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    Slow upload speeds on HP Z2 G9 PFSense Box

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • BearB
      Bear @stephenw10
      last edited by Bear

      @stephenw10 Not seeing any errors on the LAN side at all. Interrupts aren't too bad either.

      I'm running a filtered bridge. Same config as on the 6100.

      Getting the same results as when I used the 710 as well, completely different NIC.

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

        How are you testing? Do you see any packet loss?

        BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • BearB
          Bear @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 said in Slow upload speeds on HP Z2 G9 PFSense Box:

          How are you testing? Do you see any packet loss?

          Just using speedtest and fast.com from 10GBE Macs and Linux boxes with Intel NICs - Seeing zero packet loss and 8-10ms ping times.

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

            Hmm, you might try running a test from pfSense directly. It won't be accurate but if you see the same big difference between up and downloads that at least narrows it down to the WAN side.

            Can you see anything about the link state from the connected modem.

            BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • BearB
              Bear @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10

              Both WAN and LAN are on the same X520 NIC. Is there a native speedtest on pfsense?

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

                Yes there is a CLI client. In fact there are two:

                [25.03-RC][admin@5100.stevew.lan]/root: pkg search speedtest
                py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3      Command line interface for testing internet bandwidth
                speedtest-go-1.7.9             CLI and Go API to test internet speed using speedtest.net
                

                You can install and run those directly:

                [25.03-RC][admin@5100.stevew.lan]/root: pkg install py311-speedtest-cli
                Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
                pfSense-core repository is up to date.
                Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
                pfSense repository is up to date.
                All repositories are up to date.
                The following 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):
                
                New packages to be INSTALLED:
                	py311-speedtest-cli: 2.1.3 [pfSense]
                
                Number of packages to be installed: 1
                
                52 KiB to be downloaded.
                
                Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y
                [1/1] Fetching py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3.pkg: 100%   52 KiB  53.1kB/s    00:01    
                Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
                [1/1] Installing py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3...
                [1/1] Extracting py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3: 100%
                [25.03-RC][admin@5100.stevew.lan]/root: rehash
                

                As I said it will not give an accurate value at bandwidths that high but you can use it to compare relative rates.

                BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • BearB
                  Bear
                  last edited by

                  I can try that later today. I’ll post results soon.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • BearB
                    Bear @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10 said in Slow upload speeds on HP Z2 G9 PFSense Box:

                    Yes there is a CLI client. In fact there are two:

                    [25.03-RC][admin@5100.stevew.lan]/root: pkg search speedtest
                    py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3      Command line interface for testing internet bandwidth
                    speedtest-go-1.7.9             CLI and Go API to test internet speed using speedtest.net
                    

                    You can install and run those directly:

                    [25.03-RC][admin@5100.stevew.lan]/root: pkg install py311-speedtest-cli
                    Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
                    pfSense-core repository is up to date.
                    Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
                    pfSense repository is up to date.
                    All repositories are up to date.
                    The following 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):
                    
                    New packages to be INSTALLED:
                    	py311-speedtest-cli: 2.1.3 [pfSense]
                    
                    Number of packages to be installed: 1
                    
                    52 KiB to be downloaded.
                    
                    Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y
                    [1/1] Fetching py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3.pkg: 100%   52 KiB  53.1kB/s    00:01    
                    Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
                    [1/1] Installing py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3...
                    [1/1] Extracting py311-speedtest-cli-2.1.3: 100%
                    [25.03-RC][admin@5100.stevew.lan]/root: rehash
                    

                    As I said it will not give an accurate value at bandwidths that high but you can use it to compare relative rates.

                    Sadly, it's completely unreliable running on the FW. Getting 450mbit up and 45 down on the 6100, since it's picking a completely different server than even my other FreeBSD box.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • BearB
                      Bear
                      last edited by Bear

                      Tried one more test - Put a QNAP Multigig switch in between the PFSense box and the RG.

                      The 6100 maintained its speeds.

                      The HP Box also maintained its lower upload speeds.

                      Went into the Z2G9's BIOS (it's running the latest) and disabled PCI Express Power Management.

                      Upload speeds remained at 450-700Mbits, their typical range. Going back to the 6100 yielded the usual 3800-4500 up and down.

                      Almost at my wit's end. This is a very standard build using HP workstation components and Intel NICs. No idea why I'm seeing this.

                      Any ideas?

                      -Bear

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

                        You can specify which server it uses:

                          --list                Display a list of speedtest.net servers sorted by distance
                          --server SERVER       Specify a server ID to test against. Can be supplied multiple times
                        
                        BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • BearB
                          Bear @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10

                          ✓ Test Server: [68863] 0.00km San Antonio, TX by AT&T
                          ✓ Latency: 9.472954ms Jitter: 1.390244ms Min: 8.694556ms Max: 13.568589ms
                          ✓ Packet Loss Analyzer: Running in background (<= 30 Secs)
                          ✓ Download: 1350.20 Mbps (Used: 1708.20MB) (Latency: 15ms Jitter: 10ms Min: 8ms Max: 44ms)
                          ✓ Upload: 763.02 Mbps (Used: 930.43MB) (Latency: 11ms Jitter: 2ms Min: 8ms Max: 13ms)
                          ✓ Packet Loss: N/A
                          

                          I'm getting really slow speeds from the 6100 vs my Mac or Windows system with 10GBE to the point where this up speed is aligned with the ~750mbit I get on those systems with the HP/X520.

                          In other words, the slow performance test locally on the 6100 would mask the issue as I get 3500+mbits up when running speedtest from a local system vs 760 from the 6100 itself.

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

                            Hmm, OK. Probably not useful data there then.

                            Do you see the same in an iperf test?

                            BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • BearB
                              Bear @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 Haven't run iPerf yet. I'll try that later, but I'm not sure what data we're after here; the performance is identical for low upload speeds using 2 different Intel NICs in the same x16 slot @ x8, and both WAN and LAN are on the same NIC.

                              Flow control is off, PCI power management is off, and with an intermediary multigig switch, results remain identical.

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

                                If you're able to see the same issue against a remote iperf server you can then test against a local iperf server to check if it's something specific to the WAN connection.

                                Also you can run iperf directly from pfSense with more useful results.

                                BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • BearB
                                  Bear @stephenw10
                                  last edited by Bear

                                  @stephenw10 said in Slow upload speeds on HP Z2 G9 PFSense Box:

                                  If you're able to see the same issue against a remote iperf server you can then test against a local iperf server to check if it's something specific to the WAN connection.

                                  Also you can run iperf directly from pfSense with more useful results.

                                  IPerf isn't jibing with speedtest. Here's my recent speedtest result: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/d/739237147

                                  Here's a few iPERF 3 runs to supposedly local addresses:

                                  Connecting to host 37.19.206.20, port 5201
                                  [  5] local 75.31.24.1 port 38531 connected to 37.19.206.20 port 5201
                                  [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
                                  [  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  28.2 MBytes   237 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  46.9 MBytes   393 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   2.00-3.01   sec  47.6 MBytes   397 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   3.01-4.00   sec  46.9 MBytes   396 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  47.2 MBytes   396 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  47.2 MBytes   396 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   6.00-7.03   sec  48.2 MBytes   395 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   7.03-8.00   sec  46.0 MBytes   396 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  47.5 MBytes   398 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  [  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  47.4 MBytes   397 Mbits/sec    0   6.41 MBytes
                                  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
                                  [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
                                  [  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   453 MBytes   380 Mbits/sec    0             sender
                                  [  5]   0.00-10.05  sec   453 MBytes   379 Mbits/sec                  receiver
                                  
                                  
                                  Connecting to host dal.speedtest.clouvider.net, port 5200
                                  [  5] local 75.31.24.1 port 48312 connected to 2.56.188.136 port 5200
                                  [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
                                  [  5]   0.00-1.01   sec  5.62 MBytes  46.9 Mbits/sec    8   92.8 KBytes
                                  [  5]   1.01-2.00   sec  11.2 MBytes  94.8 Mbits/sec    0    162 KBytes
                                  [  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  17.8 MBytes   149 Mbits/sec    0    231 KBytes
                                  [  5]   3.00-4.02   sec  20.9 MBytes   172 Mbits/sec    3    220 KBytes
                                  [  5]   4.02-5.00   sec  19.1 MBytes   163 Mbits/sec    4    179 KBytes
                                  [  5]   5.00-6.01   sec  19.2 MBytes   160 Mbits/sec    0    248 KBytes
                                  [  5]   6.01-7.00   sec  24.8 MBytes   210 Mbits/sec    0    316 KBytes
                                  [  5]   7.00-8.01   sec  22.2 MBytes   186 Mbits/sec   81    114 KBytes
                                  [  5]   8.01-9.01   sec  10.9 MBytes  91.1 Mbits/sec   46   34.7 KBytes
                                  [  5]   9.01-10.00  sec  6.12 MBytes  51.5 Mbits/sec    0    104 KBytes
                                  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
                                  [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
                                  [  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   158 MBytes   132 Mbits/sec  142             sender
                                  [  5]   0.00-10.01  sec   157 MBytes   132 Mbits/sec                  receiver
                                  

                                  I can consistently get similar speeds to other providers as well. iperf3 isn't getting me close to a gigabit. Real world transfers are in the 2.5-3.5Gbit range usually.

                                  BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • BearB
                                    Bear @Bear
                                    last edited by

                                    @stephenw10

                                    Now, if I do the iperf3 from my Mac Studio with 10GBE going /through/ the 6100 Max...

                                    Connecting to host speedtest.dal13.us.leaseweb.net, port 5201
                                    [  7] local 75.31.24.8 port 61252 connected to 209.58.159.68 port 5201
                                    [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
                                    [  7]   0.00-1.01   sec   186 MBytes  1.55 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   1.01-2.00   sec   247 MBytes  2.08 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   2.00-3.01   sec   249 MBytes  2.08 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   3.01-4.01   sec   247 MBytes  2.07 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   4.01-5.01   sec   248 MBytes  2.08 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   5.01-6.01   sec   247 MBytes  2.07 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   6.01-7.01   sec   248 MBytes  2.08 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   7.01-8.01   sec   220 MBytes  1.84 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   8.01-9.00   sec   207 MBytes  1.74 Gbits/sec                  
                                    [  7]   9.00-10.01  sec   216 MBytes  1.81 Gbits/sec                  
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
                                    [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
                                    [  7]   0.00-10.01  sec  2.26 GBytes  1.94 Gbits/sec    sender
                                    [  7]   0.00-10.02  sec  2.26 GBytes  1.94 Gbits/sec    receiver
                                    

                                    And do the same iperf3 test from the 6100 Max itself, just a moment later to the same iperf3 server...

                                    Connecting to host speedtest.dal13.us.leaseweb.net, port 5201
                                    [  5] local 75.31.24.1 port 8528 connected to 209.58.159.68 port 5201
                                    [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
                                    [  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  11.4 MBytes  95.3 Mbits/sec   60    145 KBytes
                                    [  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  6.88 MBytes  57.7 Mbits/sec   37   79.5 KBytes
                                    [  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  11.9 MBytes  99.6 Mbits/sec    0    156 KBytes
                                    [  5]   3.00-4.01   sec  10.5 MBytes  87.6 Mbits/sec   68   53.7 KBytes
                                    [  5]   4.01-5.02   sec  7.50 MBytes  62.3 Mbits/sec   19    108 KBytes
                                    [  5]   5.02-6.02   sec  10.6 MBytes  88.9 Mbits/sec   19   42.7 KBytes
                                    [  5]   6.02-7.00   sec  7.88 MBytes  67.2 Mbits/sec    0    118 KBytes
                                    [  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  15.6 MBytes   131 Mbits/sec    0    194 KBytes
                                    [  5]   8.00-9.01   sec  23.8 MBytes   197 Mbits/sec    0    271 KBytes
                                    [  5]   9.01-10.02  sec  31.8 MBytes   263 Mbits/sec    0    348 KBytes
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
                                    [ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
                                    [  5]   0.00-10.02  sec   138 MBytes   115 Mbits/sec  203    sender
                                    [  5]   0.00-10.03  sec   137 MBytes   115 Mbits/sec         receiver
                                    
                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      Hmm, interesting. Yes, as I said, running iperf from pfSense itself is always going to give a worse result than thorough it just because of the processing required to run the test itself. That's particularly true of the 6100 where each CPU core is not that powerful.

                                      Can you test using the i5?

                                      Was that with multiple parallel streams?

                                      The default direction for iperf3 is from the client to the server, so upload. Try using -R to get a download result.

                                      BearB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • BearB
                                        Bear @stephenw10
                                        last edited by Bear

                                        @stephenw10 said in Slow upload speeds on HP Z2 G9 PFSense Box:

                                        Hmm, interesting. Yes, as I said, running iperf from pfSense itself is always going to give a worse result than thorough it just because of the processing required to run the test itself. That's particularly true of the 6100 where each CPU core is not that powerful.

                                        Can you test using the i5?

                                        Was that with multiple parallel streams?

                                        The default direction for iperf3 is from the client to the server, so upload. Try using -R to get a download result.

                                        6100 Max With -R and -P 120

                                        # iperf3 -c speedtest.dal13.us.leaseweb.net -p 5201-5210 -P 120 -R
                                        
                                        [ ID]   Interval         Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.28  sec  3.21 GBytes  2.68 Gbits/sec  9325    sender
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.88 GBytes  2.47 Gbits/sec          receiver
                                        

                                        Mac Studio behind 6100 Max with -R and -P 120

                                        # iperf3 -c speedtest.dal13.us.leaseweb.net -p 5201-5210 -P 120 -R
                                        [ ID]   Interval         Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.01  sec  5.26 GBytes  4.52 Gbits/sec  11595     sender
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec  5.12 GBytes  4.40 Gbits/sec            receiver
                                        

                                        6100 Max with just -P 120

                                        # iperf3 -c speedtest.dal13.us.leaseweb.net -p 5201-5210 -P 120
                                        
                                        [ ID]   Interval         Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.07  sec  3.10 GBytes  2.65 Gbits/sec  12761    sender
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.09  sec  3.04 GBytes  2.59 Gbits/sec           receiver
                                        

                                        Mac Studio behind 6100 Max with just -P 120

                                        # iperf3 -c speedtest.dal13.us.leaseweb.net -p 5201-5210 -P 120
                                        [ ID]   Interval         Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.01  sec  2.06 GBytes  1.77 Gbits/sec           sender
                                        [SUM]   0.00-10.02  sec  2.05 GBytes  1.76 Gbits/sec           receiver
                                        

                                        Not quite my SpeedTest Results, but enough that I can try the same on the i5 later tonight and append this thread with some of those numbers.

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          Probably hitting the CPU core limit on the 6100 there. But it's at least the same both ways and more than the 400Mps limit you hit previously. So try the i5 there and see if it still hits it.

                                          BearB 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • BearB
                                            Bear @stephenw10
                                            last edited by

                                            @stephenw10

                                            I'll run the same tests tonight - I need to take my network offline to jump to the i5-based system, so it'll need to be after hours this evening, but I'll get some data here soon. Thanks for the help. :)

                                            -Bear

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