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    Settings for the most responsive browsing?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • O
      Octopuss @SteveITS
      last edited by Octopuss

      @steveits Yes, I have forwarding enabled in the Resolver. It's the only way to use specific DNS servers I think? I guess using my ISP's DNSes makes the most sense as they are like 1km away from me.

      I used to have DNSSEC enabled, but have disabled it when I was digging in the settings before posting here. I don't think there is any change in any way.
      I have also disabled the use SSL/TLS setting because the DNS servers I use aren't compatible with it.

      I have also updated from 2.5.2 to 2.7.0 the same day.

      O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • provelsP
        provels
        last edited by provels

        FWIW, in my home environment, I've found browsing speed no different on the 400 Mb I once had or the 70 Mb I have now.

        Peder

        MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
        BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

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        • O
          Octopuss @provels
          last edited by Octopuss

          @provels I don't believe it has anything to do speed either. Not unless you have like 10Mbit download or something at least.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • O
            Octopuss @Octopuss
            last edited by

            I have also updated from 2.5.2 to 2.7.0 the same day.

            I meant to write 2.6.0.

            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              SteveITS Galactic Empire @Octopuss
              last edited by

              @octopuss I think you need to verify it's a DNS issue. From your computer try nslookup to see how long domains take to resolve. Use a hostname you haven't connected to/looked up already, so it isn't cached. Syntax:

              nslookup abc.com IP_of_pfSense

              That will show you how long it takes pfSense to resolve it. Then maybe try again using a public DNS server like 8.8.8.8 or 9.9.9.9.

              Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
              When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
              Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

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              • O
                Octopuss @SteveITS
                last edited by

                @steveits Is the command supposed to give me some kind of measurement in miliseconds or am I supposed to simply observe whether it feels slow?

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                • S
                  SteveITS Galactic Empire @Octopuss
                  last edited by

                  @octopuss No, but normal resolution is maybe 50 ms give or take a few dozen ms so a delay of 1000-2000 ms is usually noticeable.

                  Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                  Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                  O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • O
                    Octopuss @SteveITS
                    last edited by

                    @steveits Ok, I tried a few websites I haven't visited for months at least, and even for those I believe are in the U.S., the response was pretty much instant.

                    S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      SteveITS Galactic Empire @Octopuss
                      last edited by

                      @octopuss Then if it was me, I would look at browser plugins, try a private browser window, different browser, different PC, etc.

                      Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                      When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                      Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                      O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • O
                        Octopuss @SteveITS
                        last edited by

                        @steveits No browser plugins that would affect networking (well, Ublock Origin, but that should in fact improve responsiveness), and Firefox seems to load pages about the same...

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

                          @octopuss I will have to look into this pale moon, if they have stated they are not ever going to support doh?

                          As mentioned use another browser - pale moon is based off mozilla, does it have the dev tools - so you can see exactly what is taking exactly how long to load..

                          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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                          • O
                            Octopuss @johnpoz
                            last edited by Octopuss

                            @johnpoz Some info is on its website: https://www.palemoon.org/info.shtml

                            I only know there is nothing called doh in the settings. Web development and programming is total klingon to me.

                            And I did look at the console, but I don't really know what to look for. I am a completely basic user when it comes to these things.

                            Pages seem to load exactly the same in Edge too.

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

                              @octopuss here for example - you can see exactly what took how long to load, how much was transferred and how long took the whole page to load

                              webdev.jpg

                              edit: does seem that pale moon doesn't have any doh feature - good to know..

                              If you highlight a specific something, you should see under timings how long dns took, etc. Or what in the process of loading that what took so long, etc. But the main page will give you how long the page took, how much was downloaded, etc.

                              dns.jpg

                              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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                              • O
                                Octopuss @johnpoz
                                last edited by

                                @johnpoz I still don't know how to read this.
                                Lots of pages have something that DNS resolution took half a second or more, and the rest in the tens of miliseconds.
                                There is almost always lots of waiting too, but all of this is so very website dependant I can't draw any conclusion from it.

                                I guess I'd need a few suggestions for sites that are known not to be technical trash and are not hosted on some slow ass servers.

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

                                  @octopuss give me an example site that your having issues with please.. And can see if loads slow or what..

                                  There is no magic settings that says make my internet connections faster sorry to say ;)

                                  Are you not using an ad blocker? Maybe all the crap the page is waiting for is just ads?

                                  What about sites like https://slashdot.org/ or what about a site like your bank? Or gmail or whatever other email site you use? What about some site like https://www.reddit.com/

                                  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

                                  O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • O
                                    Octopuss @johnpoz
                                    last edited by Octopuss

                                    @johnpoz
                                    0ee25da5-1b11-43d6-bbf8-26867e598ba1-image.png
                                    a4eade09-0af0-4952-8f94-95d7f04f5099-image.png
                                    cd6a84d4-c9de-4958-8bf4-48318f890530-image.png
                                    but then
                                    17f81674-2728-4272-99de-426eb835292c-image.png
                                    20a4bc51-07ff-4bbd-97bf-87e063650d91-image.png

                                    GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • GertjanG
                                      Gertjan @Octopuss
                                      last edited by

                                      @octopuss

                                      These 5 examples show that DNS 'server' replies, or web server replies can take their time to come over to you. What your not seeing (and can't see) is the time the info took to reach that DNS or web server. When the requested info starts coming back; its loaded in a few msecs.

                                      A friend of my sees the same thing, he is using a satellite connection (not Starlink).

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

                                      O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • O
                                        Octopuss @Gertjan
                                        last edited by

                                        @gertjan But what is the takeaway from that? Do I have a problem or are some sites simply behing too complicated networks or...?

                                        GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • GertjanG
                                          Gertjan @Octopuss
                                          last edited by

                                          @octopuss said in Settings for the most responsive browsing?:

                                          Do I have a problem ...

                                          Remove 'pfSense' ( and all the VM overhead) from the equitation for some tests.
                                          Hook up your PC to your ISP connection directly - and re test.
                                          And if possible : test with pfSense on real hardware - nearly any small ancient PC will dual NIC will do.

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

                                          O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • O
                                            Octopuss @Gertjan
                                            last edited by Octopuss

                                            @gertjan I doubt virtualization plays any role, because the server is basically doing nothing most of the time, but yes, I'll try direct.
                                            I don't have a spare PC though, so I can only try this.

                                            johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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