Load Balancing broken?

sysc · Jul 28, 2011, 2:27 PM

Getting complaints from clients of intermittent connectivity when using load balancing. It works, then doesn't. Was working perfect with the July 14th release before the latest update.

Nachtfalke · Jul 28, 2011, 6:31 PM

It is working for me on:
Built On: Wed Jul 27 13:16:07 EDT 2011

sysc · Jul 29, 2011, 12:40 PM

It's actually not load balancing, I can take either wan out of the equation and still have similar results with just one connection to the inet.

stephenw10 · Jul 29, 2011, 12:59 PM

What are you seeing/expecting to see?

I will say that since RC3 it seems that the load balancing is less 'balanced'. IMHO. ::)
For example if you go to: http://www.pfsense.org/ip.php
You get the IP of which ever WAN your connection is coming from. Previously refreshing that page, by pressing F5 for example, would return alternate IPs on each press. Assuming that I am the only user during this test that is how I expect the round-robin balancing to work.
Since RC3 it seems a lot more reluctant to switch WANs, almost as if I have sticky connections switched on. I don't.

Steve

Nachtfalke · Jul 29, 2011, 2:45 PM

Hi,

I am using pfsense since beta4 in LoadBalancing and it was never changing the IP everytime I pressed F5 to refresh this page ( http://www.pfsense.org/ip.php )

To test, if LoadBalancing is working fine, I am using maps.google.de - just scroll in and out on the map and then take a look at the traffic graphs.

Further a good way to check, if LoadBalancing is working really balanced is if you have to internet connections with same bandwidth and you check the traffic passed these interfaces. if it is nearly the same, it is working.

stephenw10 · Jul 29, 2011, 4:26 PM

@Nachtfalke:

I am using pfsense since beta4 in LoadBalancing and it was never changing the IP every time I pressed F5 to refresh this page ( http://www.pfsense.org/ip.php )

Really? I remember that's exactly how it functioned. Hmm, perhaps that was 1.2.3?

Does it not switch connections on a Round-Robin basis then?

It still gives me trouble on some websites.

Steve

sysc · Jul 29, 2011, 5:44 PM

After the upgrade we're getting intermittent connectivity on either wan either together or by themselves. I've tried different hardware, different versions. Not sure where to look at this point.

eri-- · Jul 29, 2011, 6:05 PM

Sticky connections on?

stephenw10 · Jul 29, 2011, 7:12 PM

@ermal:

Sticky connections on?

No, but that was my first thought. It least it shows as off in the gui.

Steve

Edit: Did you mean me? ::)

Nachtfalke · Jul 30, 2011, 12:06 AM

@stephenw10:

@Nachtfalke:

I am using pfsense since beta4 in LoadBalancing and it was never changing the IP every time I pressed F5 to refresh this page ( http://www.pfsense.org/ip.php )

Really? I remember that's exactly how it functioned. Hmm, perhaps that was 1.2.3?

Does it not switch connections on a Round-Robin basis then?

It still gives me trouble on some websites.

Steve

It is changing, but it doesn't everytime I click(ed) F5.
Not sure how Round Robin is working. If it changes WAN every second or if it changes for every connection.
perhaps sometimes it is refreshing an established connection and is not creating a new one.

sysc · Aug 4, 2011, 1:56 PM

Figured I should follow up… This ended up not having anything to do with PFsense. It was an issue with squid 2.6, upgraded to 3.0 (separate box) and everything was stable again.