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    PC Engines apu2 experiences

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    • D
      dw
      last edited by

      I recently got 250/100Mbit connection and wounder whats the preformance?
      If the board can make OpenVPN/IPsec 100Mbit/s?

      I have seen the APU1D4 can make around ~40 mbit/s.

      The difference is that the APU2 have the double CPU power than APU1, AES-NI support and Intel NICs.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • ?
        Guest
        last edited by

        If the board can make OpenVPN/IPsec 100Mbit/s?

        IPSec by using AES-GCM is going to show results around of 400% of the normal throughput or plain
        a 4 time higher throughput and OpenVPN will not showing that. In OpenVPN 2.4 also AES-GCM will
        be inside and will then giving you perhaps also that throughput too.

        I have seen the APU1D4 can make around ~40 mbit/s.

        IPSec or OpenVPN?

        The difference is that the APU2 have the double CPU power than APU1, AES-NI support and Intel NICs.

        Not really, it comes with 2 more CPU cores but also on 1,0GHz cpu frequency as the APU1 seris.
        AES-NI and Intel ports is right and also very nice to have as I see it right.

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        • M
          movax
          last edited by

          BTW> I reported my experienced with APU2C4 here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=108231.msg612643#msg612643 , some other benchmarks and power usage included.

          The aes performance is the same as reported here.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • K
            ktk
            last edited by

            Did anyone actually manage to boot PFsense 2.3 on APU2? I ran into an issue as reported here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=110366.0

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • ?
              Guest
              last edited by

              @ktk:

              Did anyone actually manage to boot PFsense 2.3 on APU2? I ran into an issue as reported here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=110366.0

              What is the BIOS version you are using? The latest one will be from the 3/11/2016.

              • update to the latest BIOS
              • prepare a USB pen drive to install from with the right and matching 2.3-amd64-memstick-console-image
              • insert a mSATA or HDD/SSD drive
              • connect via console via Putty (please set Putty to 115200 8/N/1 and the BIOS settings
                too pfSense is coming by default with that settings)
              • change the boot order to USB and do a reboot please
              • install form the USB pen drive and change after that the boot order back to mSATA, HDD/SSD and reboot again
              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • K
                ktk
                last edited by

                Hi Frank,

                @BlueKobold:

                @ktk:

                Did anyone actually manage to boot PFsense 2.3 on APU2? I ran into an issue as reported here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=110366.0

                What is the BIOS version you are using? The latest one will be from the 3/11/2016.

                • update to the latest BIOS
                • prepare a USB pen drive to install from with the right and matching 2.3-amd64-memstick-console-image
                • insert a mSATA or HDD/SSD drive
                • connect via console via Putty (please set Putty to 115200 8/N/1 and the BIOS settings
                  too pfSense is coming by default with that settings)
                • change the boot order to USB and do a reboot please
                • install form the USB pen drive and change after that the boot order back to mSATA, HDD/SSD and reboot again

                I am on latest bios already. I tried booting on SD card and from USB stick, neither did work. The SD card cannot mount ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0 and with USB stick I had so many errors reported on my console that I couldn't see which one actually triggered it.

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                • M
                  mattlach
                  last edited by

                  @ktk:

                  Hi Frank,

                  @BlueKobold:

                  @ktk:

                  Did anyone actually manage to boot PFsense 2.3 on APU2? I ran into an issue as reported here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=110366.0

                  What is the BIOS version you are using? The latest one will be from the 3/11/2016.

                  • update to the latest BIOS
                  • prepare a USB pen drive to install from with the right and matching 2.3-amd64-memstick-console-image
                  • insert a mSATA or HDD/SSD drive
                  • connect via console via Putty (please set Putty to 115200 8/N/1 and the BIOS settings
                    too pfSense is coming by default with that settings)
                  • change the boot order to USB and do a reboot please
                  • install form the USB pen drive and change after that the boot order back to mSATA, HDD/SSD and reboot again

                  I am on latest bios already. I tried booting on SD card and from USB stick, neither did work. The SD card cannot mount ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0 and with USB stick I had so many errors reported on my console that I couldn't see which one actually triggered it.

                  I had issues installing using the 2.3.1 serial console images.  The memstick version had problems writing to partitions in the dmesg, and the CD ISO couldn't mount the root partition of the installer at all, all resulting in an error console, and thus no pfSense installer.

                  On a whim, I downloaded the previous memstick installer from the mirror (2.3, instead of 2.3.1) and this installed just fine.  I was then able to use the web interface to upgrade to 2.3.1_1 without any issues.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • M
                    mattlach
                    last edited by

                    @BlueKobold:

                    Nice and interesting thread about the new APU2 board.

                    For the APU I can say we were getting something around ~500+ MBit/s at the WAN Port and with enabled
                    PowerD (hi adaptive) we got ~650 MBit/s as throughput. Perhaps this will be different from the APU2 with
                    a quad core CPU. But otherwise I would recommend to enable PowerD (hi adaptive).

                    In 2.3.1_1 I wind up getting ~595Mbit/s throughput (as tested with iperf) without enabling PowerD.  Enabling PowerD in the web interface does not seem to affect throughput speed, whether set to hidaptive or not, but it also seems to have no impact on idle power consumption, which hovers between 5.8W-6.5W regardless of whether PowerD is on or off.  It makes me wonder if it is working at all.  Either way, if it is not making a difference on power consumption, I might just leave it off.

                    I also don't get any CPU temp output like I do with my Intel based box.  I was a little concerned about CPU temp due to the passive cooling setup just using the case to cool it, but it is a very low wattage part, so maybe that is silly of me.  Feeling the case, it doesn't feel too hot.  (In fact it barely gets warm)

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • H
                      hda
                      last edited by

                      @mattlach:

                      I also don't get any CPU temp output like I do with my Intel based box.  I was a little concerned about CPU temp due to the passive cooling setup just using the case to cool it, but it is a very low wattage part, so maybe that is silly of me.  Feeling the case, it doesn't feel too hot.  (In fact it barely gets warm)

                      Firmware has testmode and it reports T as about 55 Celsius if with correct coolpad, else may fry (90 C) after 8 minutes…

                      No GUI temps is due to missing FreeBSD code.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • A
                        apollo17
                        last edited by

                        To fix cpu temps follow the guide here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=108262.0

                        My temps stay around 55-60 degrees c

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                        • E
                          edwardwong
                          last edited by

                          Your CPU has 4 cores, can you test with "-multi 4" option to run 4 threads together? Then we can see the actual speed for this CPU.

                          @dugeem:

                          With aesni kernel module loaded:

                          
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc       1527.90k     5867.93k    21607.17k    65414.14k   162611.20k

openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc       1512.18k     5761.15k    20833.28k    58732.20k   127229.95k

                          With aesni kernel module unloaded (i.e. use openssl internal AES-NI support):

                          
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc     125586.59k   174393.26k   213315.07k   226097.49k   230883.33k

openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc     100216.39k   136148.85k   157464.49k   162677.42k   165601.28k
                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Z
                            Zebibyte
                            last edited by

                            Here is what I got trying the same command with -multi 4

                            openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc -multi 4
                            evp              5582.70k    22238.25k    81301.33k  244524.47k  593181.72k

                            openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc -multi 4
                            evp              5615.02k    21855.49k    77674.24k  220074.67k  465368.41k

                            Then after setting "Cryptographic Hardware" in the GUI back to none (not sure if this does the right thing)

                            openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc -multi 4
                            evp              5645.37k    19885.66k    70725.03k  217378.47k  524483.65k

                            openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc -multi 4
                            evp              5586.90k    21842.43k    77226.75k  219488.40k  455090.18k

                            @edwardwong:

                            Your CPU has 4 cores, can you test with "-multi 4" option to run 4 threads together? Then we can see the actual speed for this CPU.

                            @dugeem:

                            With aesni kernel module loaded:

                            
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc       1527.90k     5867.93k    21607.17k    65414.14k   162611.20k

openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc       1512.18k     5761.15k    20833.28k    58732.20k   127229.95k

                            With aesni kernel module unloaded (i.e. use openssl internal AES-NI support):

                            
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc     125586.59k   174393.26k   213315.07k   226097.49k   230883.33k

openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc     100216.39k   136148.85k   157464.49k   162677.42k   165601.28k
                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • A
                              AndrewZ
                              last edited by

                              Just started to configure APU2C4 as a replacement for my old Alix 2D13.
                              I'm wandering if it is possible to see the current CPU frequency in a dashboard?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • E
                                edwardwong
                                last edited by

                                Impressive result.
                                BTW, using "-evp" will force using crypto hardware, so whatever you set in GUI doesn't really matter, maybe you should try to skip this option to see the difference.

                                @Zebibyte:

                                Here is what I got trying the same command with -multi 4

                                openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc -multi 4
                                evp              5582.70k    22238.25k    81301.33k  244524.47k  593181.72k

                                openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc -multi 4
                                evp              5615.02k    21855.49k    77674.24k  220074.67k  465368.41k

                                Then after setting "Cryptographic Hardware" in the GUI back to none (not sure if this does the right thing)

                                openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc -multi 4
                                evp              5645.37k    19885.66k    70725.03k  217378.47k  524483.65k

                                openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc -multi 4
                                evp              5586.90k    21842.43k    77226.75k  219488.40k  455090.18k

                                @edwardwong:

                                Your CPU has 4 cores, can you test with "-multi 4" option to run 4 threads together? Then we can see the actual speed for this CPU.

                                @dugeem:

                                With aesni kernel module loaded:

                                
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc       1527.90k     5867.93k    21607.17k    65414.14k   162611.20k

openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc       1512.18k     5761.15k    20833.28k    58732.20k   127229.95k

                                With aesni kernel module unloaded (i.e. use openssl internal AES-NI support):

                                
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc     125586.59k   174393.26k   213315.07k   226097.49k   230883.33k

openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc     100216.39k   136148.85k   157464.49k   162677.42k   165601.28k
                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • A
                                  apollo17
                                  last edited by

                                  @AndrewZ:

                                  Just started to configure APU2C4 as a replacement for my old Alix 2D13.
                                  I'm wandering if it is possible to see the current CPU frequency in a dashboard?

                                  See my previous post in this thread (post #17).

                                  after following the details from here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=108262.0 the dashboard temperature readout works perfectly.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • A
                                    AndrewZ
                                    last edited by

                                    @apollo17:

                                    after following the details from here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=108262.0 the dashboard temperature readout works perfectly.

                                    Indeed, I've noticed that post earlier and already implemented the workaround described on my system.
                                    My question was about frequency, not temperature.
                                    For some reasons I was able to see the current and the maximum frequency (600 and 1000 as I recall) very briefly only 2 times during the page reload. All other time I see only the following:

                                    CPU Type AMD GX-412TC SOC
                                    4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s)

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • A
                                      apollo17
                                      last edited by

                                      @AndrewZ:

                                      @apollo17:

                                      after following the details from here https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=108262.0 the dashboard temperature readout works perfectly.

                                      Indeed, I've noticed that post earlier and already implemented the workaround described on my system.
                                      My question was about frequency, not temperature.
                                      For some reasons I was able to see the current and the maximum frequency (600 and 1000 as I recall) very briefly only 2 times during the page reload. All other time I see only the following:

                                      CPU Type AMD GX-412TC SOC
                                      4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s)

                                      Sorry, my mistake i misread your post. I know what you mean mine does that aswell, i'm not sure if you can change it. If you have powerd enabled you can get a realtime frequency read out using the shell command powerd -v.

                                      I don't think the dashboard freqency readout is just amd related, it behaves the same on intel systems too.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • A
                                        AndrewZ
                                        last edited by

                                        @apollo17:

                                        I know what you mean mine does that aswell, i'm not sure if you can change it. If you have powerd enabled you can get a realtime frequency read out using the shell command powerd -v.

                                        I don't think the dashboard freqency readout is just amd related, it behaves the same on intel systems too.

                                        Thanks for that, good to know.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • A
                                          aGeekhere
                                          last edited by

                                          What transfer speed does the apu2 get from squid's local cache?

                                          Never Fear, A Geek is Here!

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • ?
                                            Guest
                                            last edited by

                                            What transfer speed does the apu2 get from squid's local cache?

                                            This is mostly also owed to the circumstance what storage drive is used in that case!!

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