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

    LAN Traffic is Less Than WAN Traffic

    General pfSense Questions
    2
    3
    3.4k
    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.
    • S
      simpat1zq
      last edited by

      I was looking at the traffic graphs for the LAN and the WAN(my only 2 interfaces), and noticed that WAN Traffic Out was always about 20kbps higher than the LAN Traffic In at about 100kbps. Is this normal? And if it is normal, am I correct in assuming that it's because the LAN traffic is coming in via layer 2(switched), and the WAN traffic is leaving via layer 3(routed) so it has more overhead? And if that's the case, do the layer 3 headers really take up that much more space?

      thx

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • B
        billm
        last edited by

        @simpat1zq:

        I was looking at the traffic graphs for the LAN and the WAN(my only 2 interfaces), and noticed that WAN Traffic Out was always about 20kbps higher than the LAN Traffic In at about 100kbps. Is this normal? And if it is normal, am I correct in assuming that it's because the LAN traffic is coming in via layer 2(switched), and the WAN traffic is leaving via layer 3(routed) so it has more overhead? And if that's the case, do the layer 3 headers really take up that much more space?

        thx

        You need to read up on the OSI model a little more (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model).  Regardless, it sounds like your WAN connection is PPPOE, this will result in another layer 3 encapsulation on top of your IP layer.  This is one of the reasons most internet pipe benchmark sites will tell you that there's about a 20% overhead on your DSL connection.

        –Bill

        PS. that 20% is NOT the same 20% that the shaper removes - keep that in mind ;)

        pfSense core developer
        blog - http://www.ucsecurity.com/
        twitter - billmarquette

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          simpat1zq
          last edited by

          I know the OSI model pretty well(layer 4 and lower). I just wanted to see if I understood this particular situation correctly.

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