pfSense - Not Resolving Hostnames to IP Addresses?

 

Intro:

For a while this has been bugging me. You should be able to ping a hostname on the local network and it should return the device's IP address. It's working for some hosts but not all. This is under Windows 10 Enterprise or Pro.

"ping orangepizero3" should return 192.168.2.226 but the ping command is stating "Ping request could not find host orangepizero3. Please check the name and try again.".

Fix:

Call up your pfSense web admin portal.

Navigate to "Services --> DNS Resolver".

Scroll all the way down and at the bottom enable the following two settings:

• DHCP Registration
• Static DHCP

The page will reload, click on "Apply" in green.

Flush the DNS resolver on your machine.

ipconfig /flushdns

Try pinging the host again.

Side Notes:

Google Chrome loves to not work properly on many levels. For the example above I'm finding that it doesn't even attempt to look up "orangepizero3" before returning "Address not found...".

If I call up "http://orangepizero3/admin" in a normal or private Chrome Window, I get the same error. 

• CTRL + Reload doesn't do jack.
• Clearing the DNS cache at "chrome://net-internals/?#dns" doesn't do shit either.

However if call it up in FireFox in either a normal page or private page, it loads the Pi-hole page after a second or two of thought. Subsequent lookups are even faster due to its caching.

At a loss with Chrome.

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pfSense - Delete Expired DHCP Leases Manually

 

 

Intro:

Here's a quick way to remove/purge all expired DHCP leases from pfSense if you don't feel like waiting until pfSense reclaims them.

 This is also super helpful if an IP address is mistakenly assigned to the wrong MAC via DHCP and you then need to assign it as static to a different MAC. If you're making quick changes to the DHCP server you'll find a use for this.

 

Fix:

1. Log into your pfSense box.
2. Top right, click on "Diagnostics" ➡ "Edit File".
3. Load "/var/dhcpd/var/db/dhcpd.leases".
4. Select the blocks that you need to remove. Each block of data begins with the word "leases" and ends with a curly brace, "}".
5. When done editing the file directly click on "Save" near the top left of the edit box.

 

Extras:

There may be another file with the same name but with a tilde "~" sign after it. This file indicates that it is a backup of the original "dhcpd.leases" file. To be sure you've changed it in all necessary files, go ahead and delete the leases from this backup file as well or make life easy and just copy the "dhcpd.leases" content over to the "dhcpd.leases~" file and save.

 

DHCPv6 Leases can also be deleted but the file names are slightly different as seen below, however the files reside in the same folder as the IPv4 files:

 

IPv6:

• dhcpd6.leases
• dhcpd6.leases~

IPv4:

• dhcpd.leases
• dhcpd.leases~

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pfSense - Get Memory Module Manufacturer, Part Number, Serial Number, Memory Speed, and Voltage - All Without SSH

Intro:

I found this useful when trying to order memory for a new pfSense network appliance. I had purchased Crucial memory in the past however I've ordered way to much RAM for client machines that it was hard to differentiate between the models. To be 100% sure that I reordered the correct module, I was able to use the command below to grab the exact model number of the RAM stick used in this particular appliance.

Start Here:

1.) Call up your pfSense box and login.

2.) Click on 'Diagnostics' --> 'Command Prompt'

Diagnostics Menu

3.) In the section that says, 'Execute Shell Command' type the following, 'dmidecode --type 17' and click on 'Execute'.

Execute Shell Command

See this image for the syntax

4.) In the section below you can see the manufacturer, part number, serial number, memory speed, and voltage.

Results of dmidecode

Memory Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

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