DHCP in Router Mode on Firewalla Purple

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Mark Canup

• June 13, 2022 23:58

Hi,

I have a Firewalla Purple that I recently upgraded from a Firewalla Blue I had been using for a few years. I was using DHCP mode on the Blue so transitioned to the Purple in DHCP mode as well. I have the Purple connected so it is inline between my core switch and my AT&T U-verse gateway, so physically it is ready to be transitioned to Router mode. I want to move to Router mode because I want to use WISP, and that is only supported in Router mode. 

However, I haven't moved to Router mode yet because the instructions for how to do this have step 0 which says to turn on DHCP on the gateway first. I don't want to use DHCP on the gateway. I want the Firewalla to continue to act as the DHCP server.

Is it possible to continue to use the DHCP server on the Firewalla while in router mode? I wasn't able to find anything definitively stating one way or the other, but don't want to mess up my network trying to figure it out.

And if Firewalla can't be the DHCP server when in Router mode, how would I configure DHCP on the gateway, since it is a different subnet than the Firewalla's internal network? 

Thanks!

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  Firewalla

  • June 14, 2022 04:02

  The DHCP server turning on step is just to make sure firewalla boots during the migration. After you swap firewalla over to router mode, you will always use firewalla for DHCP, and most likely that you will be turning your modem/router into modem mode. 

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  Mark Canup

  • June 14, 2022 10:49

  Thanks, that helps. So, as I re-read the instructions, it seems like many of the steps are actually geared toward placing the Firewalla Purple inline between the router and the modem (in the example). In my situation, I already have Firewalla inline, using the WAN port to connect to my AT&T U-Verse gateway/modem with one RFC 1918 private network, and using the LAN port to connect to my core switch on the internal network using a different RFC 1918 private network space. I've essentially already done steps 3 and 4 of the instructions even though I haven't done step 1.

  I have the WAN interface of the Firewalla configured with a static IP address so don't see why I would need DHCP to be turned on on the AT&T U-Verse gateway. I assume I can just ignore that part of the process.

  I believe that with my setup, moving from DHCP mode to Router mode shouldn't really require any changes at all. I'm just hesitant to try it because I don't want to lose any of my configuration if the Firewalla app thinks it needs to perform steps that in my case have already been performed, and inadvertently wipes something out.

  Thanks!

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  Firewalla

  • June 14, 2022 14:40

  The purple and gold are pretty flexible in the configuration part. If the primary network is down, you can use the Bluetooth interface to configure stuff; meaning it is fairly safe to experiment. 

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  Mark Canup

  • June 16, 2022 00:10

  I made the change this morning to Router mode and it went seamlessly. No changes required. Thanks for your help.

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  Firewalla

  • June 16, 2022 01:02

  wonderful. 

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