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    25 GbE network card for PFsense 2.7

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    • 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!

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