Netgate 4100 regular extreme-slowdowns, have to reboot
-
System: Netgate 4100
Firmware: 24.11-RELEASE (amd64)My Netgate 4100 has experienced two sudden instances of extreme slowdown that required a reboot. During this slowdown websites, and even loading the pfSense web UI, is excruciating slow.
The first instance of this was on March 1, 2025. It was a few days after I upgraded the device to version 24.11. Because of the timing, I attributed the issue to something related to the recent 24.11 upgrade.
Yesterday, April 23, 2025 the issue happened again. The device is still on 24.11. The same slowdown occured that required me to reboot the device.
The system logs show nothing out of the ordinary at the time.
Any ideas?
-
@pinkfluffyunicorn Did you have the dashboard open at the time? There’s a known issue there.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/releases/25-03.html#dashboard
-
Added to what is said above, when you the dashboard page, the page has to be created before it gets send to the browser.
edit : wait : that's what @SteveITS said ... see my 25.03 suggestion then.
Or install pfSense most important package : System patches, and acticate all Netgate proposed patches, as these might help end edit.
The 'create a dashboard page' process eats CPU cycles by the millions, and repeats itself every xx seconds, as it's an interactive page.When you suspect an issue like a slow down, use the interface that's light weight : use the 4100 console access, or, if you are further away as 1 m. (3 "feet" - don't ask me what the feet size is, they are all different) use the SSH access.
Use Option 8, and type :topYou can sort the columns on "WCPU" and this shows you the most CPU bound processes at the top.
You find one that uses "all" (like 99%) all cycles all the time .... kill it with the kill command.Btw : 24.11 is 5 months old, and pretty solid.
I'm (was) using myself a 4100 and it does actually not much.
That said, I'm not using any of the package that need a lot of resources. I do use pfBlockerng-devel, but just two rather small DNSBL lists.
4 interfaces are at use, all are 1 Gbit/sec - and an hotel behind one of the interfaces with a captive portal.I installed the very ancient 'Munin' on my pfSense so I can see this whenever I want. After all, only these numbers stats etc can really answer your question.
Other stats collectors exists. As soon as you have one, an ancient rule starts to apply : you don't need them ;) ( Murphy's law turned upside down )Think about upgrading to 25.03 beta 2, it's (for me) rock solid.
Don't belive my words, look at my system pFsense stats / images yourself, they are regenerated quasi real time, every 300 seconds (these will ask some resources ;) ). -
@SteveITS said in Netgate 4100 regular extreme-slowdowns, have to reboot:
@pinkfluffyunicorn Did you have the dashboard open at the time? There’s a known issue there.
You know what, I probably did. Also, I've only had this issue on 24.11, and never on any prior versions.
The verbiage "Improve the system load impact from Dashboard widgets" really doesn't get across how having the web UI open can absolutely kill the device.
-
@Gertjan said in Netgate 4100 regular extreme-slowdowns, have to reboot:
Or install pfSense most important package : System patches
I installed the System_Patches package, however, none of the recommended system patches mention anything related to the issue that I'm having, or the Redmine issue that @SteveITS mentioned (#15969).
@Gertjan said in Netgate 4100 regular extreme-slowdowns, have to reboot:
That said, I'm not using any of the package that need a lot of resources.
The only package I'm running that needs any significant amount of resources is bandwidthd. I'm hoping that that one package alone isn't too much for a 4100 to handle.
@Gertjan said in Netgate 4100 regular extreme-slowdowns, have to reboot:
Think about upgrading to 25.03 beta 2
I will consider this if keeping off the web UI doesn't seem to help.
-
@pinkfluffyunicorn said in Netgate 4100 regular extreme-slowdowns, have to reboot:
The verbiage "Improve the system load impact from Dashboard widgets" really doesn't get across how having the web UI open can absolutely kill the device.
I'm not using 24.11 anymore as way better is available - also for you.
From what I recall, there was a patch avaible back then (24.11 - and teh systep_patches package) that somewhat dealt with the issue.
On the other hand, I don't have the dashboard open all time, as once, I saw the light :
While I was looking at my favorite app, the ssh or console access :
where I can see real time stuff with the performance penalty,
and at that time, I launched a browser and visited the pfSense dashboard (any version), you'll see what happens.
This is valid for every GUI driven user interface. Look at the bottom right corner right now, and you'll see one :
ask yourself : I have this multi color super duper x86_64 processor, so why can't I have the time with the seconds ??? !!!
Short answer : (don't laugh) it would kill you system. have a look at several of these. There is even a video on youtube from the actual Windows coder who explains the real why.I mean : let's face it, finally, since windows 11 exists, you have the option to show seconds on the clock if you are willing to pay the price.
The thing is : my, and your 4100, has just a .... well, a ridiculous small Intel mini CPU. More then good enough to to 1 Gbit routing ..... but updating a web page with dynamic info ? Noop , that will heat things up a lot.
Anyway :
a) patch your system
or
b) goto 25.03 Beta 2
and call it a day
-
@pinkfluffyunicorn said in Netgate 4100 regular extreme-slowdowns, have to reboot:
verbiage "Improve the system load impact from Dashboard widgets"
It does not. Many redmines have a patch. This one does not but there is one in https://forum.netgate.com/topic/190824/cpu-load-on-1100/23. It may be an early version I don't know. Or just close the dashboard. :) Also the web GUI logs each web request for every widget.
