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    PfSense slow on 100mbps WAN?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • ?
      Guest
      last edited by

      Hi all,

      I've got an internet side connection rated at 120mbps. The NIC in my pfsense box is only 100mbit though, but i'd still be expected 80 - 90mbit (considering I get 80 - 120mbps connected directly to the cable modem)

      However, pfsense can barely push through 46mbit or thereabouts. I run the squid package and I originally thought this may be impacting speed, but it doesn't seem to be. Even when not running through squid I still can't break 46mbit.

      For argument's sake, here's a speedtest connected directly to the modem: http://speedtest.net/result/1287609076.png

      and running through pfsense: http://speedtest.net/result/1287611867.png

      CPU load when pushing through 46mbit is around 50% and the RAM also around 50%, so eliminating those two would I be correct in saying it looks like at least one of my NICs could be faulty?

      EDIT: I'm running the bandwidthd, Squid, SquidGuard, vnstat and Dashboard packages on version 1.2.3. The box itself is an IBM ThinkCentre with a 2.8GHz celeron and 512MB of RAM.

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      • T
        torontob
        last edited by

        I am not an expert in this but I run Alix boards on a 100Mbps connection (100Mbps NIC as well) and the highest I can get is about ~80Mbps. I think there is a threshold to the CPU or amount of data it can chunk. I am not sure if IP overhead is considered or not in these tests.

        I would suggest you plug your laptop directly to the provider port to test output. Or better yet use a computer with a 1000Mbps NIC port to test you do get 100Mbps.

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        • ?
          Guest
          last edited by

          Squid+SquidGuard can and do impact network performance.  Disable these when conducting your tests.  You also did not indicate the kinds of NICS you are using.

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