ASIX AX88179 USB to GigE

bryan.paradis

Interesting, I would have thought that a leap from FreeBSD 8.3 to 10/10.1 would have warranted a major (not just a minor) version change on the pfsense side as well. But that gives me hope, since now I know I don't have to wait two full versions away, but just one!

backporting drivers is fairly common. Note that the driver wont be in freebsd release until 10.1 not 10.

stephenw10

@mcampbell:

I would have thought that a leap from FreeBSD 8.3 to 10/10.1 would have warranted a major (not just a minor) version change

Yes I see what you mean. However I would argue that the changes that went into 2.1 were much more extensive from a pfSense point of view than even though the base system only incremented from FreeBSD 8.1 to 8.3. The 2.2 release will not have many new features as I understand it, the devs are concentrating purely on bringing the base system up to FreeBSD 10 so from that point of view pfSense will not have changed dramatically. It's being built as 2.2 currently but who knows the devs might decide it warrants a major change and go straight to 3.0. Just have to wait and see. ;)

Steve

mcampbell

@bryan.paradis:

backporting drivers is fairly common. Note that the driver wont be in freebsd release until 10.1 not 10.

Duly noted! But I would suppose that it's generally easier to backport within the same major version, as opposed to jumping between two major versions.

@stephenw10:

Yes I see what you mean. However I would argue that the changes that went into 2.1 were much more extensive from a pfSense point of view than even though the base system only incremented from FreeBSD 8.1 to 8.3. The 2.2 release will not have many new features as I understand it, the devs are concentrating purely on bringing the base system up to FreeBSD 10 so from that point of view pfSense will not have changed dramatically. It's being built as 2.2 currently but who knows the devs might decide it warrants a major change and go straight to 3.0. Just have to wait and see. ;)

Steve

Fair enough. It's a worthy cause, as I'm sure that if nothing else, there's a lot of security updates between 8.3 & 10. Perhaps we'll see a goodly amount of bug fixes as well.

Huxy

Hiya,

I attempted to load the axge module provided, but get an exec format error.
I'm using release 2.1 i386. Have I missed something?

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/boot/modules(38): ls -la
total 125
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Jan 28 19:09 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 root wheel 512 Sep 11 23:51 ..
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 103996 Sep 11 23:51 bwi_v3_ucode.ko
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 15890 Jan 28 19:08 if_axge.ko

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/boot/modules(39): usbconfig
ugen0.1: <uhci root="" hub="" intel="">at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=SAVE
ugen1.1: <ehci root="" hub="" intel="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE
ugen1.2: <product 0x8000="" vendor="" 0x8087="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE
ugen1.3: <ax88179 asix="" elec.="" corp.="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/boot/modules(40): kldload if_axge.ko
kldload: can't load if_axge.ko: Exec format error

Cheers</ax88179></product></ehci></uhci>

bryan.paradis

@Huxy:

Hiya,

I attempted to load the axge module provided, but get an exec format error.
I'm using release 2.1 i386. Have I missed something?

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/boot/modules(38): ls -la
total 125
drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Jan 28 19:09 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 root wheel 512 Sep 11 23:51 ..
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 103996 Sep 11 23:51 bwi_v3_ucode.ko
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 15890 Jan 28 19:08 if_axge.ko

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/boot/modules(39): usbconfig
ugen0.1: <uhci root="" hub="" intel="">at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=SAVE
ugen1.1: <ehci root="" hub="" intel="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE
ugen1.2: <product 0x8000="" vendor="" 0x8087="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE
ugen1.3: <ax88179 asix="" elec.="" corp.="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/boot/modules(40): kldload if_axge.ko
kldload: can't load if_axge.ko: Exec format error

Cheers</ax88179></product></ehci></uhci>

Are you running amd64?

@bryan.paradis:

i386 Untested - Use at your own risk

Huxy

Turns out it was the download link. I manually downloaded and sftp'd the file from windows to the pfsense box and I was able to load the module.

However, as soon as I attempt to assign the interface to a role, the machine crashes with reference to the algx module.


Fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode
cpuid = 0; apic id = 00
fault virtual address = 0x8
fault code = supervisor read, page not present
instruction pointer = 0x20:0xc5091e46
stack pointer = 0x28:0xd6775c94
frame pointer = 0x28:0xd6775ca0
code segment = base 0x0 limit 0xffffff, type 0x1b
= DPL 0, pres 1, def 32 1, gran 1
processor eflags = interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
current process = 14 (axge0)
trap number = 12
panic: page fault

bryan.paradis

@Huxy:

Turns out it was the download link. I manually downloaded and sftp'd the file from windows to the pfsense box and I was able to load the module.

However, as soon as I attempt to assign the interface to a role, the machine crashes with reference to the algx module.

Well that sucks. Can you get the exact error?

bryan.paradis

Ok. Well I am redoing the environment I compiled that in. My new adapter will be here on friday.

Cable Matters SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Huxy

Cool. Thanks for the response. I suspect you noticed, but I added the crash error to my previous post.
Hopefully, the new build environment will help, as will having the hardware for testing.

bryan.paradis

@Huxy:

Cool. Thanks for the response. I suspect you noticed, but I added the crash error to my previous post.
Hopefully, the new build environment will help, as will having the hardware for testing.

Thanks for updating that. What exactly did you do to produce the issue. So I can try reproducing.

Also here is the md5 for that module: F313B0FA8A7C38CF1E3A8A4DD39F2C22

Huxy

I checked the md5sum and it was fine. Here's the steps I took to cause a crash. 100% reproducible.

*** Welcome to pfSense 2.1-RELEASE-nanobsd (i386) on pfSense ***

 WAN (wan)       -> re0        -> v4/DHCP4: 192.168.1.162/24
 LAN (lan)       -> em0        -> v4: 192.168.1.6/24

 0) Logout (SSH only)                  8) Shell
 1) Assign Interfaces                  9) pfTop
 2) Set interface(s) IP address       10) Filter Logs
 3) Reset webConfigurator password    11) Restart webConfigurator
 4) Reset to factory defaults         12) pfSense Developer Shell
 5) Reboot system                     13) Upgrade from console
 6) Halt system                       14) Disable Secure Shell (sshd)
 7) Ping host                         15) Restore recent configuration

Enter an option: 1

Valid interfaces are:

usbus00   (up)
em0   00:16:3e:9c:ae:88   (up) Intel(R) PRO/1000 Legacy Network Connection 1.0.4
re0   00:16:3e:39:ad:93   (up) RealTek 8139C+ 10/100BaseTX
usbus10   (up)
ue0   00:24:9b:09:84:0f (down) USB Ethernet

Do you want to set up VLANs first?

If you are not going to use VLANs, or only for optional interfaces, you should
say no here and use the webConfigurator to configure VLANs later, if required.

Do you want to set up VLANs now [y|n]? n

*NOTE*  pfSense requires *AT LEAST* 1 assigned interface(s) to function.
        If you do not have *AT LEAST* 1 interfaces you CANNOT continue.

        If you do not have at least 1 *REAL* network interface card(s)
        or one interface with multiple VLANs then pfSense
        *WILL NOT* function correctly.

If you do not know the names of your interfaces, you may choose to use
auto-detection. In that case, disconnect all interfaces now before
hitting 'a' to initiate auto detection.

Enter the WAN interface name or 'a' for auto-detection: ue0

Enter the LAN interface name or 'a' for auto-detection
NOTE: this enables full Firewalling/NAT mode.
(or nothing if finished): em0

Enter the Optional 1 interface name or 'a' for auto-detection
(or nothing if finished):

The interfaces will be assigned as follows:

WAN  -> ue0
LAN  -> em0

Do you want to proceed [y|n]?y

Writing configuration...done.
One moment while we reload the settings... done!

bryan.paradis

@Huxy:

I checked the md5sum and it was fine. Here's the steps I took to cause a crash. 100% reproducible.

*** Welcome to pfSense 2.1-RELEASE-nanobsd (i386) on pfSense ***

 WAN (wan)       -> re0        -> v4/DHCP4: 192.168.1.162/24
 LAN (lan)       -> em0        -> v4: 192.168.1.6/24

 0) Logout (SSH only)                  8) Shell
 1) Assign Interfaces                  9) pfTop
 2) Set interface(s) IP address       10) Filter Logs
 3) Reset webConfigurator password    11) Restart webConfigurator
 4) Reset to factory defaults         12) pfSense Developer Shell
 5) Reboot system                     13) Upgrade from console
 6) Halt system                       14) Disable Secure Shell (sshd)
 7) Ping host                         15) Restore recent configuration

Enter an option: 1

Valid interfaces are:

usbus00   (up)
em0   00:16:3e:9c:ae:88   (up) Intel(R) PRO/1000 Legacy Network Connection 1.0.4
re0   00:16:3e:39:ad:93   (up) RealTek 8139C+ 10/100BaseTX
usbus10   (up)
ue0   00:24:9b:09:84:0f (down) USB Ethernet

Do you want to set up VLANs first?

If you are not going to use VLANs, or only for optional interfaces, you should
say no here and use the webConfigurator to configure VLANs later, if required.

Do you want to set up VLANs now [y|n]? n

*NOTE*  pfSense requires *AT LEAST* 1 assigned interface(s) to function.
        If you do not have *AT LEAST* 1 interfaces you CANNOT continue.

        If you do not have at least 1 *REAL* network interface card(s)
        or one interface with multiple VLANs then pfSense
        *WILL NOT* function correctly.

If you do not know the names of your interfaces, you may choose to use
auto-detection. In that case, disconnect all interfaces now before
hitting 'a' to initiate auto detection.

Enter the WAN interface name or 'a' for auto-detection: ue0

Enter the LAN interface name or 'a' for auto-detection
NOTE: this enables full Firewalling/NAT mode.
(or nothing if finished): em0

Enter the Optional 1 interface name or 'a' for auto-detection
(or nothing if finished):

The interfaces will be assigned as follows:

WAN  -> ue0
LAN  -> em0

Do you want to proceed [y|n]?y

Writing configuration...done.
One moment while we reload the settings... done!

Try this one went a different route with it this time:

rename to if_axge.ko and check md5 afterwards.

if_axge.ko
md5: 69F1819099F9183865E5895D97A6E9EE

Also if it fails can you please setup the interface manually on the shell one step at a time. Maybe your system log showing the last error happening would be helpful as well. I don't know what part of the assign script actually triggered the problem. I figure though it must have been in the axge_ifmedia_upd() function it was calling a updated function from an updated file. This time instead of bringing in the update I switched it back to calling the original function.

if_axge.txt

Huxy

Boom! Great work!

This new version seems to work fine. I've now got a working connection.
I've yet to do thorough testing but it all looks good! Here's the ifconfig which I ran using a SSH login shell.

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(2): ifconfig ue0
ue0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=8000b <rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,linkstate>ether 00:24:9b:09:84:0f
        inet6 fe80::224:9bff:fe09:840f%ue0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x9
        inet 192.168.1.6 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        nd6 options=1 <performnud>media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,master>)
        status: active
[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(3):</full-duplex,master></performnud></rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,linkstate></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

bryan.paradis

@Huxy:

Boom! Great work!

This new version seems to work fine. I've now got a working connection.
I've yet to do thorough testing but it all looks good! Here's the ifconfig which I ran using a SSH login shell.

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(2): ifconfig ue0
ue0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=8000b <rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,linkstate>ether 00:24:9b:09:84:0f
        inet6 fe80::224:9bff:fe09:840f%ue0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x9
        inet 192.168.1.6 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        nd6 options=1 <performnud>media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,master>)
        status: active
[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root(3):</full-duplex,master></performnud></rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,linkstate></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

Haha hardcore. First Freebsd thing I ever messed with. Maybe I didn't even need to buy one for $20 hahahaha. Can you test the throughput? There may be another change to get it to do usb 3.0 speeds. Are you on usb 2.0 or 3.0?

What is your output of usbconfig

stephenw10

Nice one! ;D
There's no USB3 support at all in FreeBSD 8.3 as far as I know so that getting that working would be significantly more complex.

Steve

bryan.paradis

@stephenw10:

Nice one! ;D
There's no USB3 support at all in FreeBSD 8.3 as far as I know so that getting that working would be significantly more complex.

Steve

The xhci(4) driver, which supports Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) and USB 3.0, has been added.[r215944]

Are you sure? Seems like it started getting support in 8.2

I have compiled for amd64 now as well. I am posting both.


1\. download
2\. rename to if_axge.ko
3\. place in /boot/modules
4\. md5 if_axge.ko and check against the md5 listed below


#i386
md5 if_axge.ko
MD5 (if_axge.ko) = 69f1819099f9183865e5895d97a6e9ee


#amd64
md5 if_axge.ko
MD5 (if_axge.ko) = afb51043416a0cc6cad7dfbe875a9809

if_axge.ko.i386.txt
if_axge.ko.amd64.txt

stephenw10

Hmm, fairly sure. There are many reports of the USB3 subsystem not showing up at all and I think at least some of them have been since 2.1 was released. Don't let me stop you trying though. ;)

Steve

Huxy

[[b]update] I wasn't able to get the host to see the USB3 PCIe Adapter. I'm guessing driver support isn't included in this kernel.

bryan.paradis

@Huxy:

[[b]update] I wasn't able to get the host to see the USB3 PCIe Adapter. I'm guessing driver support isn't included in this kernel.

Which one? :P

Also I got my Cable Matters adapter! Haha. Here are my results of some fiddling around.

Virtualbox -> freebsd passthrough = Deteched sends SOME packets SOMETIMES
ESXI -> debian = Works but limited to 12mbit in my setup. Verdict usable but needs some work
ESXI -> pfsense = Works much better than the debian passthrough for some reason. Verdict maybe workable

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfsensedev.localdomain]/(12): ./speedtest-cli
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Testing from Electronic Box (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by TELUS (Montreal, QC) [7.35 km]: 96.083 ms
Testing download speed........................................
Download: 44.66 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed..................................................
Upload: 9.64 Mbit/s

44.66 Mbit is not half bad! I am going to be moving away from esxi to ganeti (KVM maybe XEN) so I will see how it does in passthrough there later on.

[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfsensedev.localdomain]/(25): ./speedtest-cli
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Testing from Electronic Box (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Colo-Serv Communications (Montreal, QC) [7.35 km]: 83.923 ms
Testing download speed........................................
Download: 57.40 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed..................................................
Upload: 10.27 Mbit/s
[2.1-RELEASE][root@pfsensedev.localdomain]/(26):

This is with emulated E1000. It is just a VM with 256mb of ram and really low priority. It is not routing through its own wan but it is still routing through my main pfsense on the same atom box ;) Maybe I will do a LAN to LAN test later

Huxy

I did some testing with pfSense and m0n0wall using the USB adapter as my WAN connection.
Throughput on incoming traffic was really poor 0.5mbit/s but upload was fine at 10.5mbit/s.
The net connection also stopped responding on two separate occasions and I was forced to reboot the pfSense VM.

I installed a Debian based router instead as a test and I had full speed 125mbit/s and 10.5mbit/s speeds on my LAN clients. I'm not sure what the issue is to be honest, but it renders pfSense unsuitable for me at this point in time.