Two WAN IP's on pfSense?

Networking & Firewalls
1

Gents,
I know that there is probably a simple answer but I can’t figure it out, this is all new to me.

On my pfSense box I have my WAN IP displayed under the WAN interface, this is my public IP (?).
However my gateway IP, under WAN_PPPOE, is completely different and I have no idea where it’s coming from.
Can anyone explain why I have two IP’s?

Kind Regards,
Paul

2

By default, when using PPPoE, WAN_PPPOE is the name for the default gateway created for the WAN interface. If you were to use DHCP on the WAN, the gateway name would be WAN_DHCP by default. It’s just a default name and it can be changed if it confuses you.

The gateway’s address is not your router’s address. Normally, any IPv4 interface (including WAN) has a prefix smaller than /32. In that case, the gateway (next hop router) address has to be in that same network range.

This is different with PPPoE. Remember, the first two Ps stand for point-to-point. There is only one possible host your router can talk to on its WAN interface. All traffic is sent there. As long as that host (a router operated by your ISP) knows how to forward traffic to the internet, you’re good.

See also network - Why can PPPoE connect to a gateway which is not in the same subnet - Network Engineering Stack Exchange.

3

Thanks, now I get it.