topic Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE in My Router

Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 01:00:48 GMT

I switched to Plusnet earlier this week.

I'm using a Draytek Vigor 130 connected directly to the pfSense box (Protectli clone) on the WAN port.

The Draytek is configured in bridge mode with Service VLAN tag set to 101 and MTU 1500.

I've configured a static address on the WAN port of the pfSense box for UI access of the Draytek modem on 192.168.2.1 address

I've then configured the PPoE connection on the WAN port using the username & pass from my account details.

I can bring up the PPoE connection and I am able to access the internet but the system logs are full of LCP down messages and reconnection notices

Sample below:

Mar 29 00:50:49	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] LCP: Down event
Mar 29 00:50:49	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 696 in 2 seconds
Mar 29 00:50:51	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 696
Mar 29 00:50:51	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Set PPP-Max-Payload to '1500'
Mar 29 00:50:51	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Mar 29 00:51:00	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:00	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: DOWN event
Mar 29 00:51:00	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] LCP: Down event
Mar 29 00:51:00	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 697 in 4 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:04	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 697
Mar 29 00:51:04	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Set PPP-Max-Payload to '1500'
Mar 29 00:51:04	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Mar 29 00:51:13	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:13	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: DOWN event
Mar 29 00:51:13	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] LCP: Down event
Mar 29 00:51:13	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 698 in 1 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:14	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 698
Mar 29 00:51:14	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Set PPP-Max-Payload to '1500'
Mar 29 00:51:14	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Mar 29 00:51:23	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:23	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: DOWN event
Mar 29 00:51:23	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] LCP: Down event
Mar 29 00:51:23	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 699 in 1 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:24	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 699
Mar 29 00:51:24	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Set PPP-Max-Payload to '1500'
Mar 29 00:51:24	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Mar 29 00:51:33	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:33	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: DOWN event
Mar 29 00:51:33	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] LCP: Down event
Mar 29 00:51:33	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 700 in 1 seconds
Mar 29 00:51:34	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 700
Mar 29 00:51:34	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Set PPP-Max-Payload to '1500'
Mar 29 00:51:34	ppp	44599	[opt3_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''

So far I've tried v130_3851_579F17, v130_3841_579F17 and 3.8.5.1 firmware on the Draytek, played around with SNR values and disabled vectoring none of this seems to have helped reduce the number of disconnections.

I've also played a fair bit with MTU sizes to no benefit. I've also disabled gateway monitoring in pfsense but again does not appear to have had any tangible impact.

DSL does seem to sync successfully:

  ---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------
   Running Mode            :      17A       State                : SHOWTIME
   DS Actual Rate          : 40557000 bps   US Actual Rate       : 13575000 bps
   DS Attainable Rate      : 40103880 bps   US Attainable Rate   : 13660662 bps
   DS Path Mode            :        Fast    US Path Mode         :        Fast
   DS Interleave Depth     :        1       US Interleave Depth  :        1
   NE Current Attenuation  :       15 dB    Cur SNR Margin       :        9  dB
   DS actual PSD           :     6. 5 dB    US actual PSD        :    13. 3  dB
   NE CRC Count            :        0       FE CRC Count         :     6123
   NE ES Count             :        0       FE  ES Count         :     4835
   Xdsl Reset Times        :        0       Xdsl Link  Times     :        1
   ITU Version[0]          : fe004452       ITU Version[1]       : 41590000
   VDSL Firmware Version   : 05-07-09-0F-01-07   [with Vectoring support]
   Power Management Mode   : DSL_G997_PMS_L0
   Test Mode               : DISABLE
  -------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------
   Far Current Attenuation :       23 dB    Far SNR Margin       :        6  dB
   CO ITU Version[0]       : b5004946       CO ITU Version[1]    : 544ed086
   DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR    : < IFTN >

Any help advice would be appreciated.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Baldrick1 — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 10:37:56 GMT

Moderator's note:
Post released from the automatic Spam Filter.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 11:23:47 GMT

When I was with Plusnet FTTC, I used a Vigor 130 with pfSense for years.

Is your static WAN port setup like this ? - Netgate : Accessing a CPE/Modem from Inside the Firewall

I have seen the problem you're describing when the pfSense WAN ethernet sees a mismatch of PPPoE MTU and the static IP WAN port MTU, using the same physical interface port, when attempting to use PPPoE jumbo frames. For example, the WAN static IP port might have an MTU=1500, but the PPPoE MTU=1508, causing the ethernet port to repeatedly reboot. Oddly even when there is an MTU mismatch, rebooting pfSense does allow the WAN connection to start up and work, but will break again as soon as there is an an attempt to restart the PPPoE after a line disconnection !

Leaving pfSense's WAN MTU and MSS blank works for me -

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 11:49:56 GMT

Cheers for the response PlanetX

Yeah that was the guide I followed to get the WebUI Accesible initially.

Here are my current settings- to the best of my knowledge match the guide.

ModemManagement Interface

The WAN Interface looks like this

WAN InterfaceInterfaces

As you can see the PPoE is up but the logs are just being spammed with LCP Down events

I've experiemented with the baby jumbo frames before I reflashed the Vigor 130 with the alternative ECI firmware which limits to 1500 MTU and that didn't really seem to help.

Anything you can spot?

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 12:39:17 GMT

What error messages do you see if you click on the red bell icon on the pfSense screen top right ?

Was this same setup working OK with your previous ISP ?

The only thing I can see so far that caught my eye is your modem stats -

"NE Current Attenuation : 15 dB Cur SNR Margin : 9 dB"

I have never seen a Vigor 130 with an SNR Margin of 9dB !, I'm wondering if you have a VDSL line fault ?

My Vigor 130 typically sits around 4dB margin, at worst 6dB, and will hang on to sync until the margin is less than zero (negative).

Try running the Plusnet broadband fault detection 'bot', to see whether your line has an identifiable problem -

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

MisterW — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:13:01 GMT

@oakteryx Im no pfsense expert but those entries in the log don't (to me) seem connected with the primary WAN pppoe interface. The opt3_link0 and the 'connection to ""' would seem to indicate that you may have another (hidden?) interface defined somewhere which is trying to make a pppoe connection ?

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 14:23:32 GMT

Thanks again for your input PlanetX.

I was previously with Now Broadband and was unable to get the pfSense box + vigor working with their MER Authentication so this is a completely new setup in fairness.

Since I sent that first post appears the VDSL line has re-synced and looks a bit better now. Perhaps some noise on the line???

---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------
Running Mode : 17A State : SHOWTIME
DS Actual Rate : 59952000 bps US Actual Rate : 13235000 bps
DS Attainable Rate : 60958688 bps US Attainable Rate : 13251227 bps
DS Path Mode : Fast US Path Mode : Fast
DS Interleave Depth : 1 US Interleave Depth : 1
NE Current Attenuation : 15 dB Cur SNR Margin : 3 dB
DS actual PSD : 6. 6 dB US actual PSD : 13. 8 dB
NE CRC Count : 0 FE CRC Count : 6125
NE ES Count : 0 FE ES Count : 4837
Xdsl Reset Times : 0 Xdsl Link Times : 2
ITU Version[0] : fe004452 ITU Version[1] : 41590000
VDSL Firmware Version : 05-07-09-0F-01-07 [with Vectoring support]
Power Management Mode : DSL_G997_PMS_L0
Test Mode : DISABLE
-------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------
Far Current Attenuation : 23 dB Far SNR Margin : 6 dB
CO ITU Version[0] : b5004946 CO ITU Version[1] : 544ed086
DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR : < IFTN >

@Anonymous With this new sync/connection settles still think there could be a fault? Still worth getting on with the bot?

@MisterW Keen eye there- I was confused by this initially but I've just run a TCP dump on each of the interfaces and the WAN Interface is the only one with PPoE traffic. Think it's fairly safe to say there isn't a second rogue PPoE connection going out?

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

MisterW — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 14:42:45 GMT

@oakteryx that log is definitely showing as from the opt3 interface. What have you got the opt3 interface configured as ?

This might help https://kb.protectli.com/kb/pfsense-optional-port-configuration/

but I've just run a TCP dump on each of the interfaces and the WAN Interface is the only one with PPoE traffic

Tcpdump possibly wont show any pppoe traffic, I suspect whatever it is, its not getting past the PADI broadcast

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 14:48:49 GMT

@oakteryx wrote:

@Anonymous With this new sync/connection settles still think there could be a fault? Still worth getting on with the bot?

That looks MUCH better, I'd be happy with that !

My thought about the 'bot', is that as you are new here, your line + phone socket cabling has never been tested (as it is now).

If you simply run the line checker, it costs nothing, it is easy to do, and it might highlight an as yet unidentified issue.

If it comes back with 'nothing found' then you have peace of mind that your new connection was seen to be OK today, but equally if a 'fault' is detected then you can get it investigated sooner rather than later.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:20:53 GMT

It is odd- other than this log entry I can't see any reference to OPT3 on any of interfaces. As far as I can see I don't have an OPT3 interface. Possibly some 'ghost' config??

I will remove all of my interfaces and re-add them this evening while nobody is online.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:21:57 GMT

Cheers @Anonymous as a precaution I will kick off a bot test- as you say nothing to loose.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:23:40 GMT

What was the answer to my question about your pfSense error messages ?

@Anonymous wrote:

What error messages do you see if you click on the red bell icon on the pfSense screen top right ?

@oakteryx wrote:

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:28:39 GMT

@Anonymous

Sorry seem they to have disappeared since I rebooted it and no way to check historical notifications. I did read them and didn't think they had any relevance- maybe something to do about offer for Netgate support or changing the default password?

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:33:23 GMT

@oakteryx wrote:

It is odd- other than this log entry I can't see any reference to OPT3 on any of interfaces. As far as I can see I don't have an OPT3 interface.

Try selecting "Status" in the top menu bar, and selecting "Interfaces" from the drop down list.

If you then scroll down that screen, looking at the black title bar for each interface, is there any clue to what OPT3 is ?

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 17:31:09 GMT

@Anonymous nothing I can see?

When I go to add a new interface- it wants to call the next one I add OPT3- again to me suggesting I don't currently have an OPT3

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 23:26:05 GMT

This seems to have fixed it! Removed all of the interfaces then rebooted the pfSense box.

I then re-added all the interfaces back and added the firewall rules back. I then rebooted the pfsense box again for good measure and brought the PPoE interface up and everything is looking happy in the PPP logs in pfsense. Now no entries in the logs referring to OPT3 at all.

Thankfully this was a pretty minimal config- this would have been a massive hassle if this was a more mature setup with lots of vlans!

Once again thank you both for your input and help with this one- very much appreciated.

Next on my list is figuring out how to monitor the Vigor 130 stats with this configuration. I may be back posting on the forums over the next few days once I’ve had chance to evaluate all the options in detail. I know SNMP is an option when configured with pass through but not sure if possible to get this working with bridge mode? Alternatively the Draytek has the ability to broadcast the stats over its LAN port with the “ Broadcast DSL Status to LAN”. Failing getting these to work there’s always the option of writing a script to SSH in and run vdsl stats on a schedule. Anyone got any experience with any of these methods?

I think ideally I would also like to pass through VLAN 101 back to the router rather than the Draytek handling this. Did you have any success with this @Anonymous or were you happy with leaving the VLAN to the modem?

I also think flashing the ESI alternative firmware to the draytek was pretty much moot- I think the issue here was just with the pfSense box so may experiment with those to see if I can squeeze a bit more out of the line.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 21:38:14 GMT

@oakteryx wrote:

Once again thank you both for your input and help with this one- very much appreciated.

👍 you're welcome ! 👍

@oakteryx wrote:

Next on my list is figuring out how to monitor the Vigor 130 stats with this configuration. I may be back posting on the forums over the next few days once I’ve had chance to evaluate all the options in detail. I know SNMP is an option when configured with pass through but not sure if possible to get this working with bridge mode? Alternatively the Draytek has the ability to broadcast the stats over its LAN port with the “ Broadcast DSL Status to LAN”. Failing getting these to work there’s always the option of writing a script to SSH in and run vdsl stats on a schedule. Anyone got any experience with any of these methods?

I used RouterStats back in the day when I was on ADSL and needed to regularly tweak the modem target SNR, with various Netgear and Billion modem/routers.

Since upgrading to VDSL, my line stats hardly ever move, so I've never had the need for continuous DSL monitoring.

I've just downloaded and tried the latest RouterStatsLite, but there is no obvious way to get it to work with a Vigor 130.

Whenever I want to check my Vigor 130 stats or make adjustments, I Telnet and use the command line, e.g -

$ telnet 192.168.130.1 Trying 192.168.130.1... Connected to 192.168.130.1. Escape character is '^]'. Account:admin Password: ************ Type ? for command help Vigor> v s ---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) ----------- Running Mode : 17A State : SHOWTIME DS Actual Rate : 79997000 bps US Actual Rate : 19998000 bps DS Attainable Rate : 80213548 bps US Attainable Rate : 21007000 bps DS Path Mode : Fast US Path Mode : Fast DS Interleave Depth : 1 US Interleave Depth : 1 NE Current Attenuation : 19 dB Cur SNR Margin : 4 dB DS actual PSD : 7. 7 dB US actual PSD : 14. 0 dB NE CRC Count : 1457 FE CRC Count : 16097 NE ES Count : 412 FE ES Count : 10164 Xdsl Reset Times : 0 Xdsl Link Times : 11 ITU Version[0] : fe004452 ITU Version[1] : 41590000 VDSL Firmware Version : 05-07-06-0D-01-07 [with Vectoring support] Power Management Mode : DSL_G997_PMS_L0 Test Mode : DISABLE -------------------------------- ATU-C Info --------------------------------- Far Current Attenuation : 25 dB Far SNR Margin : 6 dB CO ITU Version[0] : b5004244 CO ITU Version[1] : 434dc190 DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR : < BDCM > Vigor> v s more ---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) ----------- Near End Far End Note Trellis : 1 1 Bitswap : 1 1 ReTxEnable : 0 1 VirtualNoise : 0 0 20BitSupport : 0 0 LatencyPath : 0 0 LOS : 2 0 LOF : 0 0 LPR : 0 2 LOM : 0 0 SosSuccess : 0 0 NCD : 0 0 LCD : 0 0 FECS : 0 482268 (seconds) ES : 412 10164 (seconds) SES : 39 103 (seconds) LOSS : 0 1 (seconds) UAS : 29 15549 (seconds) HECError : 0 0 CRC : 1462 16097 RsCorrection : 0 0 INP : 0 190 (symbols) InterleaveDelay : 0 16 (1/100 ms) NFEC : 68 32 RFEC : 4 16 LSYMB : 5343 16 INTLVBLOCK : 68 32 AELEM : 0 ---- Vigor>

I have my Vigor 130 in 'bridge mode', as I've always had a /30 WAN IP address range.

I don't know whether this helps with your quest to find some monitoring software, but someone on Kitz Forum wrote a Perl script to extract the stats from a Vigor 130 every minute and put the results in a csv file. That could be a good starting point for taking the .csv file as a data source for a graphical interface, maybe into Excel ?

@oakteryx wrote:

I also think flashing the ESI alternative firmware to the draytek was pretty much moot- I think the issue here was just with the pfSense box so may experiment with those to see if I can squeeze a bit more out of the line.

I've tried every version of firmware, but the default release gives the best performance on my Huawei cabinet.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 11:31:21 GMT

If anyone is interested this is the approach I went with.

https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/guides/kb-vigor-130-dsl-status#modem-configuration

By enabling this setting on the Vigor 130 you can get the DSL stats from a UDP broadcast on port 4944 every 10 seconds.

These stats are encrypted but after some pain I managed to figure it out via some trail and error.

The UDP broadcast is 116 bytes in total, first 4 bytes are a "magic byte" just need to be checked they match what you expect and then these first 4 bytes can be ignored.

The remaining 112 bytes are encrypted by AES128 CBC using a SHA1 of the Source MAC address of the broadcasting Vigor 130 as the key (key is also copied into IV as well)...

Once you have decrypted the 112 bytes the first 4 bytes of the 112 can be ignored- I couldn't figure out what these are supposed to be. Then the 4th-8th bytes are downspeed in bits per second, 8th-12th are upspeed in bits per second. (both 32 unsigned integers). I'm not interested in anything else for my needs but it should possible to reverse this further with some further experimentation. The state, profile, SNR Up, SNR Down and firmware version must be in that packet somewhere as from the screenshots in the above link they are show under the "remote VDSL2 Information from WAN2"- so it's just a matter of some experimentation.

I'm logging these into a InfluxdB at the moment but might look at creating a pfSense plugin for others if I get some time to figure out how that all works.

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 12:07:45 GMT

@oakteryx wrote:

... it should possible to reverse this further with some further experimentation.

Have you considered asking DrayTek technical support email UK, for the format of the broadcast ?

I've usually found them to be helpful, even when asking questions that I thought they might avoid responding to.

For the sake of a quick email, you might save yourself a whole lot of time if the info happens to be readily available

Re: Draytek Vigor 130 + PFSense constantly reconnecting via PPoE

oakteryx — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 12:09:08 GMT

I found a message from Draytek on the Whirlpool forums where they were unable to provide further information which led me to dig a bit deeper into this. I think if it wasn’t encrypted I’m sure they’d be happy to help.

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/34k6kqzk