DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208

RobbieTT

@stephenw10 said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

At this point it does look unrelated to if_pppoe though would you agree?

I don't know enough to declare that as I am unsighted on other 25.03 changes but there is nothing directly pointing at if_pppoe, unless there is a conflict or perhaps the interaction of IPv6 on the LAN side.

Certainly pfSense seems more twitchy when it comes to restarting packages or overreacting to ISP RAs that contain no actual changes.

If you think this is worth splitting-out as a distinct issue then please do so. Whatever the cause it detracts from 25.03b.

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stephenw10

Yeah let me see if can get any equivalent data from an ice NIC system.

RobbieTT

@stephenw10 said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

Yeah let me see if can get any equivalent data from an ice NIC system.

Still plagued by this and really wondering about the new ice driver. If these timestamps are accurate then the kernel shows these link 'failures' to be less than 50µs. I would have thought the fault mask alone would be more generous than that:

2025-06-04 22:22:00.694984+01:00	check_reload_status	678	Linkup starting ice0.1003
2025-06-04 22:22:00.690120+01:00	check_reload_status	678	Linkup starting ice0
2025-06-04 22:22:00.686014+01:00	kernel	-	ice0.1003: link state changed to UP
2025-06-04 22:22:00.685997+01:00	kernel	-	ice0: link state changed to UP
2025-06-04 22:22:00.685977+01:00	kernel	-	ice0: Link is up, 10 Gbps Full Duplex, Requested FEC: None, Negotiated FEC: None, Autoneg: False, Flow Control: None
2025-06-04 22:22:00.685955+01:00	kernel	-	ice0.1003: link state changed to DOWN
2025-06-04 22:22:00.685927+01:00	kernel	-	ice0: link state changed to DOWN
2025-06-04 22:22:00.601736+01:00	check_reload_status	678	Linkup starting ice0.1003
2025-06-04 22:22:00.596914+01:00	check_reload_status	678	Linkup starting ice0

I've ordered another DAC as most of mine are ipolex, so going to try a different brand, just in case that I have both 1 bad cable plus a poor compatibility with an entire DAC brand. Not likely but worth a try I guess.

I also wondered why the above shows Autoneg: False when auto negotiation is enabled and does correctly negotiate to 10 GbE full-duplex. If I fix the speed at 10 GbE (ie Autoselect Off on pfSense) it shows the same result.

[25.03-BETA]/root: ifconfig -mvvvv ice0
ice0: flags=1008843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 9000
	description: LAN
	options=4e100bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,VLAN_HWFILTER,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6,HWSTATS,MEXTPG>
	capabilities=4f507bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,TSO6,LRO,VLAN_HWFILTER,VLAN_HWTSO,NETMAP,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6,HWSTATS,MEXTPG>
	ether 3c:xx:xx:xx:xx:dc
	inet 10.0.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.1.255
	inet6 fe80::xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:ebdc%ice0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6
	inet6 fe80::1:1%ice0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6
	inet6 2a02:xxx:xxxxx:1:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:ebdc prefixlen 64
	media: Ethernet autoselect (10Gbase-Twinax <full-duplex>)
	status: active
	supported media:
		media autoselect
		media 10Gbase-Twinax
	nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	drivername: ice0
	plugged: SFP/SFP+/SFP28 Unknown (Copper pigtail)
	vendor: ipolex PN: SFP-H10GB-CU1M SN: WTS11J72204 DATE: 2019-07-24

/root: dmesg | grep ice0
ice0: <Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E823-L for SFP - 1.43.2-k> mem 0xf0000000-0xf7ffffff,0xfa010000-0xfa01ffff at device 0.0 numa-domain 0 on pci11
ice0: Loading the iflib ice driver
ice0: The DDP package was successfully loaded: ICE OS Default Package version 1.3.41.0, track id 0xc0000001.
ice0: fw 5.5.17 api 1.7 nvm 2.28 etid 80011e36 netlist 0.1.7000-1.25.0.f083a9d5 oem 1.3200.0
ice0: Using 8 Tx and Rx queues
ice0: Reserving 8 MSI-X interrupts for iRDMA
ice0: Using MSI-X interrupts with 17 vectors
ice0: Using 1024 TX descriptors and 1024 RX descriptors
ice0: Ethernet address: 3c:xx:xx:xx:xx:dc
ice0: ice_add_rss_cfg on VSI 0 could not configure every requested hash type
ice0: Firmware LLDP agent disabled
ice0: link state changed to UP
ice0: Link is up, 10 Gbps Full Duplex, Requested FEC: None, Negotiated FEC: None, Autoneg: False, Flow Control: None
ice0: netmap queues/slots: TX 8/1024, RX 8/1024
ice0: Module is not present.
ice0: Possible Solution 1: Check that the module is inserted correctly.
ice0: Possible Solution 2: If the problem persists, use a cable/module that is found in the supported modules and cables list for this device.
ice0: link state changed to DOWN
ice0: link state changed to UP
ice0: Link is up, 10 Gbps Full Duplex, Requested FEC: None, Negotiated FEC: None, Autoneg: False, Flow Control: None
vlan0: changing name to 'ice0.1003'
ice0: Media change is not supported.
ice0: Media change is not supported.
ice0: Media change is not supported.
nd6_dad_timer: called with non-tentative address fe80:d::1:1(ice0.1003)
ice0: link state changed to DOWN
ice0.1003: link state changed to DOWN
ice0: Link is up, 10 Gbps Full Duplex, Requested FEC: None, Negotiated FEC: None, Autoneg: False, Flow Control: None
ice0: link state changed to UP
ice0.1003: link state changed to UP
ice0: Media change is not supported.
ice0: Media change is not supported.
[25.03-BETA]/root:

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stephenw10

@RobbieTT said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

I also wondered why the above shows Autoneg: False when auto negotiation is enabled and does correctly negotiate

Hmm, that is odd.

Yes I agree, the timing doesn't look like a real link event which does point to driver issue. So far I haven't found any of our devices throwing the same logs. I'll keep looking.

w0w

@RobbieTT said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

If these timestamps are accurate then the kernel shows these link 'failures' to be less than 50µs

Even the basic physics of Ethernet (especially 10GBASE-SR/LR) would react more slowly than that. It's about 1 second to down and 1 second to up, not micro.

RobbieTT

@w0w said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

Even the basic physics...

Begad, even the laws of physics are against me!

I need to tend to my infinite improbability drive.

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w0w

@RobbieTT said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

Begad, even the laws of physics are against me!

What about the power-saving settings for the CPU and the network card? For the CPU, you can check and adjust it to maximum performance in the advanced settings of pfSense for testing purposes. As for the network card, it should be possible to set dev.ice.X.power_save=0 in the system tunables, where X is the port number. However, I'm not sure if this actually works. In theory, this should eliminate glitches with interrupts on the bus if they are, for example, related to power-saving features.

RobbieTT

@w0w

A good thought but no NIC involved for these particular links (SFP28), they are direct to the CPU.

No PowerD in use either - core level Speed Shift capable and enabled in pfSense.

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stephenw10

Hmm, a change in the default eee setting or similar might present like this. Though I don't see anything likely in the driver history. Especially since 24.11.

w0w

@RobbieTT
I noticed a difference in how SpeedShift behaved between versions 24.11 and 25.03. Maybe it’s just a coincidence and the reason lies elsewhere, but it could also be due to changes in the default SpeedShift settings between the versions. Also it could be some kernel changes regarding it.

You can list most of the settings by issuing a command

sysctl -a | grep -E 'hwp|epp|dev.cpu.0.(freq|cx)'

Ideally, do it on both systems and then you can compare it.

w0w

On my system I've found that
machdep.hwpstate_pkg_ctrl is 0 on 24.11 and 1 on 25.03

I think this is it

I don't remember if I changed this setting or not — probably not, but I'm not sure.

stephenw10

That default hasn't changed as far as I know. I really wouldn't expect it to make any difference to a driver from switching that though.

w0w

@stephenw10
Yep, it is possible that I have changed it.
And regarding this "new" ice behaviour, I don't know, do some kernel options changed in between?

stephenw10

Seems like it must be something like that. I can't see any driver changes that could present like this directly.

Though perhaps it could be something in the SFP module since I've nothing on our 8300 test boxes that also use ice(4) NICs.

RobbieTT

@w0w said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

@stephenw10
Yep, it is possible that I have changed it.

On mine:

machdep.hwpstate_pkg_ctrl: 0

So no difference between versions on my systems.

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RobbieTT

@stephenw10 said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

Seems like it must be something like that. I can't see any driver changes that could present like this directly.

Though perhaps it could be something in the SFP module since I've nothing on our 8300 test boxes that also use ice(4) NICs.

Replaced this ipolex SFP+ DAC:

	drivername: ice0
	plugged: SFP/SFP+/SFP28 Unknown (Copper pigtail)
	vendor: ipolex PN: SFP-H10GB-CU1M SN: WTS11J72204 DATE: 2019-07-24

With a freshly purchased 10Gtek one:

	drivername: ice0
	plugged: SFP/SFP+/SFP28 Unknown (Copper pigtail)
	vendor: OEM PN: CAB-10GSFP-P1M SN: CSC241010630178 DATE: 2024-10-22

It didn't change anything and the issue remains. I wasn't really expecting a difference as I had been through my stock of SFP+ DACs but best to be sure I guess.

So far the only way to stop the issue is to revert to 24.11 and below. The problem only manifests itself with 25.03b.

w0w

kern.ipc.tls.enable: 1

on 25.03

I doubt that this option has any real effect, but for now it's the only difference I can see in the kernel. At the very least, it can be used by both the ice driver and the kernel itself.

RobbieTT

@stephenw10 said in DNS resolver exiting when loading pfblocker 25.03.b.20250409.2208:

Seems like it must be something like that. I can't see any driver changes that could present like this directly.

Do we still need to add ice_ddp_load="YES" to the loader.conf.local file, or are we done with that tuneable?

I don't have it added but I presumed all is well given that the system shows that it is loaded:

ice0: <Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E823-L for SFP - 1.43.2-k> mem 0xf0000000-0xf7ffffff,0xfa010000-0xfa01ffff at device 0.0 numa-domain 0 on pci11
ice0: Loading the iflib ice driver
ice0: The DDP package was successfully loaded: ICE OS Default Package version 1.3.41.0, track id 0xc0000001.
ice0: fw 5.5.17 api 1.7 nvm 2.28 etid 80011e36 netlist 0.1.7000-1.25.0.f083a9d5 oem 1.3200.0

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RobbieTT

I'm not sure if this unbound error is relevant but as it appears around the time of these events:

php-fpm	16215	/rc.newwanipv6: The command '/usr/local/sbin/unbound -c /var/unbound/unbound.conf' returned exit code '1', the output was '[1749405403] unbound[41019:0] error: bind: address already in use [1749405403] unbound[41019:0] fatal error: could not open ports'

Looking at sockets:

IPv4 System Socket Information
USER	COMMAND	PID	FD	PROTO	LOCAL	FOREIGN
root	php-fpm	16215	4	udp4	*:*	*:*

IPv6 System Socket Information
USER	COMMAND	PID	FD	PROTO	LOCAL	FOREIGN
root	php-fpm	16215	5	udp6	*:*	*:*

It's not an area I am familiar with.

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stephenw10

No that's ugly but shouldn't be an issue. It tries to start Unbound too rapidly and it's already running. That should not stop it.