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    Pfsense not responding to large packet pings

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • GertjanG
      Gertjan @johnpoz
      last edited by

      @johnpoz said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

      25 year old software wouldn't be doing jumbo ;)

      25 year old software isn't jumbo aware. Software from 2021 : same thing.
      The ISO network stack is far older then that. I recall, somewhere in the eighties, @school, that they started to tell me about this new 7 layer model (some say 8 layers) thing.
      So, the program would hand over 'the file' to be transmitted to the OS.
      And deep down somewhere, the data stream is cut down in chunks of XX bytes, as that is the way how info is send over.
      The program doesn't need to know about headers, sessions, MAC addresses or even IP addresses. It doesn't care that 'TCP' or IPv4 or IPv6 is used.

      I guess @GemeenAapje is talking about Jumbo frames because he want to push to the limit his local traffic from/to a file server or a NAS.
      With these jumbo frame settings, locally, on PC's using Macrium (backup disk clone tool) I can backup a disk to my Syno NAS with true 100 % 1 Gigabit / sec. With classic 1500 byte frames there is little bit more overhead. Jumbo frame cram out that extra zero dot x % speed gain.

      No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
      Edit : and where are the logs ??

      johnpozJ JKnottJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Gertjan
        last edited by

        @gertjan good point actually.. Really need to just sniff on the device sending the traffic and see what its putting on the wire.

        Are they jumbo frame or just fragmented down to 1500 mtu.. If the sender is putting jumbo on the wire - then yeah your going to need jumbo support on the switches. And the router as well..

        And you can have all kinds of issues when you have one network doing jumbo, and then another network your trying to route to for the receiver device that isn't using jumbo, etc.

        @GemeenAapje we really need to more info - but causing a problem by sending large pings to pfsense is prob not related to the problem..

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          @johnpoz said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

          but causing a problem by sending large pings to pfsense is prob not related to the problem..

          ...though I would expect it to work with arbitrarily sized packets. I have never tried 64K though. Until now.

          [2.5.2-RELEASE][admin@t70.stevew.lan]/root: ping -s 65500 172.21.16.246
          PING 172.21.16.246 (172.21.16.246): 65500 data bytes
          65508 bytes from 172.21.16.246: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=1.942 ms
          65508 bytes from 172.21.16.246: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.825 ms
          65508 bytes from 172.21.16.246: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=1.878 ms
          65508 bytes from 172.21.16.246: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=1.764 ms
          ^C
          --- 172.21.16.246 ping statistics ---
          4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
          round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.764/1.852/1.942/0.066 ms
          

          A similar test to another device in my network fails:

          [2.5.2-RELEASE][admin@t70.stevew.lan]/root: ping -s 2000 172.21.16.185
          PING 172.21.16.185 (172.21.16.185): 2000 data bytes
          ^C
          --- 172.21.16.185 ping statistics ---
          2 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
          

          The difference there is that 172.21.16.185 is behind a PoS TP-Link switch which doesn't pass packet fragments. Because.... no clue!

          But bad switches aside it should work.

          Steve

          johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @stephenw10
            last edited by johnpoz

            @stephenw10 said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

            PoS TP-Link switch which doesn't pass packet fragments.

            What kind of shit switch? Yeah that belongs in the trash!

            So what I have been able to duplicate.. Is if I try it "through" pfsense it fails.. But if on the same L2 network then works

            $ ping -l 65500 ntp
            
            Pinging ntp.local.lan [192.168.3.32] with 65500 bytes of data:
            Request timed out.
            Request timed out.
            
            root@pi-hole:/# ping -s 65500 ntp
            PING ntp.local.lan (192.168.3.32) 65500(65528) bytes of data.
            65508 bytes from ntp.local.lan (192.168.3.32): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=12.1 ms
            65508 bytes from ntp.local.lan (192.168.3.32): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=12.1 ms
            65508 bytes from ntp.local.lan (192.168.3.32): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=12.1 ms
            

            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

            JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by stephenw10

              Same one that loves VLAN 1. šŸ™„

              Yeah, needs recycling!

              Just for reference here's two 3100s on different subnets routed through a 2.5.2 box:

              [21.05.1-RELEASE][admin@fw1.stevew.lan]/root: ping -s 65500 -c 3 3100-2.fire.box
              PING 3100-2.fire.box (192.168.10.103): 65500 data bytes
              65508 bytes from 192.168.10.103: icmp_seq=0 ttl=63 time=3.832 ms
              65508 bytes from 192.168.10.103: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=3.512 ms
              65508 bytes from 192.168.10.103: icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=3.583 ms
              
              --- 3100-2.fire.box ping statistics ---
              3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
              round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 3.512/3.642/3.832/0.137 ms
              

              That's also through some VLANs over a LAGG just for fun.

              Steve

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              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @stephenw10
                last edited by johnpoz

                Odd so through pfsense seems largest I can get is 34276

                $ ping -l 34276 ntp
                
                Pinging ntp.local.lan [192.168.3.32] with 34276 bytes of data:
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                
                $ ping -l 34277 ntp
                
                Pinging ntp.local.lan [192.168.3.32] with 34277 bytes of data:
                Request timed out.
                Request timed out.
                

                problem is I think if you loose like 1 packet - you run into problem where they all have to be transmitted again..

                $ ping -l 34276 ntp -t
                
                Pinging ntp.local.lan [192.168.3.32] with 34276 bytes of data:
                Request timed out.
                Request timed out.
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=8ms TTL=63
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                Request timed out.
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                Reply from 192.168.3.32: bytes=34276 time=7ms TTL=63
                

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  That's between local subnets? The ping time is very high compared with what I'm seeing at double the packet size. So presumably twice the number of fragments.

                  Unable to replicate here.

                  johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • johnpozJ
                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @stephenw10
                    last edited by johnpoz

                    @stephenw10 yeah that is between 2 local segments..

                    Its to a pi, so the pi might have some issues with reassembly that is slowing up the response?

                    I do see sub ms response normal sized pings

                    C:\tools>hrping ntp
                    This is hrPING v5.07.1148 by cFos Software GmbH -- http://www.cfos.de
                    
                    Source address is 192.168.9.100; using ICMP echo-request, ID=fc2f
                    Pinging ntp [192.168.3.32]
                    with 32 bytes data (60 bytes IP):
                    
                    From 192.168.3.32: bytes=60 seq=0001 TTL=63 ID=f41c time=0.931ms
                    From 192.168.3.32: bytes=60 seq=0002 TTL=63 ID=f42d time=0.808ms
                    From 192.168.3.32: bytes=60 seq=0003 TTL=63 ID=f45b time=0.829ms
                    From 192.168.3.32: bytes=60 seq=0004 TTL=63 ID=f481 time=0.820ms
                    
                    Packets: sent=4, rcvd=4, error=0, lost=0 (0.0% loss) in 1.511180 sec
                    RTTs in ms: min/avg/max/dev: 0.808 / 0.847 / 0.931 / 0.049
                    Bandwidth in kbytes/sec: sent=0.158, rcvd=0.158
                    

                    edit: You know what also could be contributing?? Pi is only connected at 100, while my pc is at gig.. hmmmm

                    An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                    If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                    Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                    SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                    GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • bingo600B
                      bingo600
                      last edited by bingo600

                      I can do 25100 to the pfsense , 25200 fails

                      $ ping -s 25100 fw-01
                      PING fw-01 (10.17.11.1) 25100(25128) bytes of data.
                      25108 bytes from fw-01 (10.17.11.1): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=3.40 ms
                      
                      

                      I do 25200 wo probs to my RasPi3 , on another subnet.

                      $ ping -s 65500 raspi3
                      PING raspi3. (192.168.17.34) 65500(65528) bytes of data.
                      65508 bytes from raspi3. (192.168.17.34): icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=24.0 ms
                      
                      

                      Tests done via wifi C2702i , and passing two HP 1820 switches (No Jumbo)

                      If you find my answer useful - Please give the post a šŸ‘ - "thumbs up"

                      pfSense+ 23.05.1 (ZFS)

                      QOTOM-Q355G4 Quad Lan.
                      CPUĀ  : Core i5 5250U, Ram : 8GB Kingston DDR3LV 1600
                      LANĀ  : 4 x Intel 211, DiskĀ  : 240G SAMSUNG MZ7L3240HCHQ SSD

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                      • GertjanG
                        Gertjan @johnpoz
                        last edited by

                        ping -l 65500 192.168.2.2

                        Where 192.168.2.2 is an ancient Linksys E1200 access point, cabled up with 100 Mb - not 1 Gb.
                        This device is 10,12 years old.

                        I ping from 192.168.1.15, a windows 10 on LAN, through pfSense, to the other network 192.168.2.0.

                        From 192.168.2.2Ā : bytes=65500 time=15 ms TTL=63

                        "15 ms" probably because the10x slower "192.168.2.x network.

                        Windows - the ping command, doesn't allow me to use values above "65500".

                        No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                        Edit : and where are the logs ??

                        johnpozJ JKnottJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • johnpozJ
                          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Gertjan
                          last edited by johnpoz

                          Well this sure seems like a crazy rabbit hole to have gone down ;) hehehe

                          So my 2 pis can ping each other at 65500, but neither can ping pfsense interface on that same network.. But my PC can ping pfsense on my lan can ping just fine at 65500

                          but a vm I have on a different vlan can ping pfsense IP on its vlan just fine with 65500..

                          Yeah this is a crazy rabbit hole ;)

                          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                          stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @johnpoz
                            last edited by

                            @johnpoz said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

                            Well this sure seems like a crazy rabbit hole to have gone down ;)

                            Ha, indeed! 64K packets.... who knew.

                            JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • JKnottJ
                              JKnott @Gertjan
                              last edited by

                              @gertjan said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

                              Jumbo frame cram out that extra zero dot x % speed gain.

                              Actually, it's due to the way switches handle the data. Switch specs talk about frames, not bits, as it takes them just as much effort to handle a small frame as a big one. The buffer receives the data, triggers the switch to move it and sends it to the appropriate port and it does this an entire frame at a time. So, the bigger the frame, the more data is handled each time.

                              PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                              i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                              UniFi AC-Lite access point

                              I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                              • JKnottJ
                                JKnott @johnpoz
                                last edited by

                                @johnpoz said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

                                What kind of shit switch?

                                Your favourite, TP-Link.

                                PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                                i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                                UniFi AC-Lite access point

                                I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                                • JKnottJ
                                  JKnott @johnpoz
                                  last edited by

                                  @johnpoz said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

                                  problem is I think if you loose like 1 packet - you run into problem where they all have to be transmitted again..

                                  That depends on the software. TCP can recover from missing pieces, without starting from the beginning of a packet. However, it depends on the particular version. I don't know that UDP or ICMP can recover.

                                  PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                                  i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                                  UniFi AC-Lite access point

                                  I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • JKnottJ
                                    JKnott @Gertjan
                                    last edited by

                                    @gertjan said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

                                    Windows - the ping command, doesn't allow me to use values above "65500"

                                    That's because 65K is the maximum packet size. So, that would be 65536 less overhead.

                                    PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                                    i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                                    UniFi AC-Lite access point

                                    I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • JKnottJ
                                      JKnott @stephenw10
                                      last edited by

                                      @stephenw10

                                      Well, that is the maximum allowed for IP.

                                      PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                                      i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                                      UniFi AC-Lite access point

                                      I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • G
                                        GemeenAapje
                                        last edited by GemeenAapje

                                        Good morning guys.
                                        I'm so sorry for sending you all down the rabbit hole :-D

                                        Well I tried some things in the weekend too...
                                        -Upgraded to 2.5.2
                                        -Tried unchecking the "disable hardware offload" options.
                                        -Disabled suricata and pfBlockerNG
                                        -Pinging various other devices in different directions

                                        Basically, nothing helps. It's only pfSense I have a problem with. All other devices can ping 65500 in any direction with almost zero latency.

                                        It's connected with 2 glass fibre cables (sorry I stated this wrong before).
                                        1 glass fibre from the ISP and the other glass fibre going to a 10gb/s switch.

                                        Even just trying to send a large ping packet to the directly-connected switch, over fibre, is impossible. Works up to about 20,000 which give a (broken) response in about 1.8 seconds (not milliseconds!). Above 20k it just fails.

                                        I can ping the pfsense from itself using it's own IP, which is successful (doesn't go out over the network I suppose).

                                        I'm running all good hardware. The NIC is connected via direct passthrough from the VM Host to the pfSense box so the VM has complete control of it.

                                        Something just isn't right though.

                                        I'm not using Jumbo packets by the way, just 1500. I expect the switch the just fragment any large packets.

                                        Anyone got anymore ideas?

                                        Thanks
                                        Matt

                                        PS: anyone know how to reload the Menu after using the shell in pfsense?

                                        GertjanG NogBadTheBadN 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • GertjanG
                                          Gertjan @GemeenAapje
                                          last edited by

                                          @gemeenaapje

                                          Your pfSense runs from a VM ?
                                          So, for you the 'how many bytes per packet' is hard coded in the NIC device driver. And the VM "virtual" NIC driver.
                                          The smallest wins, of course.

                                          My pfSense, 2.5.2 CE, a bare bone install, using a quad Intel NIC card, works fine.

                                          @gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

                                          I can ping the pfsense from itself using it's own IP

                                          Aha : the local - for pfSense - NIC driver is used, the transport stays purely 'in software' to physical or VM rules don't apply. Again : go bare bone and you have your 'close to "65535"'.

                                          @gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

                                          PS: anyone know how to reload the Menu after using the shell in pfsense?

                                          Console ? SSH ?

                                          This menu :

                                          0) Logout (SSH only)                  9) pfTop
                                          1) Assign Interfaces                 10) Filter Logs
                                          2) Set interface(s) IP address       11) Restart webConfigurator
                                          3) Reset webConfigurator password    12) PHP shell + pfSense tools
                                          4) Reset to factory defaults         13) Update from console
                                          5) Reboot system                     14) Disable Secure Shell (sshd)
                                          6) Halt system                       15) Restore recent configuration
                                          7) Ping host                         16) Restart PHP-FPM
                                          8) Shell
                                          

                                          ?

                                          Press Enter an it shows up.

                                          When you entered the 8 or Shell option just type "exit" + enter.

                                          No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                                          Edit : and where are the logs ??

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                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by

                                            I'd still love to know why you're trying to send such huge packets. I've never seen anyone attempt that. Though I agree, I expect it to work.
                                            Try looking at netstat -s. Do you see fragments dropped?

                                            [22.01-DEVELOPMENT][root@6100.stevew.lan]/root: netstat -sp ip
                                            ip:
                                                    1139040 total packets received
                                                    0 bad header checksums
                                                    0 with size smaller than minimum
                                                    0 with data size < data length
                                                    0 with ip length > max ip packet size
                                                    0 with header length < data size
                                                    0 with data length < header length
                                                    0 with bad options
                                                    0 with incorrect version number
                                                    0 fragments received
                                                    0 fragments dropped (dup or out of space)
                                                    0 fragments dropped after timeout
                                                    0 packets reassembled ok
                                                    1135659 packets for this host
                                                    3070 packets for unknown/unsupported protocol
                                                    0 packets forwarded (0 packets fast forwarded)
                                                    10 packets not forwardable
                                                    0 packets received for unknown multicast group
                                                    0 redirects sent
                                                    1181042 packets sent from this host
                                                    4 packets sent with fabricated ip header
                                                    0 output packets dropped due to no bufs, etc.
                                                    15 output packets discarded due to no route
                                                    0 output datagrams fragmented
                                                    0 fragments created
                                                    0 datagrams that can't be fragmented
                                                    0 tunneling packets that can't find gif
                                                    0 datagrams with bad address in header
                                            

                                            Steve

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