Netgate hardware that can cope with gigabit PPPoE
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Hi
I have a netgate 3100 and was initially surprised to find it could not handle my newly installed symmetric gigabit internet service.
I found out that while the netgate 3100 is an excellent box, the CPU HW could not handle PPPoE encapsulation workload at gigabit speeds because PPPoE is (still) a single threaded workload on BSD (and Linux) based systems.
Not only would it max out at ~550Mbps down but it would not cope with balancing up and down speeds resulting in the upload sometimes dropping to 10% of true capability.So... I am a fan of netgate and pf sense but I don't know what hardware would be appropriate. Note I am using this at home! the netgate 3100 was the lmiit of my budget but I could sell it and spend a little more.
Advice would very much be appreciated if I were to go down the new hardware purchase route.
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I have tested the C3558 passing 1Gbps over PPPoE so that would be 5100/6100/7100.
I tested directly using a 4100 and a 6100 here: https://forum.netgate.com/post/1043915
Steve
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@pduk82
As a regular SOHO user on a 1GbE WAN link via PPPoE, I can confirm that a 6100 can handle the full bandwidth, even when all the usual packages, QoS etc are added to the CPU workload. The 4100 did not.The 6100 in my use-case seems to top-out at >1.4 GbE. Clearly those with less demanding usage, or not hobbled by freeBSD's handling of PPPoE, will achieve a great deal more.
As it is, those of us with GbE PPPoE connections should probably consider the 6100 as the starting point, unless you know that your needs are particularly basic. It is an expensive way to overcome the single-thread issue but it is where we are.
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You might be able to get a new-old-stock SG5100 which works great for 1gb PPPoE, but with 1gb ports instead of the 2.5/10 on the 6100…
