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    (Solved) Beta2 in VmWare performance problems

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved 2.0-RC Snapshot Feedback and Problems - RETIRED
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    • D
      dklev
      last edited by

      Hi,

      I am running pfSense Beta2 in VmWare, and everything works fine, except the network speed and ping times:

      When I download from LAN through pfSense (NAT) to a WAN/DMZ FTP- Server, I only get 150kB/s (should be up to 1Gigabit). When I ping my pfSense from WAN, it needs around 100ms.

      Also I see CPU load (in Webbrowsers Diagnostics/System activity):

      12 root     -68    -     0K   144K WAIT    1   0:11 14.99% {irq19: le1}
        12 root     -68    -     0K   144K WAIT    0   0:08 10.99% {irq18: le0}

      Okay, now I installed vmware tools:

      pkg_add perl
      http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,7424.msg42377.html#msg42377
      http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/844

      The result is, that I can see

      ps awx|grep vmware

      5797  ??  Ss     0:01.65 /usr/local/sbin/vmware-guestd –background /var/run/vmware-guestd.pid

      kldstat

      Id Refs Address    Size     Name
      1    2 0xc0400000 f648a4   kernel
      2    1 0xc1365000 3f7c     vmxnet.ko

      But whenever I switch my vmx to ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet":

      • Valid interfaces are: No interfaces found! So there is no NIC for pfSense
      • ps awx |grep vmware returns no process
      • ps awx without grep returns a line like [vmdaemon]

      I found a lot of links already, but nothing helped me

      http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=21510.0
      http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,7271.0.html
      http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Open_VM_Tools_package

      I hope someone can give me some ideas, as I don't know how to continue. Or can I start over with an existing vmware-image? But I didn't find any…

      Hugo
      Network0.png_thumb
      Network0.png

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      • S
        Supermule Banned
        last edited by

        Uninstall the PFSense VmWare tools package and use E1000 NIC's. Bare in mind that your VMVersion should be 7.

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        • D
          dklev
          last edited by

          Hi Supermule,

          thank you for your idea. I did a new setup with e1000 NIC, but the problem stays the same (same slow NAT/Network performance with CPU load). The only difference is, that the interfaces are not called "le0" "le1" anymore, but "em0" "em1" instead.

          I am using VmWare server 1.0.8, that runs super stable. My windows VMs don't have this problem at all.

          Any other / additional ideas? The bad performance kills my nerves ;-)

          Hugo

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          • S
            Supermule Banned
            last edited by

            Have you checked to se if your nic's are on par with the physical setup on the switch an machine?

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            • D
              dklev
              last edited by

              I am not sure if I understand right… My NIC configuration is as following:

              em0 LAN (bridged e1000 connected to LAN interface on the host)
              em1 WAN (bridged e1000 connected to WAN interface on the host)

              My previous software router (Windows2003 Server with Routing&RAS) provided full Gigabit speed, but my pfSense creates CPU load and CPU waits (see my first post)

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              • S
                Supermule Banned
                last edited by

                I need to see it IRL.

                Are you running on bare metal or on some sort of OS?

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                • D
                  dklev
                  last edited by

                  VmWare Server 1.0.8 runs on M$ Windows 2003 Standard 64bit.

                  Hugo

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                  • S
                    Supermule Banned
                    last edited by

                    Upgrade the Server to 2.0.

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                    • D
                      dklev
                      last edited by

                      There are 25 VMs running there, all are stable and work perfectly. Then I don't like the frontend at all.

                      May be there is another solution. May be we should come back how to use the vmxnet properly in pfSense/FreeBSD?
                      Hugo

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                      • S
                        Supermule Banned
                        last edited by

                        Some reading…

                        http://communities.vmware.com/message/295830

                        http://books.google.dk/books?id=hs0y2B--L4UC&pg=PA805&lpg=PA805&dq=vmxnet+speed+issue&source=bl&ots=vxMZ4X0eBE&sig=veMoCNelx9PuxcC_EZlOp1I4gDo&hl=da&ei=FnnpTOrqApGeOon_mbgK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false

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                        • D
                          dklev
                          last edited by

                          Thanks a lot, but both links don't bring me new ideas. Please keep in mind, that with other VMs the performance is perfect, so I don't have problems with my host.

                          How can I setup vmxnet in pfSense / FreeBSD? To remember:

                          Whenever I switch my vmx to ethernet0.virtualDev = "vmxnet":

                          • Valid interfaces are: No interfaces found! So there is no NIC for pfSense
                          • ps awx |grep vmware returns no process
                          • ps awx without grep returns a line like [vmdaemon]

                          Thanks in advance.
                          Hugo

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                          • S
                            Supermule Banned
                            last edited by

                            Can you make a drawing of your network setup?

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                            • T
                              toomeek
                              last edited by

                              Dear dklev Leave Your VMWare alone! and use another hypervisor and qemu-kvm, it work's perfectly.
                              I have similar situation like You, just using 2 independent environments.

                              EDIT: just found program for network diagrams ;)
                              http://www.networknotepad.com/shots.html

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                              • D
                                dklev
                                last edited by

                                @Supermule: Here is your drawing: One LAN computer downloads from WAN ftp Server (inside DMZ). Network performance is poor when up/downloading (max 150kB/s)

                                @TooMeeK: Thank you for your opinion. I'd like to stay with Vmware

                                @All: I only need my vmxnet working and/or the correct Vmware settings ;-)

                                Network0.png
                                Network0.png_thumb

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                                • S
                                  Supermule Banned
                                  last edited by

                                  WAN Ftp??? Are you using a windows box as your frontend OS with a VMServer on top? And all the traffic goes through the win box and on to the VMServer with 25 VM's on it??

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                                  • D
                                    dklev
                                    last edited by

                                    Okay, here is an extended view to the network: My problem is only pfSense. Traffic from pfSense LAN interface to WAN interface is slow (see red arrows).

                                    Important: It doesn't matter if traffic comes from/to another VM in LAN, or another VM in DMZ, or another PC in LAN, or another PC in DMZ. If pfSense is in between to NAT the traffic: SLOW.

                                    Before I had a Windows 2003 VM with NAT and same config: Gigabit speed, very low CPU load.

                                    So: pfSense is SLOW while NATing. See CPU load in my first post.

                                    If there is no solution, I have to place the Windows 2003 VM back :-((

                                    Network0.png
                                    Network0.png_thumb

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                                    • S
                                      Supermule Banned
                                      last edited by

                                      Screenshots of the Vswitch config pls.

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                                      • D
                                        dklev
                                        last edited by

                                        Hi Supermule,

                                        Problem is solved already!! It was really the host, that was not working correctly. I switched off pfSense, startet my old Windows 2003 Server: Same lag and same effects!!! After complete restart speed is now up to 30.000kB/s, without need to install Vmware Tools, vmxnet and whatever.

                                        Thank you very much für your patience.

                                        Hugo

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