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    pfSense Speed Test with Spectrum Gigabit Connection

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      What hardware are you running on?

      What is the WAN type, DHCP, PPPoE, something else?

      What does the output of top -aSH at the command line look like while you are testing?

      Steve

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      • NogBadTheBadN
        NogBadTheBad
        last edited by NogBadTheBad

        Tried a test with a directly connected via a PC ?

        Andy

        1 x Netgate SG-4860 - 3 x Linksys LGS308P - 1 x Aruba InstantOn AP22

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        • I
          Ikyo @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 DHCP no PPPoE

          last pid: 72000; load averages: 0.30, 0.13, 0.10 up 0+22:17:16 08:08:03
          470 processes: 27 running, 364 sleeping, 79 waiting
          CPU: 2.3% user, 3.6% nice, 1.9% system, 0.1% interrupt, 92.1% idle
          Mem: 422M Active, 3109M Inact, 1937M Wired, 1283M Buf, 18G Free
          Swap: 4096M Total, 4096M Free

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          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
            last edited by

            You really need to check your speed "through" pfsense - not from pfsense.. Connect a client to pfsense, and then test..

            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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            • I
              Ikyo @johnpoz
              last edited by

              @johnpoz I was trying to remove any limitations on the network by testing direct. Why would it be less on the pfSense machine over a machine connected through pfSense?

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              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                last edited by johnpoz

                Because pfsense is router/firewall - not client.. It is optimized to push packets through it, not to and from itself ;)

                https://forum.netgate.com/post/440853

                pfSense has been optimized to work in a routing role, so sometimes you might see reduced numbers when pfSense itself is acting like the client.

                Best tests of what pfsense can do is something on its wan, something on its lan and test between them - where you take internet out of the equation. Also if you suspect that pfsense is the issue with your internet speed, connect a client direct to your modem and test the speed.

                Hosted by Syndeo Networks INC (Chicago, IL) [35.79 km]: 26.686 ms
                Testing download speed................................................................................
                Download: 98.41 Mbit/s
                Testing upload speed................................................................................................
                Upload: 49.31 Mbit/s
                

                That was test from my pfsense, ie have 500/50 connection.. Here is test from client behind
                speedtest.png

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                • I
                  Ikyo @johnpoz
                  last edited by

                  @johnpoz I will give that a try this evening. I had one of my NICs die on the box so I had to order a new machine for it. Hopefully I can just move the drives over and get back up quickly.

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                  • RicoR
                    Rico LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance
                    last edited by Rico

                    Better clean Install your new machine and Restore the Backup.
                    Diagnostics > Backup & Restore
                    https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/backup/configuration-backup-and-restore.html
                    https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/book/backup/restoring-from-backups.html

                    -Rico

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Yup testing 'through' is a better test for a number of reasons including because pfSense is not using cpu cycles running the test.

                      If you run top -aSH actually at the command line you will see the full output including how the load is spread across your cores.

                      Steve

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                      • J
                        jdeloach @Ikyo
                        last edited by

                        @Ikyo said in pfSense Speed Test with Spectrum Gigabit Connection:

                        I have installed SpeedTest-CLI on my pfSense server. When I run a speedtest to the Ft Worth Spectrum site, I am getting around 450 mbit/s on average. I double checked all of my basic configuration such as the NIC that connects to the Spectrum Modem being set to 1000mb/full duplex and the CPU load not spiking. Both of these are correct. I am wondering if there is something else that I should look at or possibly change.

                        You don't say where you live, but if you are in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Texas area, you already know that Spectrum has problems and have ever since they came to town. Most of it is because the internet infrastructure here is as old as baseball and they don't want to repair/upgrade the cables, equipment, etc.

                        As I write this message, it looks like they are having problems this morning, my service is 200/10 mbits, typically get 220/11.5 mbits, but this morning it is about 24.7/11 mbits. At least it's good enough to connect to the internet but with all the old cabling around I don't see how anyone here could ever get gigabit speeds. Good luck getting Spectrum to fix your problems.

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                        • I
                          Ikyo @jdeloach
                          last edited by

                          @jdeloach I don't, but that is the server they run all of their tests to for some reason.

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