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    PfSense v2.1 - Intel CPU - igb / bce Adapters - Poor Upload or Download Speeds

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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      You can just load the more recent driver as a kernel module, no need to build or fork pfSense. If you're running 64bit then a helpful user attached it here:
      http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,66804.msg383887.html#msg383887

      Steve

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      • J
        jasonlitka
        last edited by

        Have you verified that you don't have a duplex mismatch?  High speed in one direction and low in the other on a symmetric connection is a symptom of that issue.

        I can break anything.

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          LRO not functioning also produce asymmetric results?

          Steve

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          • F
            foonus
            last edited by

            Did a bit of testing last nite, this might answer your question steve,will post all  of this to save users with the same chipset server NICs some time.

            Hardware:        HP Proliant DL320G5P http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12854_na/12854_na.html
            Network Card:  Intel ET2 Quad port server NIC http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/product-brief/gigabit-et-et2-ef-multi-port-server-adapters-brief.pdf
            Internet:          Cable 250/15
            Situation:        Windows 2008R2 Torrent Seedbox  300+ Free Press torrents served consecutive.

            To date have been running the June 27 snapshot due to it working best due to updated Intel NIC drivers.
            Reinstalled with current version 2.1 release, here are the results.

            On initial install:  1.7 download and upload timed out to local ISP speed test server.
            Same current release with changed networking options to " Disable hardware large receive offload", rest of hardware offloading options enabled 228/14.6 *this results in best performance to date.

            Next. User compiled driver addition.
            Initial install W/User mod driver:  1.7 download and upload timed out to local ISP speed test server.
            Same current release with changed networking options to " Disable hardware large receive offload",  rest of hardware offloading options enabled 70/8
            Repeated these tests disabling incrementally and rebooting after each hardware offload option was disabled to test it. I was not able to achieve higher than 70/8 under any circumstance with the user mod driver. Simply removing the loader.conf line (thus reverting it to scenario1) restored the speed to proper again.

            Guessing that the driver for the card the user converted was not the same driver that the ET2 Quad port uses, so there are no positive results from adding it in this specific case.
            Note that the current pfSense performance is better than the June 27 snapshot regardless of drivers atm in this current scenario.
            Would be interesting to see what the addition of the current  ET2 drivers could do… (not concerned about traffic shaping of course. my limiter still works.)

            In short LRO disabled in required to make these NIC's work.. above 1.7% efficiency.
            Again it was not this way in the Jun27 snapshot and if somebody could build the current Intel drivers for these cards the same way the user did for the i210 NIC those of us that are concerned with pure performance and no traffic shaping could again enable this feature.

            Hopefully this will save a few users a nite of messing around.

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Interesting. So what driver version number do each of those report in dmesg?

              Steve

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              • F
                foonus
                last edited by

                The version that was in the June beta snapshot was "<intel(r) 8="" 1000="" pro="" network="" connection="" version="" -="" 2.3.9="">" It did allow enabling off all hardware offloading options. Advanced traffic shaping had some issues however setting a basic limiter worked just fine.

                According to github notes they were backed down to  <intel(r) 1000="" pro="" network="" connection="" version="" -="" 2.3.1="">at the time, thinking that's what it currently runs but have not had the time to verify. This driver is over 2 years old and no longer supported by Intel -.-

                Since then Intel has released 2.​3.​10 (Below), guessing this is the one the user finger79 ported for his i210 but it again needs to be disabled offloading to work with the  ET2 Quad port server NIC.
                https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3258&DwnldID=15815&ProductFamily=Network+Connectivity&ProductLine=Intel%C2%AE+Server+Adapters&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Gigabit+ET2+Quad+Port+Server+Adapter&DownloadType=Drivers&OSFullname=FreeBSD*&lang=eng

                The release notes mention:
                "This release includes two gigabit FreeBSD Base Drivers for Intel® Network
                Connection.

                • igb driver supports all 82575 and 82576-based gigabit network connections.
                • em driver supports all other gigabit network connections.

                igb-x.x.x.tar.gz
                em-x.x.x.tar.gz"

                I Could not find the actual chip ID of the i210(not sure if its just that i210 lol) but if its not the same one as the  ET2's 82576 then its possible that the correct updated driver was not compiled for this specific card since the user had to use the other one for his NIC</intel(r)></intel(r)>

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                • F
                  Finger79
                  last edited by

                  Yep I used igb-2.3.10.tar.gz from 7/26/2013 for igb i210.  Not sure if one needs the em-x.x.x.tar.gz driver instead of the igb?

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    The i210 uses the igb(4) driver as does the ET2.

                    This download is valid for the product(s) listed below.
                    Intel® 82575EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller
                    Intel® 82576 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
                    Intel® 82580EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller
                    Intel® Ethernet Controller I210 Series
                    Intel® Ethernet Controller I211 Series
                    Intel® Ethernet Controller I350
                    Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I210-T1
                    Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I340-F4
                    Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I340-T4
                    Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-F2
                    Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-F4
                    Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T2
                    Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T4
                    Intel® Gigabit EF Dual Port Server Adapter
                    Intel® Gigabit ET Dual Port Server Adapter
                    Intel® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter
                    Intel® Gigabit ET2 Quad Port Server Adapter
                    Intel® Gigabit VT Quad Port Server Adapter

                    You can still download 2.3.8 and try that.

                    Steve

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                    • F
                      foonus
                      last edited by

                      Another update to this worth sharing.

                      With Finger79's .10 version of the IGB driver was able to get some impressive results BUT, for some reason with my config it was needed to also add this to loader.conf
                      hw.igb.enable_msix="0"            # disable MSI-X  (default 1)

                      With this MSIX disabled AND " Disable hardware large receive offload" Checked under System/Advanced/Networking in the pfSense webUI  the user compiled .10 drivers give the best performance of any config i have tried bar none, Upload speed actually shows higher than what my ISP is selling me for the first time ever :)

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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Here's something I just remembered from a few months ago:
                        If your motherboard supports PCIe ASPM try disabling it.
                        I wouldn't expect to find it on a server board, since it's a laptop style power saving feature, but as one other user found it can cause asymmetric throughput:
                        http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,67411.msg369383.html#msg369383

                        Steve

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                        • J
                          jasonlitka
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10:

                          Here's something I just remembered from a few months ago:
                          If your motherboard supports PCIe ASPM try disabling it.
                          I wouldn't expect to find it on a server board, since it's a laptop style power saving feature, but as one other user found it can cause asymmetric throughput:
                          http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,67411.msg369383.html#msg369383

                          Steve

                          PCIe ASPM is a plague.  That shows up on a lot of single-CPU Xeon boards and it's the first setting I go hunting for when I get a new system.

                          I can break anything.

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                          • F
                            foonus
                            last edited by

                            Seems to be some problem with the watchdog going off for the card now -.-  the following lines keep coming up again and again, any ideas?
                            Strange its a 4 port NIC atm igb0 is WAN and ibg1 is LAN.. curious its not doing this for both of them…

                            Bump sched buckets to 256 (was 0)
                            igb1: Watchdog timeout -- resetting
                            igb1: Queue(0) tdh = 112, hw tdt = 122
                            igb1: TX(0) desc avail = 0,Next TX to Clean = 19
                            igb1: link state changed to DOWN
                            igb1: link state changed to UP
                            Bump sched buckets to 256 (was 0)
                            igb1: Watchdog timeout -- resetting
                            igb1: Queue(0) tdh = 16, hw tdt = 21
                            igb1: TX(0) desc avail = 0,Next TX to Clean = 19
                            igb1: link state changed to DOWN
                            igb1: link state changed to UP
                            Bump sched buckets to 256 (was 0)
                            igb1: Watchdog timeout -- resetting
                            igb1: Queue(0) tdh = 16, hw tdt = 20
                            igb1: TX(0) desc avail = 0,Next TX to Clean = 19
                            igb1: link state changed to DOWN
                            igb1: link state changed to UP
                            Bump sched buckets to 256 (was 0)
                            igb1: Watchdog timeout -- resetting
                            igb1: Queue(0) tdh = 32, hw tdt = 47
                            igb1: TX(0) desc avail = 0,Next TX to Clean = 19
                            igb1: link state changed to DOWN
                            igb1: link state changed to UP
                            Bump sched buckets to 256 (was 0)
                            igb1: Watchdog timeout -- resetting
                            igb1: Queue(0) tdh = 1184, hw tdt = 1194
                            igb1: TX(0) desc avail = 0,Next TX to Clean = 19
                            igb1: link state changed to DOWN
                            igb1: link state changed to UP
                            Bump sched buckets to 256 (was 0)

                            $ sysctl dev.igb.1
                            dev.igb.1.%desc: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection version - 2.3.10
                            dev.igb.1.%driver: igb
                            dev.igb.1.%location: slot=0 function=1
                            dev.igb.1.%pnpinfo: vendor=0x8086 device=0x10d6 subvendor=0x8086 subdevice=0x145a class=0x020000
                            dev.igb.1.%parent: pci26
                            dev.igb.1.nvm: -1
                            dev.igb.1.enable_aim: 1
                            dev.igb.1.fc: 3
                            dev.igb.1.rx_processing_limit: -1
                            dev.igb.1.link_irq: 0
                            dev.igb.1.dropped: 0
                            dev.igb.1.tx_dma_fail: 0
                            dev.igb.1.rx_overruns: 0
                            dev.igb.1.watchdog_timeouts: 5
                            dev.igb.1.device_control: 1086325313
                            dev.igb.1.rx_control: 67141634
                            dev.igb.1.interrupt_mask: 157
                            dev.igb.1.extended_int_mask: 2147483648
                            dev.igb.1.tx_buf_alloc: 14
                            dev.igb.1.rx_buf_alloc: 34
                            dev.igb.1.fc_high_water: 29488
                            dev.igb.1.fc_low_water: 29480
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.interrupt_rate: 0
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.txd_head: 768
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.txd_tail: 775
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.no_desc_avail: 0
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.tx_packets: 3697
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.rxd_head: 272
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.rxd_tail: 271
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.rx_packets: 3271
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.rx_bytes: 311152
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.lro_queued: 0
                            dev.igb.1.queue0.lro_flushed: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.excess_coll: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.single_coll: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.multiple_coll: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.late_coll: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.collision_count: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.symbol_errors: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.sequence_errors: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.defer_count: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.missed_packets: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.recv_no_buff: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.recv_undersize: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.recv_fragmented: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.recv_oversize: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.recv_jabber: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.recv_errs: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.crc_errs: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.alignment_errs: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.coll_ext_errs: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.xon_recvd: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.xon_txd: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.xoff_recvd: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.xoff_txd: 0
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.total_pkts_recvd: 3323
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.good_pkts_recvd: 3270
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.bcast_pkts_recvd: 304
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.mcast_pkts_recvd: 20
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.rx_frames_64: 2185
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.rx_frames_65_127: 559
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.rx_frames_128_255: 89
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.rx_frames_256_511: 235
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.rx_frames_512_1023: 140
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.rx_frames_1024_1522: 62
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.good_octets_recvd: 470717
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.good_octets_txd: 3403152
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.total_pkts_txd: 4145
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.good_pkts_txd: 4145
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.bcast_pkts_txd: 14
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.mcast_pkts_txd: 199
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tx_frames_64: 653
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tx_frames_65_127: 755
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tx_frames_128_255: 152
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tx_frames_256_511: 382
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tx_frames_512_1023: 236
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tx_frames_1024_1522: 1967
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tso_txd: 97
                            dev.igb.1.mac_stats.tso_ctx_fail: 0
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.asserts: 3469
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.rx_pkt_timer: 3270
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.rx_abs_timer: 3270
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.tx_pkt_timer: 3599
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.tx_abs_timer: 0
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.tx_queue_empty: 4145
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.tx_queue_min_thresh: 0
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.rx_desc_min_thresh: 0
                            dev.igb.1.interrupts.rx_overrun: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.breaker_tx_pkt: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.host_tx_pkt_discard: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.rx_pkt: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.breaker_rx_pkts: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.breaker_rx_pkt_drop: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.tx_good_pkt: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.breaker_tx_pkt_drop: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.rx_good_bytes: 470717
                            dev.igb.1.host.tx_good_bytes: 3403152
                            dev.igb.1.host.length_errors: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.serdes_violation_pkt: 0
                            dev.igb.1.host.header_redir_missed: 0

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • F
                              foonus
                              last edited by

                              @foonus:

                              Seems to be some problem with the watchdog going off for the card now -.-  the following lines keep coming up again and again, any ideas?
                              Strange its a 4 port NIC atm igb0 is WAN and ibg1 is LAN.. curious its not doing this for both of them…

                              Tracked this down to an issue with importing a config from a RC build to the final release, specifically the Limiter I had set up.

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