Increased Memory and CPU Spikes (causing latency/outage) with 2.4.5
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I finally got my Hyper-V virtualized install back to mostly working by removing all IP alias lists that PFBlocker had created, except one that was critical for me. Once this was done, I only get 100% cpu for a second or two during the times pfctl runs. I can deal with that over the 5 minutes lockups that were occuring before.
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@BBcan177 said in Increased Memory and CPU Spikes (causing latency/outage) with 2.4.5:
@ScottishTom
Thanks for reporting back. Will check it out tomorrow.@BBcan177 realizing this is going to sound somewhat odd... everything went back to normal on its own over night (typical state prior to the 2.4.5 upgrade - i.e. memory usage around 20%). None of the other issues - e.g. CPU spikes, latency, outage - manifested themselves on this setup. Also implemented your fix for Shalla and UT1 found here: https://forum.netgate.com/topic/151689/shallalist-and-ut1-lists-not-working-on-2-4-5-release-pfblockerng-devel-2-2-5_29
Thanks for your help debugging. -
Hi,
I reverted 3 upgrades already due to performance issues, all 3 uses pfblocker, 2 are virtualized with vmware and one with hyper-v (gen 1 vm).
Look at the before/after graphs, impossible to upgrade to be honest:
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The new release is like how the RC was for me 100% CPU usage locks the system up so you can't do anything. I did a fresh install no packages less than 6 firewall rules and basic setup for routing and it started locking up today lasted about 2 days before I had to roll back to 2.4.4; only thing I changed was the subnet.
I'm running proxmox with:
CPU(s)
24 x Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5675 @ 3.07GHz (2 Sockets)
Kernel VersionLinux 5.3.10-1-pve #1 SMP PVE 5.3.10-1 (Thu, 14 Nov 2019 10:43:13 +0100)
PVE Manager Versionpve-manager/6.1-3/37248ce6
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I also did an upgrade from 2.4.4p3 to 2.4.5 that failed to run smoothly after. I had to roll back immediately.
Running PFBlockerNG and OpenVPN Export packages and running OpenVPN Server and client.
Virtual Machine VM running on Windows Server 2016 with 1GB RAM.
Will delete packages, disable OpenVPN and add another 1GB memory and see if it goes any better. -
Out of curiosity, can the users experiencing Increased memory and CPU spikes in 2.4.5 try to increase this setting?
Start at 2M and go up from there.
pfSense > Advanced > Firewall & NAT > Firewall Maximim Table Entries
A "Filter Reload" should be sufficient, but a reboot may be necessary to enable the change.
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Just for reference, I've upgraded few hours ago my CARP nodes:
- ESXi 6.7U3, 1 Virtual CPU, 1GB RAM
- Packages => avahi, bandwidthd, cron, FTP_Client_Proxy, mailreport, nmap, Open-VM-Tools, openvpn-client-export, pfBlockerNG-devel, RRD_Summary
- GeoIP not used in pfBlocker, only DNSBL
- Firewall Maximim Table Entries already set at 5M
RAM usage (from inside pfSense) it's more or less the same at around 80%, CPU usage looks even a little bit better (from ESXi):
No other issues with latency/filter reload etc..
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@BBcan177 said in Increased Memory and CPU Spikes (causing latency/outage) with 2.4.5:
Out of curiosity, can the users experiencing Increased memory and CPU spikes in 2.4.5 try to increase this setting?
Start at 2M and go up from there.
pfSense > Advanced > Firewall & NAT > Firewall Maximim Table Entries
A "Filter Reload" should be sufficient, but a reboot may be necessary to enable the change.
@BBcan177 spoke too soon as mem spikes problems are back... updated to devel 2.2.5_30 and increased max table entries as you suggested to 2.5 and 3.0 M.
Neither made a significant dent in that mem usage stays at or around 80%. One piece of good news is functionality degradation seems to not happen (other than fitful keystroke lag in ssh, no or limited latency or packet loss).
Looking at ps and top results per your request, found the following (suggesting unbound is the culprit, perhaps together with or partly due to the size of DNSBL entries):
ps -auxwwwm
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TT STAT STARTED TIME COMMAND
unbound 5896 0.0 47.7 7398308 3973492 - Ss 11:59 0:31.38 unbound -c unbound.confNotice high % of MEM (47%, second highest process is at 3%)
top -aSH -o size
PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND
5896 unbound 20 0 7225M 3880M kqread 0 0:31 0.00% unbound -c unbound.conf{unbound}
5896 unbound 20 0 7225M 3880M kqread 2 0:00 0.00% unbound -c unbound.conf{unbound}
5896 unbound 20 0 7225M 3880M kqread 2 0:00 0.00% unbound -c unbound.conf{unbound}
5896 unbound 20 0 7225M 3880M kqread 2 0:00 0.00% unbound -c unbound.conf{unbound}Notice high SIZE (second highest process uses about 11% of an unbound thread utilization)
You had also mentioned earlier that you were not sure what had changed in 2.4.5 as far as unbound. From what I am seeing, unbound was upgraded from 1.9.1 to 1.9.6 (w/python support). Please let me know if any of this data may trigger any ideas on what to look for further to debug this thing.
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@t41k2m3
Do you have TLD enabled in DNSBL? How many domains are enabled in DNSBL? You can post the snipet from the pfblockerng.log when DNSBL updates.To compare memory usage, you need to see how it was in previous pfSense versions? DNSBL will consume memory depending on how its setup in Unbound.
Also the changelog in Unbound is huge:
https://nlnetlabs.nl/projects/unbound/download/ -
@BBcan177 said in Increased Memory and CPU Spikes (causing latency/outage) with 2.4.5:
@t41k2m3
Do you have TLD enabled in DNSBL? How many domains are enabled in DNSBL? You can post the snipet from the pfblockerng.log when DNSBL updates.To compare memory usage, you need to see how it was in previous pfSense versions? DNSBL will consume memory depending on how its setup in Unbound.
Also the changelog in Unbound is huge:
https://nlnetlabs.nl/projects/unbound/download/To asnwer your questions (same settings pre/post upgrade):
DNSBL TLD enabled - yes;
DNSBL Domain/IP Counts: ~1M
Alias table IP Counts: ~330K
pfsense Table Usage Count: ~330K
based on empirical data prior to upgrading and Status - Monitoring of System Memory post upgrade, memory usage was around 20% before and may oscillate between 65-80% after upgrade (except period it went back to normal). -
@BBcan177
Mine was already at 4milion max states and 6million max tables entries and mbuf 1milion, same as it has been for 5+ years. (4x-cpu, 4GB-ram)
I tried fresh VM loads with/without config restore, no added packages, no aliases and it seems worse with more firewall rules and services enabled and that's with no traffic passing through, as you add packages that have rules and restart other services it gets worse x10.
example, just changing unbound settings and saving other config pages causes the same issues, but not as bad, also disabled unbound and tried forwarder, changing other various settings still causes it to do the same.
other example, pfblocker really aggravates it with maxmind code entered and the cron-csv update enabled(unchecked), but it's sure not the root cause, just a nasty symptom and it really lags on reboot/cold start up.
tried a vm with 8GB ram and the states/table entries/mbuf way higher yet, with no change, none ever show above
mostly tested on esxi 6.5 host using vmxnet3 adapters.
also tested an upgrade and fresh load/no config restore with latest vbox on windows 10, with same exact issues cropping up.
I couldn't hit the same issue on old bare hardware upgrade (core 2 Q8400, 4GB ram)
all the issues result in PHP hanging for long periods eating cpu, load averages climb to the moon 10.x and higher, ping latency goes up and wan starts flapping exacerbating the issue further. if you leave it sit long enough it sometimes straightens out or I noticed I started pulling traffic through and it suddenly jumps the latency down and works for a while. I tried disabling gateway monitor actions and it helps because wan doesn't flap, but the issue still remains.
I never thought to try single CPU vm's and after so many lagged aggravating tests, I don't want to play anymore. -
Hi,
Im also suffering CPU spikes that is causing massive lagg issues for me.
Ive noticed it mainly revolves around the "pfctl" process randomly spiking. occasionally i see unbound also but mostly its pfctl.
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We are experiencing the same issue. Upgraded from v2.4.4p3 to v2.4.5. CPU is stuck at 70%, up from 2% before.
Memory usage is up as well.
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@daNutz said in Increased Memory and CPU Spikes (causing latency/outage) with 2.4.5:
Hi,
Im also suffering CPU spikes that is causing massive lagg issues for me.
Ive noticed it mainly revolves around the "pfctl" process randomly spiking. occasionally i see unbound also but mostly its pfctl.
And are you running on baremetal or a virtualisation platform?
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@muppet baremetal and just upgraded from a very stable v2.4.4.p3 to v2.4.5
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I have never yet seen or caught pfctl anywhere up on cpu usage in all the testing. all I ever see is PHP at the top screaming.
and no issues on the single older hardware I upgraded, it's a backup router, that rarely gets used, mainly when servicing the esxi host.
now I do know without traffic limiters/shaping enabled bufferbloat on the cable ISP here caused wan flapping which then ran pfctl cpu usage up high. but that's normal since it keeps reloading everything over and over. -
Just our of curiousity, is everyone running on x86_64 architecture? I.e., is anyone running ARM architecture and experiencing high RAM usage?
FYI, I upgraded SG-3100 (ARM) from 2.4.4 to 2.4.5 and memory usage has been basically unchanged (good). Running packages: apcupsd, pfBlockerNG (2.1.4_21), service_watchdog, suricata.
The latest commit to pfBlocker package (Commits on Mar 28, 2020) says something about fixing MaxMind DB updates....
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I'm sure this will go unread, but the problem is nothing to do with pfBlocker
Let see if I can write that biggerpfBlockerNG isn't the problem!
Yes, it seems that adding in more complex rules and giving pfctl more to work to do, as pfBlockerNG does, certainly exacerbates the problem and makes it more noticeable.
But I've hit this problem on two boxes and neither is running pfBlockerNG.
@msf2000 It certainly seems that x64 is hitting it and you're right, I haven't seen too many mentions of ARM platforms having it.
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@muppet Yes! You are entirely right. pfblocker is victim not villain.
The question I would like answered is does this problem exist on all 2.4.5 x64 installs or just some. On clean installs or just upgraded ones? The timing of this stinks. I don't expect a lot of movement concerning this for some time.
I really have no one to blame other than myself. I thought that given the extended time between releases and the time 2.4.5 spent in RC status that it would be rock solid out of the gate. I was wrong and I should have known better than to do this upgrade now.
I'll do a clean install and restore my config when I can do that without taking myself or the kids offline for an extended time. Remote work, remote school.
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@jwj Yes, I feel the same in that I wish I hadn't upgraded. I could have easily rolled back (I took a backup of my VM before I pressed go) but I've been meaning for ages to try out Vyos at home and this was the final push I needed.
I'm sure this will be fixed, I expect it's an underlying FreeBSD issue, probably something to do with workarounds for Spectre/Meltdown or similar.
It was bad timing, but then joke's on us really - who upgrades their key infrastructure during a crisis this the worlds current one (for future readers, COVID19). The release notes even warn us. So we've noone to blame but ourselves.
I also regret not having run a 2.4.5-RC build where I could have helped diagnose this and fix it before production. It's the old thing of "I'm sure someone else has done that". Alas.
Onwards and upwards though, I love pfSense!
