell Latitude E6410 (My primary laptop with the wire connection via docking station) My gaming rig Asus Zenfone Zoon (My phone) Acer Aspire E5-551-T374 (My mom's laptop) Acer Iconia W700-6495 (My Mom's windows tablet) Right now I'm trying to come up with a few theories to test out. Since I for a fact it's between my router and switch. Like I mentioned earlier, I am waiting for my serial cable to make it in sometime today.
pfSense should display a log entry showing the LAN interface lost connection due to a physical cable issue. The message typically reads something like; Kernel: rtl0: link state changed to DOWN. It appears FreeBSD’s driver support for RealTek cards is poor, which may be the cause. It’s advised to swap in an Intel 1G adapter instead.
@Falconevo, nothing similar has occurred on the PFSense end before. I haven’t experimented with swapping the WAN and LAN ports. The onboard NIC in my device is Intel-based.
Consider swapping the ports, suggesting a RealTek replacement with an Intel or Broadcom chipset. Add arpwatch on the pfSense device and check for unexpected ARP spam from network devices. Most enterprise switches include broadcast storm limits that can shut down or slow ports under heavy traffic. The Dell switch should provide logs to confirm any port shutdowns or throttling. Begin by logging into the switch and reviewing available logs if you don’t see activity in pfSense.
I tried it myself. Checking the PFSense packages didn’t show Arpwatch, which could mean I need to add it manually. Since I’m not used to installing third-party components outside of PFSense, it might be a bit tricky.
I also attempted the switcharoo using the ports on my pFSense device, but it didn’t change anything. I’m expecting my serial cable tomorrow. Now I just need to learn the commands for the switch.
This feature isn't listed in the available options for PfSense version 2.3.4.
Upgrade to the newest stable version 2.4.3-RELEASE-p1; ensure your configuration is saved prior to the update!