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    Problem with video maybe PPPoe related?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • 4
      4o4rh
      last edited by 4o4rh

      I need some help to debug please. I have a fibre connection from my ISP.
      They provided a Frtizbox cable modem configured as a router.

      The ISP uses a VLAN over PPPoE. I tried originally to use as a modem and had terrible performance on 4.5x and gave up, so went back to a router configuration where all was good.

      A router configuration doesn't suit my purpose and I really need the config to be as a modem connected directly to pfsense. The problem I'm having since I tried again on 22.05 is;

      • youtube frequently freezes for 2 to 3 seconds.
      • bluejeans connectivity cuts for 30s or so during a call and re-establishes itself - audio is minimally affected (or less than video lets say)
      • emby frequently stop plays local media and i have to resume the video (played from my local media server) - emby also frequently shows lost connectivity prior to the video stopping.

      None of these issues existed when the Fritzbox was configured as a router connected to the pfsense wan port. I have the following configured f

      • PPPeE VLAN has default MTU i.e. 1492
      • WAN port MTU = 1492 / MSS = 1452
      • all LANs and LAGG interfaces have MTU = 1492 / MSS = 1452

      what am I missing / doing wrong?

      R 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • R
        rcoleman-netgate Netgate @4o4rh
        last edited by

        @gwaitsi Please provide more information as to what it is you are experiencing so that others might be able to possibly provide some assistance.

        What programs, websites, symptoms, who is your ISP, what is your hardware, etc. The more detail the better -- but you can omit things like public IPs. If you are using wifi and the hardware and network switches you have installed as well might be of assistance.

        Ryan
        Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
        Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
        Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
        Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • R
          rcoleman-netgate Netgate @4o4rh
          last edited by

          @gwaitsi What hardware are you using? NICs? Switches? Are you connecting via wifi, if so, what hardware? Have you tried to directly connect to your firewall to eliminate these devices as the cause of the lag?

          Ryan
          Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
          Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
          Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
          Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

          4 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • 4
            4o4rh @rcoleman-netgate
            last edited by

            This post is deleted!
            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • 4
              4o4rh @rcoleman-netgate
              last edited by

              @rcoleman-netgate It's a Quotom J1900 4 Port. Been working without issue for ever, only when I try to run it with PPPoE do I have a problem with 6GB free memory I have to netgear GS108Tv3 switches that the clients connect to. These switches connect to the LAN side of the J1900

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

                What's your WAN bandwidth? The J1900 is known to be surprisingly bad with single threaded PPPoE for some reason.

                However if you're seeing issues when playing back locally stored media that implies some local connectivity issue. And those clients and servers in the same subnet?

                Steve

                4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 4
                  4o4rh @stephenw10
                  last edited by 4o4rh

                  @stephenw10 was it correct to set the MTU 1492 / MSS 1452 for both the LAGG / LAN environments. I understood that these should be adjusted to match the packet size of the PPPoE or did I misunderstand?

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

                    You wouldn't normally have to do that for PPPoE, the interface does that for you when it's created.

                    But setting it lower manually shouldn't be a problem. It wouldnt cause random connection failures like that.

                    Do you have IPv6 configured?

                    4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • 4
                      4o4rh @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 I didn't set it on the PPPoE interface, but I see from the connection the MTU sets automatically to 1492. I thought I had to lower it for the other interfaces on the pfsense. So you are saying I should leave them all at default 1500?

                      No IPv6 enabled, and the fibre bandwidth is set to 100M from the provider

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

                        Yes, leave them default PMTU detection will reduce packet sizes to fit.

                        Many ISPs will actually support mini-jumbo frames (1508B) to allow you to fit a full 1500B across the PPPoE but you certainly don't need that.

                        4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • 4
                          4o4rh @stephenw10
                          last edited by 4o4rh

                          @stephenw10 so, i swapped out the J1900 with an i3 but I am still having the same issues although, not quite as bad.

                          I did a packet capture during a bluejeans call, and I see loads of;

                          • TCP Dup ACK
                          • TCP Fast Retransmission
                          • TCP Out-Of-Order

                          during trouble spots of the call.

                          This instability happened when i first tried to use PPPoE in 2.5.2, then I put a fritzbox between and didn't have the problems.
                          Since I removed the fritzbox, the problems are back again.

                          So it seems it is directly related to having PPPoE on pfsense (or something with my config)

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

                            If PMTU is broken for some reason then setting a MSS limit on the interface should correct it.

                            4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • 4
                              4o4rh @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 said in Problem with video maybe PPPoe related?:

                              If PMTU is broken for some reason then setting a MSS limit on the interface should correct it.

                              Looking at the cisco docs

                              *"PPPoE needs additional 8 bytes and truncates the Ethernet MTU to 1492, and if the effective MTU on the hosts is not changed, the router in between the host and the server can terminate the TCP sessions. This command IP TCP ADJUST-MSS 1452 is recommended in the PPPoE configurations.

                              If the source device creates a full size packet with a TCP MSS of 1460 bytes, it is likely that transiting router will drop/fragment the packet. This is bad for our network performance such as issue when you browse websites. So to accommodate websites that have a larger packet sizes, you can shrink the maximum possible TCP MSS size (like 1452 bytes) from the source device. If the router does not signal the source and destination at the time of the TCP handshake, the optimal TCP MSS could potentially create a dropping/fragmentation problem."*

                              What I notice on the packet captures of the vlan that with my work PC,
                              all the below have a len of 1452

                              • TCP Out-of-Order (new fragment overlaps old data)
                              • TCP Retransmission

                              So, i think this is what is happening right?
                              But which interface do I need to set the MSS to 1452?

                              • the pppoe wan interface, or it's corresponding vlan?
                              • or the lan interfaces, or their vlans?
                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                On the PPPoE interface. At least initially.

                                4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • 4
                                  4o4rh @stephenw10
                                  last edited by

                                  @stephenw10 seems to be better since setting the MSS to 1452

                                  Dobby_D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • Dobby_D
                                    Dobby_ @4o4rh
                                    last edited by

                                    Who is the ISP?
                                    What fritzbox you are using and with what the firmware version please.
                                    What is in front of the AVM FB? A ONT or is it a 5530/5590
                                    with direct contact?

                                    Please watch out for the next hints, only one or all together can be the solution.

                                    Video:

                                    • AVM FB usage with the latest firmware
                                    • AVM FB using as a router
                                    • AVM FB is able to handle the VLAN ID, but users forget
                                      to set the VLAN ID in the WAN menue of the pfSense.

                                    TV: (payTV)

                                    • Switches with no IGMPv3 snooping should be not used!
                                    • Switches like the Netgear GS108Tv3 are well for this
                                    • pfSense 23.01 with newest igmpproxy packet will work nice together with magenta TV

                                    #~. @Dobby

                                    Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
                                    PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
                                    PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

                                    4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • 4
                                      4o4rh @Dobby_
                                      last edited by

                                      @dobby_ the problem is when i connect the fibre to ethernet converter directly to pfsense. google was always ok, but netflix and bluejeans, have intermitent connectivity problems. placing the fritzbox in between there were no problems, but that solution causes me other issues, so i want the wan directly on the pfsense. but like i said, initial indications are that locking the MSS seems to solve the problems.

                                      Dobby_D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • Dobby_D
                                        Dobby_ @4o4rh
                                        last edited by

                                        @gwaitsi said in Problem with video maybe PPPoe related?:

                                        @dobby_ the problem is when i connect the fibre to ethernet converter directly to pfsense. google was always ok, but netflix and bluejeans, have intermitent connectivity problems.

                                        Have you set up the VLAN ID from your provider´s connection in the WAN setup in pfSense? As an example
                                        the german telekom is using up vlan ID 7 and it must be setup at the WAN setup.

                                        placing the fritzbox in between there were no problems, but that solution causes me other issues,

                                        But your telephony often will be there also handled!
                                        And you may set utp that pfSense will even got the same
                                        IP address, so it is like static.

                                        #~. @Dobby

                                        Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
                                        PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
                                        PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

                                        4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • 4
                                          4o4rh @Dobby_
                                          last edited by 4o4rh

                                          @dobby_ if the vlan was not set, it wouldn't work at all. I will leave this in the state of monitoring now to assess if the problem has now been solved. thanks for your thoughts.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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