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    AES-NI and OpenVPN?

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    • N8LBVN
      N8LBV @stephenw10
      last edited by

      @stephenw10 Thanks! excellent clarifcations.
      -Steve

      I feel more like I do now.

      N8LBVN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • N8LBVN
        N8LBV @N8LBV
        last edited by

        Laptop single nic OpenVPN HTTP throughput test.
        35Watt Laptop CPU from Jan 2009. NO-AES-NI.

        Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T6400
        2M Cache, 2.00 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
        c2.jpg

        I feel more like I do now.

        N8LBVN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • N8LBVN
          N8LBV @N8LBV
          last edited by

          Same test through dual NAT no OpenVPN.
          That early 2009 laptop (running PFsense) has a Broadcom NIC on the mainboard.
          nat.jpg

          I feel more like I do now.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • RobbieTTR
            RobbieTT @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 said in AES-NI and OpenVPN?:

            The line in the system information widget currently shows if the CPU is reporting it supports AES-NI. It shows as active if the kernel module is loaded.

            Just out of curiosity, why would the kernel module not be loaded?

             2023-04-29 at 19.39.18.png

            ☕️

            J Dobby_D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • J
              JimBob Indiana @RobbieTT
              last edited by JimBob Indiana

              @robbiett Good question. Mine since I can remember said “Inactive”. I played with the VPN configuration options yesterday and today, says “Active”.

              I didn’t actually do a VPN.

              CPU Type Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz
              Current: 2800 MHz, Max: 3601 MHz
              8 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
              AES-NI CPU Crypto: Yes (active)
              QAT Crypto: No
              Hardware crypto AES-CBC,AES-CCM,AES-GCM,AES-ICM,AES-XTS

              RobbieTTR Dobby_D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • RobbieTTR
                RobbieTT @JimBob Indiana
                last edited by

                @jimbob-indiana I had presumed (and we all know where assumptions lead) was that QAT was being preferred* over AES-NI; now I am not so sure.

                ☕️


                *As it is rather excellent

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                • Dobby_D
                  Dobby_ @RobbieTT
                  last edited by Dobby_

                  @robbiett

                  please have a look at the Intel QAT, because this is loaded instead of the AES-NI!!!! You can use AES-NI or Intel QAT
                  but not both!

                  1682793716026-2023-04-29-at-19.39.18.jpg

                  #~. @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)

                  RobbieTTR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Dobby_D
                    Dobby_ @JimBob Indiana
                    last edited by

                    @jimbob-indiana said in AES-NI and OpenVPN?:

                    Good question. Mine since I can remember said “Inactive”. I played with the VPN configuration options yesterday and today, says “Active”.

                    Mine fresh installed says "active" too!
                    You can see with no configured VPN actual!

                    AES-NI.jpg

                    #~. @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)

                    J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • RobbieTTR
                      RobbieTT @Dobby_
                      last edited by

                      @dobby_ said in AES-NI and OpenVPN?:

                      @robbiett

                      please have a look at the Intel QAT, because this is loaded instead of the AES-NI!!!! You can use AES-NI or Intel QAT
                      but not both!

                      Err, I did.

                      I literally stated my assumption that QAT was preferred over AES-NI and the graphic showing QAT (active) & AES-NI (inactive) is my own (!!!!...?).

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • J
                        JimBob Indiana @Dobby_
                        last edited by

                        @dobby_ I have no idea why mine said Inactive and now says Active. All I did was mess with the vpn stuff just to see what is required.

                        Dobby_D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Dobby_D
                          Dobby_ @JimBob Indiana
                          last edited by

                          @jimbob-indiana said in AES-NI and OpenVPN?:

                          @dobby_ I have no idea why mine said Inactive and now says Active. All I did was mess with the vpn stuff just to see what is required.

                          I was only changing the settings in the filed shown below
                          in the picture (red arrow), after that the AES-NI was shown
                          permanent as "active" and this also with no configured VPN! I was choosing both entries from the menue:
                          AES-NI & CryptoDev

                          So I think since that, the CryptoDev is taking contact to the
                          AES-NI and there fore it will be announced as "active".

                          AES_NI Cryptodev.jpg

                          #~. @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)

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

                            The active/inactive label only indicates whether or not the module is loaded. Not whether it's actually in use.

                            Technically you could load both modules but since both would attempt to register for the same crypto algorithms the result would be confusing. So the webgui only offers the choice to load one of them.

                            RobbieTTR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • RobbieTTR
                              RobbieTT @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 Hey, an assumption turned out right! My journey into full pfSense nirvana continues. 😇

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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