PfSense with Gigabyte GA-J1900N-D3V

tpf

My WAN is connected to a NETGEAR GBit-Switch. The same NIC works great on Windows 7.

fostytou

I just wanted to report that I've been running this board little issue since the end of september.

I was able to do the DOS based BIOS upgrade with ease from a USB stick (F3 I think). The install took some minor creativity but worked pretty smoothly. I was able to install an Intel 32GB SSD and enable TRIM which has been great. 4GB of memory seems like overkill for my household usage. I'm using internal NICs and running 2.2a built on 10/3 for now. Its powered by a PicoPSU 80.

Sips power at 13W most of the time, but I did see fluctuations + 1.5W when installing and doing other heavy activity.

The one catch I have is that a reboot or hard boot after power failure when no monitor is connected will result in an error when booting from the SSD. It has only happened twice so it hasn't been a huge issue. The first time I hooked it to a monitor, did a proper shutdown, and it booted fine. The second time I turned it off after some alert beeps, turned it back on (maybe twice, but I think only once), and eventually heard the familiar PF boot alert.

This thing has been great for me so far, and since I don't expect awesome service speeds any time too soon I think it should serve me well for a few years while paying for itself in power. Thanks for the tips!

nzimmers

I've had this board from the beginning of December and all seems to be working great now - I had some challenges getting the right settings in PfSense (as I'm pretty new to it) which was most of my problems. However, one thing I would like to comment on is that in addition to the bios settings previously listed I had to set CSM to all legacy settings (and disable Network) and for "IDE configuration" I set everything to IDE, and then AFTER install I set it back to AHCI Mode - made a world of difference as did the most recent RC2.2 from Dec 22nd. I'm still in the testing phase (can't hook this up until I know it works and works well otherwise the wife and kids will scowl at me for messing with the home network again!) but thus far, I have Snort, PFblocker, and Squid running fine on it, all services are up and no material issues that I can tell.

I did notice that when I push a 1GB file from the squid proxy cache to a machine snort push up cpu utilization to about 43% at 450Mbps transfer rate, but downloading the same size package over my 50Mbps internet connection the CPU utilization is only 12%….so for stuff over the internet this board has a lot of headroom.

I plan to test out Open VPN soon (learning curve will be a challenge) but very impressed with Pfsense and the GA-J1900N-D3V capabilities.

wolfpackunr

Could someone give step by step instructions on what they did to update the BIOS or even get into it. I'm pretty sure my board came with F1. Every time it boots it goes to the EFI Shell menu.

Things I've tried:

-Clearing CMOS and Reboot, same
-Formatting a USB as FreeDOS with the BIOS files, same
-USB Drive with Windows 8 GPT, same
-USB keyboard attached to PS/2 converter, same
-Pressing Delete as fast as possible on bootup, same

Everything I've come across to try does nothing, still goes to the EFI Shell Version 2.31 screen with yellow text. I can type exit and then it will say insert media and reboot but that is all it will do. Rebooting goes back to the same screen. Did anyone else encounter and find a way around or should I just RMA it?

nzimmers

follow the instructions here: http://www.gigabytenordic.com/wordpress/flash-update-bios-gigabyte-bay-trail-motherboards-j1800-j1900/

it updates automatically If I reall correctly

tw_wff

@wolfpackunr:

Could someone give step by step instructions on what they did to update the BIOS or even get into it. I'm pretty sure my board came with F1. Every time it boots it goes to the EFI Shell menu.

Things I've tried:

-Clearing CMOS and Reboot, same
-Formatting a USB as FreeDOS with the BIOS files, same
-USB Drive with Windows 8 GPT, same
-USB keyboard attached to PS/2 converter, same
-Pressing Delete as fast as possible on bootup, same

Everything I've come across to try does nothing, still goes to the EFI Shell Version 2.31 screen with yellow text. I can type exit and then it will say insert media and reboot but that is all it will do. Rebooting goes back to the same screen. Did anyone else encounter and find a way around or should I just RMA it?

@wolfpackunr I had the same problem, however I finally managed to enter BIOS with a PS/2 keyboard attached instead of a USB one. But even if I remove the EFI shell from the boot priority list, the board still boots into the shell. The only option so far was to disable UEFI support entirely and switch to legacy mode, then it skips the EFI shell and boots normally. Really weird.

tpf

pfS 2.2 RC runs pretty well.

Throughput NAT ~ 850 MBit / sec, one core @ 100%.
Throughput OpenVPN ~ 80 - 100 Mbit

OpenSSL cryptodev:
type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc 33849.30k 36329.11k 37343.55k 37570.46k 37528.13k

type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc 24961.94k 25960.98k 26427.82k 26561.19k 26590.05k

18 Watts power consumption at idle and high load with 3,5" HDD.

FarmerB3d

That's pretty good. What do people get on better hardware with better NICs? If that 850Mb/s is maxing out a core then what is it? pfSense doing it's thing or the NIC drivers having to work hard because of a crappy NIC?

Still, it'll be a while before this is a problem for me :)

nzimmers

@tfp

that's pretty good, better than what I got:

(not using Open VPN, just NAT, but running snort, squid, darkstat)

Iperf Server:
My personal computer
Core i3 4130T
ASUS Mini ITX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards H97I-PLUS
Used on-board Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V

Ipfer Client:
Pfsense
J1900
Gigabyte GA-J1900N-D3V
Used on-board Realtek GbE LAN

Results:
–----------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 192.168.1.101, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 65.0 KByte (default)

[ 3] local 192.168.1.1 port 47614 connected with 192.168.1.101 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 864 MBytes 725 Mbits/sec

tpf

@FarmerB3rd:

That's pretty good. What do people get on better hardware with better NICs? If that 850Mb/s is maxing out a core then what is it? pfSense doing it's thing or the NIC drivers having to work hard because of a crappy NIC?

Crappy NICs in my opinion. My other system:

http://client.mitac.com/products-embedded-board-PD12TI.html Atom D2500 (Intel GBit NIC ;D)

Throughput NAT: full 1000 Mbit
Throughput OpenVPN: Currently can't be tested, sorry. It's a productive system with bandwith limited WAN.

type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc 21775.06k 27965.80k 29094.76k 29383.80k 29469.99k

type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc 15705.69k 21743.30k 22361.44k 22595.01k 22643.80k

Intel i3 3240 3,4 Ghz: AES 128: 345 MByte / sec, AES 256: 278 Mbyte / sec.

aleatorvb

I bought one in the end - at least to test it, but I am unable to make pppoe to work - i tried both fresh settings and uploading a backup from my current pfsense installation.

Media: usb drive
Pfsense: 2.2-RC (amd64) / built on Tue Dec 09 09:46:36 CST 2014 / FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE (the 2.2 release candidate)
wan: re0
lan: re1
bios version: F3

Pfsense boots without any obvious issues, ran for 24 hours without missing a ping but pppoe isn't working…

I have attached a screenshot of the interface status.
Sometimes i get in the pppoe logs "Acess denied (external check failed)" but I am 100% sure the usernam/password is correct - I copied (and manually rewrote when copy-pasting did not seem to work) them from the backup file of the current running pfsense firewall.
I also set the wan mac address the same as to make sure it isn't filtered by my isp.

Any hints on what should I try?

wan_error_iface_status.PNG_thumb

aleatorvb

Also good to know:

Logitech K270 wireless kit works with bios
microsoft desktop 800 wireless kit does NOT work (can type at uefi prompt but can't enter bios by pressing DEL)

aleatorvb

Pfsense: pfSense-2.2-RC-1g-amd64-nanobsd-vga-20150115-1212.img
WAN: PPPOE
LINK: Gigabit
Firmware: F3

speed test: upload
CPU: 0.8% user, 0.0% nice, 0.0% system, 31.9% interrupt, 65.3% idle
speed: 500Mbps

speed test: upload
CPU: 0.4% user, 0.0% nice, 0.2% system, 7.2% interrupt, 92.2% idle
speed: 100Mbps

Out of the box, with pppoe set up and lan configured with dhcp
Mem: 69M Active, 32M Inact, 138M Wired, 940K Cache, 63M Buf, 3585M Free

Steps done to install pfsense:

@w00t:

First of all, you need to update the BIOS to F3 since the motherboard probably will ship with F1.

Update BIOS

Power on the MB and reset the BIOS to defaults.

Create a bootable USB of Windows 8/8.1 and install on a spare harddrive (do it on the motherboard itself, not another computer), F1 will kinda only boot to Win8-USB's.

When successfully booted to Win8, visit http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4918#utility and change to your installed OS, download and install Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (probably not necessary, the install will thell you) and then APP Center.

Start APP Center from C:\Program\Gigabyte or such, and wait for the shitty program to start. When loaded, update the damn thing.

Use the APP Center program to download @BIOS.

When installed, use @BIOS from the APP Center to download and flash F3, choose "Install from server" or similar, follow the steps and you will be on F3 in a moment.

Reboot and enter BIOS to check that you are on F3, if thats the case, once again do reset BIOS to defaults.

Power off and remove harddrive and Win8 USB.

Create bootable pfSense

Download the memstick or nanobsd-vga version (your choice if you want to install full version to another USB-stick or run the embedded version) from pfSense download-page. I have been using nanobsd-vga for this test.

Flash the .img to you USB-stick, win32 image writer works like a charm.

BIOS settings

Attach the pfSense USB and boot to BIOS.

Reset to default, and ONLY change the following:
Advanced -> CSM Configuration

CSM Support - Enabled
Boot Option filter - Legacy Only
Network - Do not launch
Storage - Legacy Only
Video - UEFI First
Other PCI devices - Legacy Only
Advanced -> USB Configuration

Legacy USB support - Enabled
USB3.0 support - Enabled
XHCI hand-off - Disabled
EHCI hand-off - Disabled
USB Mass storage device support - Enabled
Under USB configuration you should see your USB-stick listed.
Chipset -> South Bridge (I think? If I remembered correctly.)

Restore after AC power loss - Power On
Under boot, change harddrive BBS priority and set you USB-stick to #1, then change first boot option to your USB-stick and disable #2 boot option.

boots on power on straight to pfsense
reboots without issue
26 degrees Celsius (4 degrees over room temp after 4 hours of use)

Will put a zwave power meter on it soon and see how much energy it uses.
Ram: Kingston 4GB, DDR3, 1600MHz, SODIMM P/N KVR16S11S8/4

ak

Has anyone used this with an Intel NIC? I have a spare HP NC360T and thinking about using this with a PCI->PCIe adapter.

nzimmers

@ak:

Has anyone used this with an Intel NIC? I have a spare HP NC360T and thinking about using this with a PCI->PCIe adapter.

I've installed a 2-port Intel PCI NIC and it works fine, I have no idea if the PCI-PCIe will work at all

there is another J1900 board from asrock that looks interested that has a 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot see here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157496

ak

@nzimmers:

I've installed a 2-port Intel PCI NIC and it works fine, I have no idea if the PCI-PCIe will work at all

there is another J1900 board from asrock that looks interested that has a 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot see here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157496

Thanks - did consider the ASRock board. Decided against it in the end as with the Gigabyte I have certainty that at least two ports work and can use pfSense. With the ASRock, if the NIC doesn't work, I have to find an alternative solution.

ak

About to order all the bits - separate thread asking about SSD vs HDD. So my shortlist for this board is

Motherboard - this one!
8GB DDR3L Kingston RAM (single stick)
60Gb SSD Kingston V300
MiniBox M350 Case (http://linitx.com/product/minibox-m350-universal-miniitx-enclosure-black/12488)
80W pico psu (http://linitx.com/product/minibox-12v-80w-picopsu80/11459)
FSP 60W 12V power adapter.

Willing to get 2x8Gb RAM - would this make a significant difference if I am planning to use Squid, Snort, OpenVPN client, and possible ClamAV? I ask about 16Gb as I read someone try tis and 16Gb was recognised (though Gigabyte specs says 8Gb).

Anything wrong with my choice - or changes I should make?

Wish list additions:

LCD for status display - but can't find anything reasonably priced.
Mini PCIe wifi (at least b/g/n simultaneously) card that works with 2.2 - think this board can only accept half length.

svenvg93

Hey,

I want this Board for my new Pfsense build.

I have one question for the owners.

Are the two Realtek nic good enough for a 120/12 MB line.

MikeV7896

This should answer that question. :) This is bare pfSense, no VPN, no proxy, no anything else.

That's about my connection limits (advertised as 100/10), so it (pfSense with this motherboard) can likely go higher. But my connection can't.

JWTech

Just joined the community to give my own two bits on this topic.

I purchased the J1900N-D3V, it came with the F2 bios, and pfSense booted fine with a Nano USB.

Seems to be running okay, operates at 28C average, iperf gets 870Mb/s with CPU below 5%, and hasn't dropped or erred a single packet thus far (according to the logs).

Only issue, is that with certain applications I get a random stutter. Skype for instance, will occasionally stop sending audio/video for a few seconds without actually dropping the call and while continuing to receive audio/video.

I've noticed similar problems with Youtube played over an Xbox, while everything else seems to be fine, including an active Teamspeak server.

My first assumption was to change the firewall optimization to conservative. Sadly this did not seem to resolve the issue.

Anyone have this issue on their installs? My next change will be switching the F2 bios with the F3 mentioned in this thread.

PfSense with Gigabyte GA-J1900N-D3V

Results: –---------------------------------------------------------- Client connecting to 192.168.1.101, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 65.0 KByte (default)

Results:
–----------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 192.168.1.101, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 65.0 KByte (default)