IPsec logs always blank

[zyphlar]

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Describe the bug

Despite finding IPsec log settings under VPN > IPsec > Advanced Settings (which was non-obvious, some of these menus could use reordering/renaming/cleanup and some features more prominently cross-linked to each other) the VPN > IPsec > Log File entry is totally blank.

Interestingly, the Firewall > Log Files > General view is similarly blank even though the Live, Overview, and Plain Views have data. I wonder if this logging facility is broken somehow. A firefox network inspector shows a POST being received just fine, it just produces rows: [] (empty response) for both api/diagnostics/log/core/ipsec and api/diagnostics/log/core/firewall

To Reproduce

• Enable normal IPsec and Firewall things, including IPsec debug settings.
• Restart the IPsec service even though that shouldn't be necessary (should be part of changing debug settings)
• Try to view IPsec logs, notice they are blank

Expected behavior

IPsec logs should not be blank, especially with debug log levels turned on.

Describe alternatives you considered

Screaming into the void, etc

Environment

OPNsense 24.1.8-amd64 FreeBSD 13.2-RELEASE-p11 OpenSSL 3.0.13

AMD GX-412TC SOC (4 cores, 4 threads)

PCEngines APU2

[AdSchellevis]

right top corner, log level selector

[zyphlar]

Ahh, that did it. So I've been managing IPsec VPNs with PFsense/etc since ~2010, I think it's safe to say that most people who haven't figured out not only the log level controls but also the log level filters is going to just give up rather than make a Github ticket (I'm a feisty one, and also happen to also live on Github all day in my new job as a web dev.) Almost every other page in OPNsense automatically displays whatever data it may have, these tables specifically are oddballs in that regard.

Some suggestions to prevent future dismay:

• Link to or hint at IPsec log level settings inside the Connections, Legacy IPSec Tunnel, and other control panels
• Rename or hint at "Advanced Settings" containing log details
• If a restart is necessary for debug settings (idk if it is) specify that, prompt for a restart, or just automatically restart
• If a table in the GUI (like these log tables) returns no data, modify the message to say "No results found! If you expect data here, adjust the displayed log levels"
• Alternatively, just set these tables to the maximal log level by default, people can filter down if they want
• I was battling a failing IPsec tunnel with mismatched ciphers and peer identifiers, that's not a warning or higher?
• The IPsec Status Overview consistently said ":arrow_forward: Connected" even when it wasn't due to the aforementioned mismatches, making that more accurate or perhaps linking to a more detailed status would be helpful (I personally know better than to trust IPsec when it says everything's fine, but that's because it was my hellish job for a long time, most people expect things to only be green when phase 1+2 are up and passing traffic.)

That all said, thank you so much for continuing the FOSS nature of PFsense, overall I'm surprised by the featureset, stability, and updated UI.

[AdSchellevis]

Sounds like case closed, there's always room for improvement, but how we handle logging in all parts of the system is pretty consistent, explaining the use better is more a documentation issue (maybe adding a paragraph in https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/gui.html).

[zyphlar]

I've gotten this far without reading the manual, not gonna start now ;)

Consider this a feature request, maybe I'll make a PR sometime in the future if I have time. The rest of the UI is mostly intuitive, minus this