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I have recently setup pfSense on a spare machine on my home network and all appears ok. That said I have a question about the WAN IP.

The current setup is as follows:-

Internet (Static IP) >> Modem/Router (192.168.20.1) >> pfSense Server (192.168.1.1) >> Switch (192.168.1.2) >> LAN Machines (192.168.1.XXX)

I have noticed after setting up pfSense the WAN network is set DHCP with the IP 192.168.20.205.

Now the question I have is - shouldn't the WAN be set to the external IP address (static IP) as shown on my modem/router? Is there something else I need to configure so that the external IP shows against the WAN? Or am I misunderstanding here and having the 192.168.1.1 address is how pfSense works on a home network?

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Or am I misunderstanding here and having the 192.168.1.1 address is how pfSense works on a home network?

I think you're misunderstanding what pfSense is. It's a router.

shouldn't the WAN be set to the external IP address (static IP) as shown on my modem/router?

No, because your modem/router is a router (just like your pfSense system is). The modem also has its own "WAN" and "LAN" interfaces, it has its own DHCP client on the "WAN" side, and so it's the device which owns the ISP-issued address.

When you use pfSense, it acts like a normal router – there's no automated mechanism for it to bypass or take over the existing router's functionality, all it can do is behave like an second router chained off the first one. As a result its "WAN" address is obtained from your main router that it's connected to – not directly from the ISP.

You can avoid this by manually switching the modem to "bridge" mode or "modem only" mode, if your ISP allows this. That way the modem will no longer create a separate LAN network, and your pfSense system will be able to directly claim your WAN address (usually via DHCP or PPPoE).

Note that in bridge mode, all of your modem/router's "LAN" ports will connect directly to the ISP, so the only thing that should remain connected to them is the pfSense system.

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There is the issue of the MAC address. Once you put the modem into bridged mode you are now using the MAC address of the network card on the pfsense server. You will be unable to pull the WAN or public IP. I would not recommend putting the modem in bridged mode.

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