Throughput Issue
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hey there, ever since rc 2.3 I have been having a throughput issue with stock settings on pfsense. I am currently on the latest build 2.3.1_1 , I just fresh installed it again and still having the same issue with having swapped out multiple cat6 cables. When connected directly to the firewall I get around 700mbps down, when Connected directly to the isp modem I get around 900 down, I have isolated it to the firewall by connecting my pc directly to the lan port of my j1900 pfsense build. It used to hit 900 on the same build but past 2 updates have killed my throughput. I have 8gb ddr3 ram and its a quad core 2.0ghz cpu, it never goes up above 30percent usage for cpu and 26 degrees celsius, I am not running any packages or traffic shaper just stock settings, one wan and one lan port both the same brand intel consumer grade (also disabled onboard lan on mobo).
tldr:
When I connect straight to the modem 900 down, through the firewall topography (lan from modem to firewall, lan cable from firewall out to my pc) I get roughly 700mbps. I know its something recent because it was fine prior to the past 2 updates on the same build.Thank you in advance
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is this wan a regular interface or PPPoE ?
could you post a screenshot of 'top -SH' while maxing out your connection?
do any of the following fixes apply in your situation: https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Tuning_and_Troubleshooting_Network_Cards
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Hey there, thank you for your reply, it is a DHCP cable modem connection, I ran top -SH and attatched the jpg to this reply, I had already read through that but I dont believe it applies to me because I dont have a multiport card and my mbufs is 1% usage let me know what you think sir
this is my build http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/NbDNnn
one thing I noticed while running the network test and running top was that intr{irq258: em0:rx0} would shoot up to 60 percent WCPU
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yep, thats more then likely the issue …. problem is finding the cause
you could try tinkering with MSI/MSIX seen on the link i posted before (chances are small this will help)
also found a post with some oddness when exactly the same NIC you are using is used:
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=111976.0
this might be unrelated, but possibly some kind of conflict in one of the latest drivers shipped with freebsd ? -
Hey there thanks for your reply!
I added the following to the boot conf:
kern.ipc.nmbclusters="1000000" (because I have 8gb memory practically unused)
hw.pci.enable_msix=0
hw.pci.enable_msi=0, the driver issue you pointed out might be it because I remember hitting 900 no problem on the same hardware 2 updates ago.
not sure what to do I love this setup :(
edit: after rebooting, I noticed the speeds are a bit higher or snappier (might be placebo) but the interrupts are gone from top under the same loads, here is the new top output:
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you could try with msix=0 only … but it appears the cpu usage remains more or less then same
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I am definately seeing higher speeds, I wouldnt see above 700 prior to these tweaks now its around 800 but I suspect its due to high traffic hours and I will retest later at night to see what happens, in terms of cpu usage, do you think it is too high? I never see it go above 30% usage on the dashboard
edit:
just hit 840 download on same speedtest, seems as if this might have done the trick, its so odd that I didnt have to do this before but thank you so much for actually babysitting me through this bro your the man ! <3 <3 I will report back later tonight when the area traffic is lower and see what results are. Again, you dont understand how much it means to me that you even replied, thank you sir you are truly an angel.
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i think most posts on this forum get answered if anyone has any input in the matter.
the only reasons why some posts don't get replies here is when:
-it accidently slipped under the radar
-nobody (who actually read it) knows the anwer
-poster is being a jackass ;) -
in terms of cpu usage, do you think it is too high? I never see it go above 30% usage on the dashboard
total usage is not really to high. but in both screenshots TOP shows 1 core being hammered at 50% (either with interrupts or just queueing).
Its very well possible to have only 25% total cpu usage (=1 core @ 100% on a quadcore system) & have performance issues.
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hey thank you for your reply, very interesting, I am now consistently seeing my line speed again 900mbps with a clean signal graph on the speedtest, I have attatched the top output now when at around 870mbps let me know if you think there is something that looks wrong still thank you so much for assisting me XD