Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    25 GbE network card for PFsense 2.7

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    17 Posts 6 Posters 2.4k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      There are a few reports of high througputs here with Mellanox NICs. Also using the Intel e800 series, ice(4) driver.

      Jakub_J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • AmodinA
        Amodin @Jakub_
        last edited by

        @Jakub_ said in 25 GbE network card for PFsense 2.7:

        @Amodin Preferable SFP+ / SFP 28

        As was mentioned, I have heard good things about Mellanox, and if you are an avid Amazon shopper, it's on there as well - so far showing the only one with that much throughput on SFP. I haven't personally used the product, as I tend to stick with Intel-based, but I don't recall them having an affordable product for what you are referring to...

        Now their i225-V chipsets I wouldn't touch with a 50ft pole....

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Jakub_J
          Jakub_ @stephenw10
          last edited by Jakub_

          Thanks guys,
          So I can order two pieces (I need 4 interfaces)
          Intel E810-XXVDA2 without worrying about compatibility issues ? Alternatively which Mellanox do you recommend ?

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

            Check this thread: https://forum.netgate.com/topic/182079/help-with-25g-speeds-on-ha-pfsense-routers-lacp-using-mellanox-connectx-5-nic

            Though actually passing traffic at those speeds still surprises me.

            M Jakub_J 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • M
              machbot @stephenw10
              last edited by machbot

              @stephenw10 said in 25 GbE network card for PFsense 2.7:

              Though actually passing traffic at those speeds still surprises me.

              He is probably using 9000 MTU; you only need to process 350k packets per second to hit 25Gb/s at 9000 MTU.

              I've ran some rudimentary test using iperf3 and only managed to reach 1.4M packet per second using 4 out of 6 cores of an i5 12500. 2 virtual functions from different connectx-4 lx physical functions was used as the NIC,

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • Jakub_J
                Jakub_ @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10
                Hi again guys !
                Finally purchased four Mallonix MCX512A cards, PCIe3.0 x 8 ( R250 riser limit is two PCI 8x ).
                I made some tests. R250 (with two MCX512) to R250 (with two MCX512).
                1 to 1 25GbE :
                pf25.jpg
                and LAGG 3x 25GbE:
                Zrzut ekranu 2023-11-30 162217.jpg
                Enjoy :)
                Jakub.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by stephenw10

                  Nice! What CPU is that using?

                  And is that with jumboframes?

                  Jakub_J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Jakub_J
                    Jakub_ @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10
                    Intel(R) Xeon(R) E-2356G CPU @ 3.20GHz / 32GB RAM.
                    Yes, with jumbo frames.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • planedropP
                      planedrop
                      last edited by

                      @Jakub_ are you seeing these kind of performance numbers real world too or just iperf?

                      I know slightly older thread, but was curious if anyone had really seen much more than 10 ish gigabit through pfSense. Been working on planning a new firewall build for myself as my Netgate 6100 just can't keep up with my 8 gigabit WAN (didn't expect it to) and been debating if I should aim for something with 25 gig adapters for "future proofing" but am not sure if it's remotely worth it. Current plan is a Xeon 2146NT since it has QAT built in which I do care about.

                      Jakub_J Dobby_D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Jakub_J
                        Jakub_ @planedrop
                        last edited by

                        @planedrop
                        The solution has been deployed in production, but we still have not transferred all the data streams, so I can boast of much lower results, while the 25GbE cards are working stable.
                        When I have an average load > 10GbE I will post.
                        FW_speed.jpg

                        planedropP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                        • Dobby_D
                          Dobby_ @planedrop
                          last edited by

                          @planedrop said in 25 GbE network card for PFsense 2.7:

                          I know slightly older thread, but was curious if anyone had really seen much more than 10 ish gigabit through pfSense.

                          Often users are installing router and/or firewalls internal of their networks
                          so no WAN/LAN but more LA/LAN traffic may be here the factor for higher
                          traffic. And by side this is a nearly ~400 € CPU with max. 5GHz 6C/12T
                          and plenty of RAM for buffering.

                          #~. @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 1
                          • planedropP
                            planedrop @Jakub_
                            last edited by

                            @Jakub_ Sweet, this is at least a good start, appreciate the follow ups!

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • First post
                              Last post
                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.