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Nighthawk CM2000, RAXE300, pfSense CE, XS712Tv2 12-Port 10G Managed Switch Setup
Bought the Nighthawk CM2000 and RAXE300 to replace Spectrum ISP gear needing to eliminate the double NAT as I never succeeded in direct connection of Spectrum modem to the pfSense router. Without the...
I'd be more wondering if its an issue with pfsense and how its negotiating a public/private IP address setup from the ISP.
I've dabbled in a few aftermarket 3rd party software but never pfsense. They've been a bit more complicated and not as user friendly in my experience. And I didn't do it enough to be worth the time so went back to direct modem---router setups. So not much help but based on prior experience, I'd be on the pfsense forums asking assistance.
Zaphod-17 wrote:
Bought the Nighthawk CM2000 and RAXE300 to replace Spectrum ISP gear needing to eliminate the double NAT as I never succeeded in direct connection of Spectrum modem to the pfSense router. Without the Spectrum Router between them the pfSense router never obtained an IP address.
I'm confused, what are you trying to sort out?
If you are piling a RAXE300 router on to a pfSense router, or vice versa, then you are in classic double NAT country.
Two routers on your network can cause headaches. For example, you can end up with local problems with addresses on your network. Among other things, the other router can misdirect traffic to addresses that the Netgear router usually handles, such as routerlogin.net or the usual default IP address for a router, 192.168.1.1.
This explains some of the other drawbacks.
What is Double NAT? | Answer | NETGEAR Support
Unless you have specific reasons for using two routers – to create two separate networks for example – it is often easier to use just one router and then to set up the second router as a wifi access point (AP) with a wired connection to the main router. Netgear advises this, as does just about every site you will visit.
How do I change my NETGEAR router to AP mode? | Answer | NETGEAR Support
But that has its own drawbacks:
Disabled Features on the Router when set to AP Mode | Answer | NETGEAR Support
Start by explaining the end result that you want to achieve, and maybe someone who understands these things can unravel this rat's nest and help you out.
As to the rest of that list of kit, it helps to take things a step at a time, adding one device and then when that works the next one on the chain.
Sorry for the rat's nest. One shouldn't write at 4am.
The whole point is to avoid double NAT configuration.
My goal was to configure an Internet - NetGear CM2000 - pfSense Router - Managed Switch - NetGear RAXE300 Access Point linkage configuration with the pfSense Router presenting a WAN public IP address.
After two frustrating weeks informed by the pfSense manual, this forum, reddit and other networking forums of continual failure, success was achieved but I don't know why it suddenly worked. I fear that having snapshot the pfSense configuration and created template clones is mere folly. As of now this configuration only works occasionally so I need to understand the underlying issue.
The pfSense dashboard \ Interface WAN setting remains blank for several minutes then flashes a private IP address which then changes to a public IP address. The pfSense VM WAN IP address remains blank throughout.
Are there log files that would help understand what is going on as the NetGear CM2000 negotiates or transmits an IP address to the pfSense WAN. Any way of determining why it fails? Rebooting the CM2000 has not been a magic bullet to say the least. Should the pfSense Router be rebooted or should it be simply waiting for the CM2000 to present non-flashing indicators before taking next actions? Does when the Ethernet cord is inserted into the CM2000 and pfSense Router WAN ports bear any significance?
"NetGear CM2000 - pfSense Router - Managed Switch - NetGear RAXE300 Access Point" should work in this configuration with the RAXE in AP mode.
Zaphod-17 wrote:
My goal was to configure an Internet - NetGear CM2000 - pfSense Router - Managed Switch - NetGear RAXE300 Access Point linkage configuration with the pfSense Router presenting a WAN public IP address.
That's the way to do it.
There could be other options, but if you want that, fine. Just don't expect the RAXE300 to do everything in its repertoire.
Disabled Features on the Router when set to AP Mode | Answer | NETGEAR Support
Because the RAXE300 is in AP mode, it has little influence over your network. Problem solving is probably down to the upstream devices, the pfSense Router and Managed Switch. Not much help that anyone here can give with those.
I'd be more wondering if its an issue with pfsense and how its negotiating a public/private IP address setup from the ISP.
I've dabbled in a few aftermarket 3rd party software but never pfsense. They've been a bit more complicated and not as user friendly in my experience. And I didn't do it enough to be worth the time so went back to direct modem---router setups. So not much help but based on prior experience, I'd be on the pfsense forums asking assistance.
Sadly, I haven't been able to respond because, just as I feared, after cloning the pfSense configuration and rebooting the Nighthawk modem would no longer connect to the pfSense Router. That was Thursday, June 27th. Pretty much non-stop since then trying to get a public WAN address to be accepted on the pfSense Router. Which remarkably it just did and I again have no understanding as to why.
I must beg pardon as simply too exhausted to realize that indeed the RAXE300 had been removed from the situation and that this should be addressed on a pfSense forum.
Thank you all for your input!
good luck on the pfsense forum!
The RAXE300 is pretty solid so would work going modem---->raxe while you're trying to get the pfsense to function properly.
