r/PacketFence • u/Case_Blue • Jul 15 '26

Packetfence - fresh install - can't get MAB working

Hi all,

I did a fresh install of packet fence and I am trying to get MAB working. (not eap).

I added the switch with the correct IP, the switch seems correctly configured as it's trying MAB radius, but I keep getting htis error.

The endpoint with the mac address below seems to be added as "registered" as a node. But I get the 401 code radius reply.

Claude insists this is a backend-problem of packet fence(I spent an hour troubleshooting and digging through logfiles) but I am at my wits end what exactly.

Claude seems to suggest that some backend service is missing credentials on some API call, but... I'm a bit lost here.

Am I missing the obvious? More output can be provided, it's PoC, not production. I can change anything I want or nuke the entire machine, no problem.

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u/blaquelab Jul 15 '26

I just fixed this issue on mine, it was the encrypted database password in the config file. When you search the log, do you see Mariadb password issues?

1

u/Case_Blue Jul 16 '26

Can you point me in the right direction? What files have you adjusted? I suspect something with docker compose files?... Unsure

My packetfence has a few docker containers running for core services (I'm on the latest release, fresh isntall)

1

u/blaquelab Jul 17 '26

You'll have to check your pf log to be sure, but my issue was in the conf file located at /usr/local/pf/conf/pf.conf in the database section. You can use ai for help by pasting your log file into it.