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    pfBlockerNG - unbound-control process spikes CPU to 100% every few seconds [SOLVED]

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved pfBlockerNG
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    • johnpozJ
      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @nimrod
      last edited by

      @nimrod I would directly look at the file and make sure it actually applied, if your not seeing any difference in your cpu usage after applying..

      pfblocker.jpg

      you can find the inc file in this dir

      /usr/local/pkg/pfblockerng

      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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      • N
        nimrod @johnpoz
        last edited by

        @johnpoz said in Strange issue with CPU usage.:

        @nimrod I would directly look at the file and make sure it actually applied, if your not seeing any difference in your cpu usage after applying..

        pfblocker.jpg

        you can find the inc file in this dir

        /usr/local/pkg/pfblockerng

        It seems ok. I also see pfblockerng.inc.orig file, which i think is the backup created by system patches package.

        4e2c4b88-ea36-4bc8-8715-c18d7215c3b5-image.png

        This file is 300 megs, and it has 10000 lines of code in it. I guess, the file size depends on how many feeds/lists i have loaded.

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

          @nimrod said in Strange issue with CPU usage.:

          300 megs

          no - 300k, not 300M hehehe

          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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          • N
            nimrod @johnpoz
            last edited by

            @johnpoz said in Strange issue with CPU usage.:

            @nimrod said in Strange issue with CPU usage.:

            300 megs

            no - 300k, not 300M hehehe

            Yeah. 300k, sry. My mind is going out...

            Anyway, @stephenw10 gave me idea with his question. So i actually switched pfBlocker from Unbound mode to Python mode. And guess what. Issue is gone.

            Now im puzzled.

            Is Python mode less effective, or inferior in any way to unbound mode ?

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

              @nimrod I don't use DNSBL, so not sure - but if you click the little i next to it says it uses less memory. And can do more advanced DNSBL

              But again I don't use that..

              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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              • N
                nimrod @johnpoz
                last edited by

                Had to switch back to unbound mode, because python mode is just not working correctly when TLD is enabled.

                Of course, CPU is spiking to 100% again, and i dont know what else to try and resolve this.

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  I'd probably open a thread in the pfBlocker forum section with all the details you have found.

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                  • N
                    nimrod @nimrod
                    last edited by nimrod

                    Update.

                    1. Setting pfBlocker into Unbound python mode.
                    2. Performing DNSBL reload.
                    3. Setting pfBlocker into Unbound mode.
                    4. Performing DNSBL reload.

                    These 4 steps are resolving the issue. However, when i reboot, issue comes back again. Then i repeat those 4 steps from above, and issue is gone again.

                    Is there any way to locate what changes are made when switching modes ? What logs should i analyze ?

                    Edit: @johnpoz, @stephenw10, or @jimp can you please move this thread to pfBlocker forum section ?

                    Thank you.

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                    • N
                      nimrod @nimrod
                      last edited by nimrod

                      Here is another update.

                      When i perform 4 steps that i described in previous post, pfBlocker is blocking hosts, but its not showing what feed was used, and there are no whitelisting buttons available.

                      It looks like this:

                      ec9442ed-0e2e-49db-ab7a-667286a40bff-image.png

                      When i reboot, blocking is still working as it should, but feed is also displayed properly along with whitelisting buttons. It looks like this:

                      6894ac85-2d61-4aae-9a84-7b83a590d4ee-image.png

                      I hope ill narrow this down some more.

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                      • stephenw10S stephenw10 moved this topic from General pfSense Questions on
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Moved. You may want to re-title it so others can find it more easily.

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                        • N
                          nimrod @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 & @johnpoz i have finally resolved the issue after weeks of digging.

                          It turned out that i caused the issue by adding this DNSBL list in my DNSBL feeds. First i thought that the amount of entries in this list was the cause, but then i replaced it with with this one, which has over million entries in it and everything is still working fine.

                          On top of all that, the problematic list of domains is no longer supported and it was last updated 2 years ago. "Project" is abandoned and moved to another github page.

                          Lesson learned here. Make sure you know what are you adding in your feeds. Make sure to use only verified lists that get consistently updated.

                          Thank you guys for your help.

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            So just the list containing a bunch of obsolete domains?

                            N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • N
                              nimrod @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 said in pfBlockerNG - unbound-control process spikes CPU to 100% every few seconds [SOLVED]:

                              So just the list containing a bunch of obsolete domains?

                              Not sure how many domains in that list are obsolete, and if that was the issue, however, what led me to actually remove the list is the fact that there are tons of legit domains in that list that pfBlocker was blocking. If you check the list, you will see asus.com and sony.com in there. And there is absolutely no reason to blacklist those sites. They are legit.

                              Then I thought this was actually a whitelist that i was using as blacklist, but then you find all those porn sites in there and tons of other entries that are present in legit block lists. Its a mess.

                              I just removed it and it all works.

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