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    PfSense hardware for home router - OpenVPN performance

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    • Y
      yogibo
      last edited by

      @denova:

      The reason for this is that the Flash based speedtest.net tool does not account for LZO compression, which is built into the  OpenVPN protocol.

      did you try beta.speedtest.net I believe that doesn't use flash.

      I have i3-7350K and I tried disabling compression and it didn't seem to make a difference, I am able to hit around 700mbs to 800mbs.  Maybe i'm not disabling it correctly.

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      • B
        belt9
        last edited by

        Yeah we aren't talking about any noticeable difference with compression on or off. That's why pretty much everyone turns out on. You won't notice the difference if you turn it off.

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        • F
          Fuego
          last edited by

          Hi guys, new to the pfSense world  :)

          I got a j3355b-itx coming in the mail this weekend, which I will be mainly using as VPN server for remote access.

          From what I have seen, these speeds are as OpenVPN clients. Has anyone done any speed test as OpenVPN serer for remote access?

          My current router tops at around 30Mbps (as vpn server), I'm hoping to achieve at least 150Mbps using the j3355b on gigabit connection.

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            There is no significant difference between client and server modes for OpenVPN. There may be a difference between encrypting and decrypting but that depends of which direction the majority of your traffic is going. It too though is not something I've seen as significant. You should be able to push 100Mbps+ with that I would expect. Let us know your results.

            Steve

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            • F
              Fuego
              last edited by

              @stephenw10:

              .. Let us know your results.

              Steve

              Will do. Thanks

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              • M
                mauroman33
                last edited by

                @Fuego:

                Hi guys, new to the pfSense world  :)

                I got a j3355b-itx coming in the mail this weekend, which I will be mainly using as VPN server for remote access.

                From what I have seen, these speeds are as OpenVPN clients. Has anyone done any speed test as OpenVPN serer for remote access?

                My current router tops at around 30Mbps (as vpn server), I'm hoping to achieve at least 150Mbps using the j3355b on gigabit connection.

                From opening post:

                Intel Celeron J3355 2x2GHz        -TDP 10W -CPU Mark 1333 -Single Thread  884
                3200/10,9 =  293 Mbps OpenVPN performance (estimate)

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                • D
                  digitalgimpus
                  last edited by

                  @mauroman33:

                  From opening post:

                  Intel Celeron J3355 2x2GHz        -TDP 10W -CPU Mark 1333 -Single Thread  884
                  3200/10,9 =  293 Mbps OpenVPN performance (estimate)

                  Waiting for the chassis to arrive so I can set mine up and upgrade… IMHO for the price it's pretty impressive performance.

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                  • F
                    Fuego
                    last edited by

                    Just finished putting my box together.

                    • J3355B-ITX
                    • 2 x (2GB) DDR3L 1600
                    • 5400 rpm drive
                    • Dual port Intel Pro /1000
                    • Antec ISK300-150 Case

                    All default settings…

                    Best I got I was 100Mbps down 232Mbps up.

                    I'll start playing with settings soon...

                    vpn_j3355b.PNG
                    vpn_j3355b.PNG_thumb

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Hmm, I would not have expected such a big difference there.

                      Are you seeing any errors on the WAN interface itself?

                      Do you have fast-io set or send/rec buffers increased? There are knobs for that in the gui in 2.4, you have to add them as custom settings in 2.3.

                      Steve

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                      • B
                        belt9
                        last edited by

                        @Fuego:

                        Just finished putting my box together.

                        • J3355B-ITX
                        • 2 x (2GB) DDR3L 1600
                        • 5400 rpm drive
                        • Dual port Intel Pro /1000
                        • Antec ISK300-150 Case

                        All default settings…

                        Best I got I was 100Mbps down 232Mbps up.

                        I'll start playing with settings soon...

                        hmmm, somethings definitely wrong here, others have reported faster speeds on that cpu without even maxing out yet.

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                        • F
                          Fuego
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10:

                          Hmm, I would not have expected such a big difference there.

                          Are you seeing any errors on the WAN interface itself?

                          Do you have fast-io set or send/rec buffers increased? There are knobs for that in the gui in 2.4, you have to add them as custom settings in 2.3.

                          Steve

                          That was with default settings right after installing pfSense.

                          Still haven't got a chance read on wiki for tweaks, but added:

                          fast-io
                          sndbuf 524288
                          rcvbuf 524288

                          under VPN custom options, I was able to get 198Mbps down 234Mbps up. CPU was around 60%.

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            No errors on WAN I assume then?

                            That's a significant improvement! Still a bigger difference between down and up then I'd expect though.

                            Steve

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                            • D
                              denova
                              last edited by

                              @yogibo:

                              @denova:

                              The reason for this is that the Flash based speedtest.net tool does not account for LZO compression, which is built into the  OpenVPN protocol.

                              did you try beta.speedtest.net I believe that doesn't use flash.

                              I have i3-7350K and I tried disabling compression and it didn't seem to make a difference, I am able to hit around 700mbs to 800mbs.  Maybe i'm not disabling it correctly.

                              Hmm, you might be correct. I just tried the beta version and still reached 765 Mbps regardless of compression. Maybe its not the compression after all.

                              I think it's safe to say you can reach around 750 Mbps with OpenVPN on PIA with a G4400 processor (a $50 chip!). It might be the sweet spot for anyone with a 1000 mbit connection, unless you're trying to reach 900 or something but I'm not quite sure the CPU is the bottleneck for that.

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

                                The fact it's flash based should make no difference there. The only thing that matters is what their test data is, if it's compressible.

                                That's an impressive result if you're seeing that without compression. Both in terms of the CPU's ability and PIAs.

                                Steve

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                                • D
                                  denova
                                  last edited by

                                  @stephenw10:

                                  The fact it's flash based should make no difference there. The only thing that matters is what their test data is, if it's compressible.

                                  That's an impressive result if you're seeing that without compression. Both in terms of the CPU's ability and PIAs.

                                  Steve

                                  Well, the incorrect accounting for LZO is often connected to some speedtests using Flash. For example here: "it is very important to note that using flash-based speed tests like speedtest.net are unrealible for VPN services. This is because VPN services use compression to increase the speed that data flows across the network. Some flash based speed test servers do not properly account for this" (https://vikingvpn.com/speed). More in general it might not be Flash that's the issue, but for speedtest.net its a problem apparently.

                                  But quite happy indeed, especially as I'm using some refurbished Lenovo M700 SFF with a Chinese Ebay Intel I350-T4. Great job for pfsense as well, its unfortunate they switched off the donations.

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                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    @denova:

                                    …its unfortunate they switched off the donations.

                                    Feel free to purchase Gold instead, get something back.  ;)

                                    Steve

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                                    • D
                                      denova
                                      last edited by

                                      Yeah I know, but those are not really that useful for me. I'll just buy some stickers or something ;)

                                      OpenVPN speed has been steady between 700-800 Mbps.

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                                      • D
                                        digitalgimpus
                                        last edited by

                                        @Fuego:

                                        Still haven't got a chance read on wiki for tweaks, but added:

                                        Which wiki is that? Looking to optimize my j3355 as well.

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                                        • P
                                          pbosgraaf
                                          last edited by

                                          @denova,

                                          Do you mind sharing your hardware build/partlist?
                                          I'm looking into purchasing something similar and i like your idle power usage of 13watts.

                                          Thanks.

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                                          • B
                                            belt9
                                            last edited by

                                            @digitalgimpus:

                                            @Fuego:

                                            Still haven't got a chance read on wiki for tweaks, but added:

                                            Which wiki is that? Looking to optimize my j3355 as well.

                                            Don't know about any wiki, but optimize OpenVPN with fast-io and buffers. Read here:

                                            https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=130350.0

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