FreeBSD 9.0

flynhawaiian · Mar 26, 2012, 5:13 PM

I was wondering if there are any plans on using the FreeBSD 9.0 kernel, and moving away from 8.3?

Nachtfalke · Mar 26, 2012, 5:41 PM

FreeBSD 9.0 was intended for pfsense 2.1 but the developers say that there are so many things to change and some parts are unstable and so it will be just FreeBSD 8.3 for pfsense 2.1.

Later versions will probably have FreeBSD 9.0

databeestje · Mar 26, 2012, 5:46 PM

It's planned for 2.2 currently

flynhawaiian · Mar 26, 2012, 6:25 PM

Sweet. Thanks so much for your amazing help and work on the project!

dhatz · Mar 26, 2012, 7:03 PM

Considering one of pfsense's main building blocks is pf, isn't it a bit disheartening that FreeBSD's pf is so far behind the latest version?

Right now FreeBSD 8.3 includes pf 4.1, which was released 5 years ago.

Even the general-purpose Mac OS X Lion (OS X 10.7) includes a newer version (pf 4.3).

Meanwhile OpenBSD will be releasing 5.1 in about a month: http://www.openbsd.org/51.html

databeestje · Mar 26, 2012, 8:17 PM

Our pf isn't really the same as the one freebsd ships with. There are a number of extension specific to our project.

That said, the big change configuration file is a significant undertaking to get right.

dhatz · Mar 26, 2012, 9:02 PM

@databeestje:

Our pf isn't really the same as the one freebsd ships with. There are a number of extension specific to our project.

Are those pf extensions the ones listed at
https://github.com/bsdperimeter/pfsense-tools/tree/master/patches/RELENG_8_3
or are there more ?

TIA

databeestje · Mar 26, 2012, 9:08 PM

those are it, some are shaper related or for layer 7 filtering, which isn't going to go into free or open anyhow.

yon · Mar 27, 2012, 2:32 AM

now PF 2.1 version support SATA Disk ?

I want to buy new server.

n1ko · Mar 27, 2012, 4:54 AM

@yon:

now PF 2.1 version support SATA Disk ?

I want to buy new server.

Pfsense has "supported" sata disks for many years. And its about the hdd controllers,not the hdd's or the bustype… :)

cmb · Mar 27, 2012, 11:27 PM

@dhatz:

Considering one of pfsense's main building blocks is pf, isn't it a bit disheartening that FreeBSD's pf is so far behind the latest version?

No, there isn't anything in newer versions we would benefit from that we don't already have back ported.

clarknova · Mar 28, 2012, 2:49 PM

@cmb:

No, there isn't anything in newer versions we would benefit from that we don't already have back ported.

Can we take that as a confirmation that TRIM will be included then?

databeestje · Mar 28, 2012, 3:00 PM

Considering the amount of disk space pfSense normally uses TRIM for SSDs is moot. With just writing to some RRD databases it's not going to make much difference, if at all.

TRIM is something to maintain performance if you fill the disk and delete everything. Which isn't very likely.

If it's in FreeBSD 8.3, great, otherwise I see no point in investing time to backport it.

clarknova · Mar 28, 2012, 3:02 PM

TRIM makes a lot of sense in the context of certain packages, such as squid.

databeestje · Mar 28, 2012, 3:19 PM

you do realize that squid, in combination with TRIM will wear your SSD out faster, right?

clarknova · Mar 28, 2012, 3:21 PM

Yes, but in terms of performance that's the way to go.

jimp · Mar 28, 2012, 4:48 PM

TRIM is in 8.3 already.

[2.1-DEVELOPMENT][root@pfsense-amd64.localdomain]/root(2): tunefs --help
usage: tunefs [-A] [-a enable | disable] [-e maxbpg] [-f avgfilesize]
              [-J enable | disable ] [-L volname] [-l enable | disable]
              [-m minfree] [-N enable | disable] [-n enable | disable]
              [-o space | time] [-p] [-s avgfpdir] [-t enable | disable]
              special | filesystem
[2.1-DEVELOPMENT][root@pfsense-amd64.localdomain]/root(3): uname -a
FreeBSD pfsense-amd64.localdomain 8.3-RC2 FreeBSD 8.3-RC2 #1: Fri Mar 23 11:17:24 EDT 2012     root@FreeBSD_8.3_pfSense_2.1.snaps.pfsense.org:/usr/obj./usr/pfSensesrc/src/sys/pfSense_SMP.8  amd64

From tunefs(8)

-t enable | disable
Turn on/off the TRIM enable flag. If enabled, and if the under-
lying device supports the BIO_DELETE command, the file system
will send a delete request to the underlying device for each
freed block. The trim enable flag is typically set when the
underlying device uses flash-memory as the device can use the
delete command to pre-zero or at least avoid copying blocks that
have been deleted.

Can't be set on a live FS, has to be done when booted/mounted from some other media (iso, memstick, attached to another 8.3 box, etc).

clarknova · Mar 28, 2012, 4:51 PM

Good news, Jim. Could I request that it be an option in the installer then, and/or enabled by default for SSDs?

jimp · Mar 28, 2012, 5:30 PM

Seeing as "detecting" an SSD would be non-trivial at that stage, probably an option might be helpful. Open a ticket at redmine (if there isn't one already). It may not make 2.1 unless someone gets time to add it (or funds it). Adding it to the experimental web-based installer (/installer/) would be much easier than adding it in the console/curses installer.

clarknova · Mar 28, 2012, 5:33 PM

@jimp:

Seeing as "detecting" an SSD would be non-trivial at that stage

Are there ill effects of enabling TRIM on a non-SSD? Maybe SSD detection is moot, and the installer simply needs to choose a default and/or give the user a choice.

I will open a ticket in redmine.