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    Some hosts aren't connecting to the internet but others are

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      Hmm that's a lot of awking! I'd try running ps -auxwwd to see what it calling that command.

      Those errors are something on 10.0.0.40 trying to open a page that does not exist on pfSense.
      And the page it's looking for, /cgi-bin/luci/, is from OpenWRT so I suspect you have ha another router at 10.0.0.1 running that at some time.

      A restriction to ~1Mbps almost has to be some link issue or something in the VM setup.

      Steve

      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • M
        mechtheist @stephenw10
        last edited by

        @stephenw10 said in Some hosts aren't connecting to the internet but others are:

        Hmm that's a lot of awking! I'd try running ps -auxwwd to see what it calling that command.

        Those errors are something on 10.0.0.40 trying to open a page that does not exist on pfSense.
        And the page it's looking for, /cgi-bin/luci/, is from OpenWRT so I suspect you have ha another router at 10.0.0.1 running that at some time.

        A restriction to ~1Mbps almost has to be some link issue or something in the VM setup.

        Steve

        I appreciate your patience and help. You're probably right about the clogging of the log, I think must be because when I switched from router to pfsense I just took the WAN cable from the router and plugged it in the NIC for pfsense and then unplugged the router from the LAN, so my PC was probably still trying to doing something with the router. I thought the same thing about the awk cpu usage. The one with awk at 99% also has 'unslogd' right under it at 11% so I was thinking it had something to do with diddling with the log file archiving. I couldn't find anything on unslogd but it seems a plausible guess at what unlogging might do;)

        You've been a great help and I'm hoping you can give me a little more, what would I look for if it's a link issue? Are we talking packet capture? Are there any kind of errors you think I should look for? The VM settings thing is really frustrating and why I keep repeating about doing this for a long time, as far as I know, I'm setting up the VMs the same way I've always done except switching to the vertio for the networks, and I did that when I was already having the problem hoping it might improve the performance and it did by some, maybe 5-10% at best. I ordered one of the newer NICs with the 82580 controllers. It's not the NIC causing the problem but maybe something will popup by switching to the newer card.

        In case anyone can make sense of it, this is the setup info on virtualbox:

        C:\Users\rob>vboxmanage showvminfo "pfsense_octo"
        Name:                        pfsense_octo
        Groups:                      /
        Guest OS:                    FreeBSD (64-bit)
        UUID:                        e73eb791-860c-40f9-94a5-b02b4073ec44
        Config file:                 H:\VirtualBoxVMs\pfsense_octo\pfsense_octo.vbox
        Snapshot folder:             H:\VirtualBoxVMs\pfsense_octo\Snapshots
        Log folder:                  H:\VirtualBoxVMs\pfsense_octo\Logs
        Hardware UUID:               e73eb791-860c-40f9-94a5-b02b4073ec44
        Memory size:                 10121MB
        Page Fusion:                 disabled
        VRAM size:                   126MB
        CPU exec cap:                100%
        HPET:                        disabled
        CPUProfile:                  host
        Chipset:                     piix3
        Firmware:                    BIOS
        Number of CPUs:              8
        PAE:                         enabled
        Long Mode:                   enabled
        Triple Fault Reset:          disabled
        APIC:                        enabled
        X2APIC:                      disabled
        Nested VT-x/AMD-V:           disabled
        CPUID Portability Level:     0
        CPUID overrides:             None
        Boot menu mode:              message and menu
        Boot Device 1:               DVD
        Boot Device 2:               HardDisk
        Boot Device 3:               Not Assigned
        Boot Device 4:               Not Assigned
        ACPI:                        enabled
        IOAPIC:                      enabled
        BIOS APIC mode:              APIC
        Time offset:                 0ms
        RTC:                         local time
        Hardware Virtualization:     enabled
        Nested Paging:               enabled
        Large Pages:                 enabled
        VT-x VPID:                   enabled
        VT-x Unrestricted Exec.:     enabled
        Paravirt. Provider:          Default
        Effective Paravirt. Prov.:   None
        State:                       powered off (since 2021-11-16T16:34:52.162000000)
        Graphics Controller:         VMSVGA
        Monitor count:               1
        3D Acceleration:             disabled
        2D Video Acceleration:       disabled
        Teleporter Enabled:          disabled
        Teleporter Port:             0
        Teleporter Address:
        Teleporter Password:
        Tracing Enabled:             disabled
        Allow Tracing to Access VM:  disabled
        Tracing Configuration:
        Autostart Enabled:           disabled
        Autostart Delay:             0
        Default Frontend:
        VM process priority:         default
        Storage Controller Name (0):            AHCI
        Storage Controller Type (0):            IntelAhci
        Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
        Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  30
        Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
        Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
        AHCI (0, 0): Empty
        AHCI (1, 0): H:\VirtualBoxVMs\pfsense_octo\pfsense-2nd-replacement-11-11-2021--1333.vhd (UUID: a60260db-d839-44c6-8434-345e0f64826c)
        NIC 1:                       MAC: 080027B1449A, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Intel(R) I211 Gigabit Network Connection', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: virtio, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: allow-all, Bandwidth group: none
        NIC 2:                       MAC: 08002719A76D, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: virtio, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: allow-all, Bandwidth group: none
        NIC 3:                       disabled
        NIC 4:                       disabled
        NIC 5:                       disabled
        NIC 6:                       disabled
        NIC 7:                       disabled
        NIC 8:                       disabled
        Pointing Device:             USB Tablet
        Keyboard Device:             PS/2 Keyboard
        UART 1:                      disabled
        UART 2:                      disabled
        UART 3:                      disabled
        UART 4:                      disabled
        LPT 1:                       disabled
        LPT 2:                       disabled
        Audio:                       enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: AC97, Codec: STAC9700)
        Audio playback:              enabled
        Audio capture:               disabled
        Clipboard Mode:              disabled
        Drag and drop Mode:          disabled
        VRDE:                        enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 33891, MultiConn: on, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
        Video redirection:           disabled
        VRDE property               : TCP/Ports  = "33891"
        VRDE property               : TCP/Address = <not set>
        VRDE property               : VideoChannel/Enabled = <not set>
        VRDE property               : VideoChannel/Quality = <not set>
        VRDE property               : VideoChannel/DownscaleProtection = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Client/DisableDisplay = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Client/DisableInput = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Client/DisableAudio = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Client/DisableUSB = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Client/DisableClipboard = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Client/DisableUpstreamAudio = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Client/DisableRDPDR = <not set>
        VRDE property               : H3DRedirect/Enabled = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Security/Method = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Security/ServerCertificate = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Security/ServerPrivateKey = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Security/CACertificate = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Audio/RateCorrectionMode = <not set>
        VRDE property               : Audio/LogPath = <not set>
        OHCI USB:                    disabled
        EHCI USB:                    disabled
        xHCI USB:                    enabled
        
        USB Device Filters:
        
        <none>
        
        Bandwidth groups:  <none>
        
        Shared folders:
        
        Name: 'shared', Host path: 'H:\VirtualBoxVMs\pfsense_octo\shared' (machine mapping), writable, auto-mount, mount-point: '/root/octo'
        
        Capturing:                   active
        Capture audio:               not active
        Capture screens:             0
        Capture file:                H:\VirtualBoxVMs\pfsense_octo\pfsense_octo.webm
        Capture dimensions:          1024x768
        Capture rate:                512kbps
        Capture FPS:                 25kbps
        Capture options:             vc_enabled=true,ac_enabled=false,ac_profile=med
        
        Guest:
        
        Configured memory balloon size: 0MB
        

        “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

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

          I'm not really very familiar with VBox but nothing there jumps out. I do run it here occasionally but in Linux. What is the host processor? Nothing would really make that much difference but that would be a difference.
          You should be able to run it in hyper-v on the same host relatively easily. It you can't run it bare metal that's the next thing I would try.
          https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/virtualize-hyper-v.html

          Steve

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            mechtheist @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10
            I was actually thinking of using the linux VM I use for a web server to run a pfsense VM on, there's probably more than enough cpu power to work adequately. The PC is win10 on a i7-5960X w/ 64GB RAM with an NVIDIA 2080 gpu hopefully that will be enough so it's not too painful to work with.

            I wrote that yesterday, still working on getting a VM in a VM going. I'm definitely going to try HyperV, one reason for the hesitation is you have to turn all of it off in Windows or it interferes with VirtualBox. The last time I used it I think was back in win8 when Windows basically came with a VM XP. The new card should get here Monday.

            “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Hmm, VM in a VM is double the potential issues IMO.

              If there's any way you can test it bare metal however temporarily I would do that.

              At least moving to Hyper-V changes the potential issues so if you still see it the issue is probably on the host or external.

              Steve

              M 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
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                mechtheist @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 Yeah, I'm going to do a live instance and see how that goes. Thanks for helping out and being patient.

                “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

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                • M
                  mechtheist @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 said in Some hosts aren't connecting to the internet but others are:

                  Hmm, VM in a VM is double the potential issues IMO.

                  If there's any way you can test it bare metal however temporarily I would do that.

                  At least moving to Hyper-V changes the potential issues so if you still see it the issue is probably on the host or external.

                  Steve

                  The deed is done, not too many hiccups but one BIG one, pfsense doesn't do Live anymore, and it's been awhile, I had no idea. So I used a USB drive, worked flawlessly pretty much. Weirdly, I couldn't log on with either chrome or Firefox, chrome just took the ID and password and ignored them and presented a blank login page again and firefox simply wouldn't connect, it timed out every time even making sure I wasn't in https. speedtest-
                  trx-cap --  - 11_17_2021 , 21_39_20 - Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test and 2 more pages - Personal - Microsoft_ Edge.png

                  I kinda forgot how zippy it feels when it's not virtualized. I was looking at the pfsense documentation and it discusses Type 1 and Type 2 virtualization engines, the Type 1 it calls 'bare metal'.

                  So it's sitting there all zippy and everything and I realized I had no idea what I should look for, I'm an idiot. The only thing I did was to look at ifconfig and it showed

                  em1: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
                  	options=81009b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,VLAN_HWFILTER>
                  	ether a0:36:9f:29:18:28
                  	inet6 fe80::a236:9fff:fe29:1828%em1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
                  	inet6 ::a236:9fff:fe29:1828 prefixlen 64 autoconf
                  	inet6 ::cbda:70cf:b28a:8ad5 prefixlen 128
                  	inet 192.168.0.7 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
                  	media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
                  	status: active
                  	nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
                  

                  The one thing that stands out to me, if you look all the way up to my first post I mention how it was reporting a 10GbaseT connection in virtualized operation but bare-metal, it's showing the correct 1000baseT. I changed the properties of the NICs in windows to 1000 from 'auto' but that didn't change anything. Could this be the problem? I'd assume there's a setting in pfsense for this but it's never been an issue before and I didn't think of changing it there and I'm back on the router now.
                  So much fun.

                  “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

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

                    @mechtheist said in Some hosts aren't connecting to the internet but others are:

                    I changed the properties of the NICs in windows to 1000 from 'auto'

                    You had set the NICs to 1G fixed? That could definitely cause a problem. When using Gigabit Ethernet you almost always should have the speed/duplex set to autoselect. The only time you would not is if the other end is also set fixed and that should only ever happen on a 100M link. Gigabit requires autoselect.
                    I suspect that is the problem here and the virtualisation is hiding it. VBox always present as a 10G NIC to pfSense so it can't see the real link speed.

                    Steve

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                    • M
                      mechtheist @stephenw10
                      last edited by stephenw10

                      @stephenw10 said in Some hosts aren't connecting to the internet but others are:

                      @mechtheist said in Some hosts aren't connecting to the internet but others are:

                      I changed the properties of the NICs in windows to 1000 from 'auto'

                      You had set the NICs to 1G fixed? That could definitely cause a problem. When using Gigabit Ethernet you almost always should have the speed/duplex set to autoselect. The only time you would not is if the other end is also set fixed and that should only ever happen on a 100M link. Gigabit requires autoselect.
                      I suspect that is the problem here and the virtualisation is hiding it. VBox always present as a 10G NIC to pfSense so it can't see the real link speed.

                      Steve

                      I only set it to 1G fixed recently to see if that made a difference and it didn't. I think the 10G thing must be a virtio thing, I never saw that until recently and I switched to using the virtio interfaces recently. If everyone is talking 1G fixed it's still an issue? That's the first time I ever remember changing that setting, I'll put them all back on auto. This is really frustrating, it's a x50 reduction in bandwidth FFS, it should be something glaringly obvious. Running top on that PC had the top running processes all mostly below .1% most of the time, not used to seeing numbers in top like .04%.

                      “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

                      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • M
                        mechtheist @mechtheist
                        last edited by

                        It's weird, I messed up the quote somehow and when i tried to edit it which only involved inserting a carriage return after the past line of the quote and my saved edit got flagged as spam!

                        “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          Mmm, the forum hates too many edits! I made that edit.

                          Yeah, VBox with virtio always appears as 10G.

                          Yes, there would be no problem if both ends of both links are set to 1G fixed. However the issue is likely to be to a modem etc where it cannot be set fixed. You should really always leave it as autoselect for a Gig link.

                          Steve

                          M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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                            mechtheist @stephenw10
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10 Well, I got Hyper-V working, kinda sorta, a few learning curve issues with the network settings using switches and how that affects which interface is doing what etc, and there were some weird glitches that I can't fathom but that's kinda SOP. But it looks good:
                            0c1d95bc-224b-4f1c-b007-59a6f090acea-image.png
                            Thanks for the help, I'll probably never know what the hell went wrong with pfsense on VirtualBox but gotta move on.

                            “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

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

                              Cool. Yeah looks like an issue in VBox then somehow.

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