Lanner Devices/Real World FeedBack Needed
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I added a ticket to see if this can be accommodated:
http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/704
I would say that we only need to load cpufreq.ko when powerd is enabled. It's not a good practice to load it when it isn't needed. It may not hurt anything, but it does take up additional resources.
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I have a pair of these.
http://www.lannerinc.com/Network_Application_Platforms/x86_Network_Appliance/1U_Network_Appliances/FW-7872
I'm short on space so the half-rack size lets me get two boxes for CARP in 1U.
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Thanks for the feedback!
So it looks like all around the devices are good for PF?
jasonlitka,
What size networks are you using these for?
Any packages?also can you share how much you paid for the device?
thanks!! -
I have a pair of these.
http://www.lannerinc.com/Network_Application_Platforms/x86_Network_Appliance/1U_Network_Appliances/FW-7872
I'm short on space so the half-rack size lets me get two boxes for CARP in 1U.
Those look nice, what kind of price tag is on those?
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I committed a fix on 2.0 where if you're running nanobsd and enable powerd, cpufreq.ko will be loaded. It's built into the full install kernels, but it is not present in the embedded kernel(s).
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jasonlitka,
What size networks are you using these for?
Any packages?My systems have Core 2 Duo T7400 processors, 4GB of RAM, and 8GB Transcend SLC Compact Flash cards running the full install of pfSense.
The only constant-run packages I have installed are snort & vnstat.
The boxes are configured with EM0 as LAN, EM1 as WAN1, EM2 as WAN2, and EM3 as SYNC. There's two vLANs on the LAN interface as well, one for a filtering box I've got (SmoothWall Guardian), and one for wireless clients that I segregate from the rest of my network.
WAN1 is a full DS3, WAN2 is a 3.0/768 DSL line that is used for backup connectivity. I've got a total of about 120 people on the LAN side spread across 6 Class C networks (routed by a L3 Dell 6248, not by pfSense).
The system is sold in two versions, one with a rackmount kit for a bit under $800 and a second without it for ~$575. If you are buying a pair you only need one with the rackmount kit. The CPUs were about $225 each, the RAM $80, and the CF card about $70.
The setup isn't cheap but I've had 100% uptime with these, something I can't say about any other network hardware I've installed (pfSense or otherwise).
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It's probably worth mentioning that the pfSense boxes actually need to handle far more than 45Mbit/s to max out my DS3 as all web traffic from clients is directed back out from pfSense to my filter on that vLAN, before heading back to pfSense and out the pipe.
I also forgot to mention that I use IPSec for connections to a remote warehouse and to my home.
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So enabling powerd, ensuring cpufreq is loaded and setting timerhardware to i8254 still does not allow the Lanner 7530 ATOM device to scale down the frequency. I am monitoring AC power draw and it is constant at 19W.
It was a good try but no cigar.
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Look at the output of this from a shell prompt (don't use the webgui as it draws some CPU to render and will probably raise the CPU frequency to check)
sysctl dev.cpu.0.freqsysctl dev.cpu.0.freq_levelsOn my via router, I see:
dev.cpu.0.freq: 248 dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 995/-1 870/-1 746/-1 621/-1 497/-1 373/-1 248/-1 124/-1So I can tell it's running at a lower CPU speed, but whether or not that translates to less power draw from the PSU, I don't know.
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Yeah, i see it operating at lower levels but power draw is constant so that seems to defeat the purpose right? It is doing artificial throttling in the CPU in that case.
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Or the CPU is not what is drawing those 19W, but the other system components.
