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    PfSense randomly loses connection, and reboot is only solution.

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • D
      dreamslacker
      last edited by

      @rocketdog:

      Not sure about the BIOS, but could take a look..Been thinking about things getting overheated, but then why would just the GW drop?

      If you do a Dmesg after the GW drops, does it show the link flapping on the ue0 nic?

      If so, you either have a failing NIC or just general instability with the USB NIC (these aren't exactly what I would consider to be stable).

      If the System Logs do not show Apinger alarm, restarting the NIC and followed by a filter reload, then the problem probably lies with the NIC (I've had this with a failing NIC before).

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      • R
        rocketdog
        last edited by

        @dreamslacker:

        If you do a Dmesg after the GW drops, does it show the link flapping on the ue0 nic?

        If so, you either have a failing NIC or just general instability with the USB NIC (these aren't exactly what I would consider to be stable).

        If the System Logs do not show Apinger alarm, restarting the NIC and followed by a filter reload, then the problem probably lies with the NIC (I've had this with a failing NIC before).

        Yeah, tons of ups and downs. The FW has worked as a charm for the last few days…I tuned some stuff on a server (did some ifconfig eth0 RX downtune IIRC), and the TOR-server went down about 20%...Before, and when the FW-problems occured, the tor-relay was full throttle.. So I guess it's just this damn USB NIC. Too much traffic and it goes bananas..

        How do you reload filters?

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        • R
          rocketdog
          last edited by

          Looking at dmesg, I've lost connections several times…probably while I've not been using internet etc. And I have no idea for how long the ue0 is down, and why it comes back up again. Ideas?

          ukphy0: <generic ieee="" 802.3u="" media="" interface=""> PHY 16 on miibus1
ukphy0:  none, 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto, auto-flow
ue0: <usb ethernet=""> on axe0
ZFS WARNING: Recommended minimum kmem_size is 512MB; expect unstable behavior.
             Consider tuning vm.kmem_size and vm.kmem_size_max
             in /boot/loader.conf.
ZFS filesystem version 5
ZFS storage pool version 28
ue0: link state changed to DOWN
bge0: link state changed to DOWN
pflog0: promiscuous mode enabled
ue0: link state changed to UP
bge0: link state changed to UP
ue0: link state changed to DOWN
ue0: link state changed to UP
ue0: link state changed to DOWN
ue0: link state changed to UP
ue0: promiscuous mode enabled
ue0: link state changed to DOWN
ue0: link state changed to UP
ue0: link state changed to DOWN
ue0: link state changed to UP
ue0: link state changed to DOWN
ue0: link state changed to UP
ue0: link state changed to DOWN
ue0: link state changed to UP</usb></generic>

          Found this! What could cause this? 1-5 minutes downtime, but no "uplink" messages?

          Edit: Missed to get these lines in the screenshot.

          Feb 10 19:35:41 	apinger: Starting Alarm Pinger, apinger(17013)
Feb 10 19:35:51 	apinger: ALARM: WANGW(188.133.122.1) *** down ***
Feb 10 21:20:37 	apinger: ALARM: GW_WAN(188.122.133.1) *** down ***
Feb 11 00:39:54 	apinger: Starting Alarm Pinger, apinger(13674)
Feb 11 00:40:05 	apinger: ALARM: WANGW(188.133.122.1) *** down ***
Feb 11 03:03:19 	apinger: ALARM: GW_WAN(188.122.133.1) *** down ***
Feb 11 03:31:54 	apinger: Starting Alarm Pinger, apinger(15720)
Feb 11 03:32:04 	apinger: ALARM: WANGW(188.133.122.1) *** down ***
Feb 13 00:17:28 	apinger: ALARM: GW_WAN(188.122.133.1) *** loss ***
Feb 13 00:47:10 	apinger: alarm canceled: GW_WAN(188.122.133.1) *** loss ***

          "Starting Alarm Pinger", then 10 seconds later I'm offline. Where can I find options about this thingy?

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            How far apart are these up down events?
            Why is it using promiscuous mode? Is it bridged?

            Steve

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            • R
              rocketdog
              last edited by

              @stephenw10:

              How far apart are these up down events?
              Why is it using promiscuous mode? Is it bridged?

              Steve

              Promiscuous mode? I have no idea. I've never seen options like that. It is no bridged.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Usually a NIC would only need to use promiscuous mode if it has to be able to process frames addressed to other MACs.  This is the case if it is part of a bridge or has been used for packet capturing among others.

                Steve

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                • R
                  rocketdog
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10:

                  Usually a NIC would only need to use promiscuous mode if it has to be able to process frames addressed to other MACs.  This is the case if it is part of a bridge or has been used for packet capturing among others.

                  Steve

                  According to "Diagnostics > Packet Capture" promiscuous mode is disabled. By the way did, did you see my edit on my previous post?

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    You can tune apinger or disable it completely in System: Routing: Gateways: edit gateway, advanced.
                    That's not going to help if your usb nic really is flaky though.

                    Steve

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                    • D
                      dreamslacker
                      last edited by

                      @rocketdog:

                      So I guess it's just this damn USB NIC. Too much traffic and it goes bananas..

                      How do you reload filters?

                      Seems like the case.  USB NICs aren't exactly stellar performers.  I seriously recommend getting a cheap VLAN capable switch (Netgear GS108T or HP Procurve 1810-8G or Mikrotik RB260GS) and using that with your BGE nic to create the WAN & LAN interfaces via VLANs instead.  It's far more stable than trying to work with the USB NIC.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • R
                        rocketdog
                        last edited by

                        As soon as I turn on squid, the USB drops within hours. Since I disabled it, it hasnt dropped once.  :) Too bad tho, since I really liked Squid. I guess I'll start using it the day I find relaying onion traffic boring.  8)

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                        • R
                          rocketdog
                          last edited by

                          Sorry for keeping this thread alive, but..since I figured out, the reason the USB-NIC overloads is because of Squid, is there any certain tweaks I could do to Squid towards the hardware?

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                          • B
                            bryan.paradis
                            last edited by

                            @rocketdog:

                            Sorry for keeping this thread alive, but..since I figured out, the reason the USB-NIC overloads is because of Squid, is there any certain tweaks I could do to Squid towards the hardware?

                            What is squid doing when the USB nic drops? Line up the logs. Look to make the logs more verbose.

                            Have you tried a different set of USB headers? Does it correspond with high load on the PC?

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                            • R
                              rocketdog
                              last edited by

                              @bryan.paradis:

                              @rocketdog:

                              Sorry for keeping this thread alive, but..since I figured out, the reason the USB-NIC overloads is because of Squid, is there any certain tweaks I could do to Squid towards the hardware?

                              What is squid doing when the USB nic drops? Line up the logs. Look to make the logs more verbose.

                              Have you tried a different set of USB headers? Does it correspond with high load on the PC?

                              After all, it's just not Squid, it is traffic itself. USB-NIC/GW still drops, just not as frequent as with Squid enabled.

                              Attached some RRD graphs. If you want RRD graphs of CPU or other system-related stuff, just give me a shout.

                              week.png_thumb
                              week.png
                              day.png_thumb
                              day.png
                              8h.png_thumb
                              8h.png

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                              • P
                                pubmsu
                                last edited by

                                Hi there,

                                We used to use USB NICs and can confirm this flapping behavior - UP/DOWN within seconds. The only solution is NOT to use USB NICs with pfSense/FreeBSD. Go for VLAN switches and non-USB NICs.

                                Thanks,
                                msu

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