pfSense

2.0 BETA4, built Sept22, on an ALIX board with a 3G PPP WAN connection defined.

1. I've been reading of the code that handles gateways and specifically monitor IP address. There is one place in the code (only in system_gateways_edit.php) where monitorip is saved to $config['interfaces'][$iface]['monitorip']. When I enter a monitor IP for the WAN gateway entry it doesn't end up in <monitorip> field in wan config in config.xml.

I see one place in the code of gwlib.inc that reads this value (in the return_gateways_array function):

/* retrieve a proper monitor IP? */
$ifcfg =& $config['interfaces'][$ifname];
if (is_ipaddr($ifcfg['monitorip']))
    $gateway['monitor'] = $ifcfg['monitorip'];
else
    $gateway['monitor'] = $gateway['gateway'];

In the functions returned array, I think this code will always write the gateway ip address over whatever is stored in $config['gateways']['gateway_item']['monitor']. I think it's making problems. (Apinger conf relies on this functions returned array, so it may be why when a monitor IP is defined, apinger is still pinging the gateway IP.) Here's my /tmp/apinger.status file:

10.64.64.0|XXX.232.27.100|WAN|2813|0|0|0.000ms|100.0%|down

2. I also saw that when dynamic ppp interface variants are defined from interfaces_ppps_edit.php there is no code anywhere I can see that automatically populates gateway info into the $config['gateways']['gateway_item'] part of the config. This may be okay by design, but I thought I would point it out here.

3. Finally, I'm also seeing very strange monitor ip handling behavior, and inconsistent reporting by pfSense of the monitor ip when I enter an alternate monitor IP for my 3G ppp connection. 

Steps:
Start from a default config and define a PPP, PPPoE, or PPtP interface on interfaces_ppps_edit.php and assign to WAN on interfaces_assign.php

Go to system_gateways_edit.php and open the WAN gateway entry and press save. This causes $config['gateways']['gateway_item'] to be populated like this:

<gateways>
    <gateway_item>
        <interface>wan</interface>
        <gateway></gateway>
        <name>WAN</name>
        <weight>1</weight>
        <descr><![CDATA[Interface WAN Dynamic Gateway]]></descr>
        <defaultgw/>
    </gateway_item>
</gateways>

Then, I add a monitor IP (because the gateway according to PPP is 10.64.64.0 and its not a real IP. After saving the config changes to this. Notice that before and after the monitor IP save the <gateway></gateway> field does not say "dynamic" so that throws off the handling of the monitor ip in the gwlib.inc code.

<gateways>
    <gateway_item>
        <interface>wan</interface>
        <gateway></gateway>
        <name>WAN</name>
        <weight>1</weight>
        <descr><![CDATA[Interface WAN Dynamic Gateway]]></descr>
        <monitor>XX.XX.206.184</monitor>
        <defaultgw/>
    </gateway_item>
</gateways>

Now if I go to the pfSense homepage, the gateway shows as being "Online." Then I go to Status-> Gateways and see this. . . (This info is being pulled from /tmp/apinger.status file.)

Name Gateway Monitor Status Description
WAN 10.64.64.0 10.64.64.0 Offline Interface WAN Dynamic Gateway

Now I go back to system_gateways_edit.php for WAN interface and the Monitor IP field is blank, but the IP address is still in conf.xml!
And on the pfSense dashboard, the gateway is shown as "Offline".

I think this needs a small overhaul. :) Right now the different pages of pfSense that report on gateway status pull info from different places, and the system_gateways_edit.php page pulls a combination of info directly from $config['gateways']['gateway_item'] and the return_gateways_array function. :)