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    PC Engines apu2 experiences

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    • QinnQ
      Qinn @fireodo
      last edited by

      I would check the advice from @fireodo; "A little question: Have you CPU Boost activated?" as this makes a lot off difference.

      Then I may add, always install pfSense using the ZFS filesystem not the UFS (default). For a few reasons;

      TRIM is default enabled (I am using mSATA), but this can also be enabled manually on a UFS filesystem, but the most important reason I advice to use ZFS is that it can 100% safegard you against bit errors, because the APU2 has ECC memory 😉

      Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
      Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
      Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • A
        apu2
        last edited by

        @fireodo @Qinn Thanks both!
        Good advise for my next ssd :)

        Drive actually died and no longer detected by the system. Tried reseating it a few times but no lock.
        I am surprised SMART didn't detected anything.
        Is there any meaning to run smartd for SSDs?

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

          Yes. It will show the drive wear level as spare blocks are used for example. It can't show if the controller is about to die.

          Steve

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • S
            sikita
            last edited by

            Hi guys, are you running pfSense with /var & /tmp in RAM DISKS enabled on APU2?

            fireodoF QinnQ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • fireodoF
              fireodo @sikita
              last edited by fireodo

              @sikita said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

              Hi guys, are you running pfSense with /var & /tmp in RAM DISKS enabled on APU2?

              Hi, no RamDisk here - as stated in my signature its all on a 16GB SSD.
              /var/run 4% von 3.4MiB - ufs im RAM

              Kettop Mi4300YL CPU: i5-4300Y @ 1.60GHz RAM: 8GB Ethernet Ports: 4
              SSD: SanDisk pSSD-S2 16GB (ZFS) WiFi: WLE200NX
              pfsense 2.7.2 CE
              Packages: Apcupsd Cron Iftop Iperf LCDproc Nmap pfBlockerNG RRD_Summary Shellcmd Snort Speedtest System_Patches.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • QinnQ
                Qinn @sikita
                last edited by Qinn

                @sikita The whole filesystem zfs is running on 16GB mSATA SSD with ZFS only /var/run
                4% of 3.4MiB - ufs in RAM

                Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • K
                  kinch
                  last edited by

                  i retested. same result.
                  iperf client pc(lan) -> pfsense APU2E4 -> pc2 (opt) iperf server

                  With 2.4.4 p3 I have 750-850Mbit for 1 connection
                  After the update to 2.4.5 P1 I have 400-500Mbit.
                  Nothing changed, only the update was installed.
                  For me it means, there has changed something in the performance between 2.4.4 P3 and 2.4.5 (P1). But i dont know what.

                  BR

                  D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • D
                    dugeem @kinch
                    last edited by

                    @kinch
                    Try disabling ICMP Redirects to enable the faster tryforward routing path (under System / Advanced / System Tunables set net.inet.ip.redirect & net.inet6.ip6.redirect to 0)

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                    • S
                      sikita @Qinn
                      last edited by

                      @Qinn said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                      @sikita The whole filesystem zfs is running on 16GB mSATA SSD with ZFS only /var/run
                      4% of 3.4MiB - ufs in RAM

                      Ok, thanks for a hint

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • S
                        Stella_161
                        last edited by

                        Hi,

                        First id like to say thanks for everyone advice.

                        Id like to ask for a little help from you.

                        Im having issues with slow LAN interface compared to the WAN.

                        I have a 100Mbit PPPoe HFC connection. When running a speed test from the apu4c4 or directly plugged in to the HFC box, i get 98Mbit but if i run it from my PC that's behind the apu4c4 its only at 71Mbit no matter what i do.

                        Ive tried:

                        • Swapping Ethernet cables
                        • Plugging directly in to LAN Port 2 and 3
                        • https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/apu2-1-gigabit-throughput-pfsense/
                        • disabling ICMP Redirects to enable the faster tryforward routing path (under System / Advanced / System Tunables set net.inet.ip.redirect & net.inet6.ip6.redirect to 0)
                        • Upgraded to 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64) from 2.4.4
                        • Upgraded the BIOS to: Version: v4.11.0.4
                        • Factory reset with no packages enabled

                        All with no change to my LAN speed. I'm all out of ideas here, can anyone offer any more advice on what i can try next.

                        Thanks

                        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          sToRmInG
                          last edited by

                          How is your CPU utiluzation when you run your test?
                          Can you try and update the BIOS to 4.12.0.2 and see if this helps?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • S
                            Stewart @Stella_161
                            last edited by Stewart

                            @Stella_161 This is specific to your box, not a general issue with the devices themselves so you would get a much better response opening a general support thread for this. When you do, you'll need to give more detail, specifically what packages are installed and how you're performing the test. Try a mix of speedtest.net and fast.com and see what you get. Make sure to do them both with an ad-blocker running on your PC. I've seen many instances where advertisements can eat up a CPU on a computer and give artificially slow speed results.

                            I have many of these boxes that are doing up to 500Mbps so the hardware is more than capable. That being said, @sToRmInG is right in that the first place to look would be the CPU %. Something may be chewing up CPU cycles on either the APU2 or the laptop you are using. Obvious suspects could be Snort / Suricata, Squid / SquidGuard, and pfBlockerNG.

                            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • S
                              Stella_161 @Stewart
                              last edited by Stella_161

                              @Stewart @sToRmInG

                              Thanks Guys, Ive opened a new thread for this.

                              Ive tried upgrading the BIOS with no change. After the BIOS upgrade i did a factory reset, no packages have only setup PPPoe and default LAN with ad blocker enabled on PC. Still only 71Mbit~.

                              CPU usage is minimal when running from PC: Speedtest.net and Fast.com with the same result

                              PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K RUN 3 42:59 100.00% [idle{idle: cpu3}]
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K CPU1 1 42:57 100.00% [idle{idle: cpu1}]
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K CPU2 2 42:56 98.49% [idle{idle: cpu2}]
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K CPU0 0 42:42 88.96% [idle{idle: cpu0}]
                              12 root -92 - 0K 496K CPU0 0 0:31 14.70% [intr{irq256: igb0:que 0}]
                              12 root -92 - 0K 496K WAIT 2 0:08 5.66% [intr{irq259: igb1:que 0}]
                              12 root -92 - 0K 496K WAIT 3 0:07 1.66% [intr{irq260: igb1:que 1}]

                              161481d5-6124-4fec-8cfa-dee502d4a2cb-image.png

                              CPU when running Speed Test CLI on pfsense:

                              PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K CPU1 1 47:13 86.77% [idle{idle: cpu1}]
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K RUN 3 47:12 82.57% [idle{idle: cpu3}]
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K CPU2 2 47:09 79.88% [idle{idle: cpu2}]
                              11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K RUN 0 46:46 71.29% [idle{idle: cpu0}]
                              12 root -92 - 0K 496K WAIT 0 0:50 33.25% [intr{irq256: igb0:que 0}]
                              52611 root 74 0 135M 71416K CPU3 3 0:02 7.96% /usr/local/bin/python3.7 /usr/local/bin/speedtest{python3.7}

                              3508b2c2-2d77-47f8-8ff7-52e409ba97f3-image.png

                              Cheers

                              QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • QinnQ
                                Qinn @Stella_161
                                last edited by Qinn

                                @Stella_161 Just to be sure, did you halt the system and then pulled the power plug, wait for a minute and then re-plug the power, this should be done after every bios update.

                                Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                                Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                                Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • K
                                  kevindd992002
                                  last edited by

                                  If I use a USB2.0 cable to the internal header of the APU2C4, how do I route it so that I can access it externally from the official black case provided by PCEngines?

                                  dotdashD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • dotdashD
                                    dotdash @kevindd992002
                                    last edited by

                                    @kevindd992002 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                    If I use a USB2.0 cable to the internal header of the APU2C4, how do I route it so that I can access it externally from the official black case provided by PCEngines?

                                    When I loaded from the USB header, I had the top of the case off. I think you'd have to modify the case if you wanted to put the top back on.

                                    K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • K
                                      kevindd992002 @dotdash
                                      last edited by

                                      @dotdash said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                      @kevindd992002 said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                      If I use a USB2.0 cable to the internal header of the APU2C4, how do I route it so that I can access it externally from the official black case provided by PCEngines?

                                      When I loaded from the USB header, I had the top of the case off. I think you'd have to modify the case if you wanted to put the top back on.

                                      Yeah, drill through it or something. I would love to just use the USB2.0 header with external USB ports than wait for the devs to fix that long-standing USB3 issue.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • K
                                        kevindd992002 @Veldkornet
                                        last edited by kevindd992002

                                        @veldkornet said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                        @kinch said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                        @DaddyGo

                                        I've examined it and found the following:

                                        iperf3 LAB
                                        No matter if APU2/3/4 I get a throughput with single connection of 750-850Mbit/s (LAN 2 OPT)

                                        With 2 or more connections I get about 945Mbit/s.

                                        A Speedtest.net gives the value 934Mbit/s UP/DOWN

                                        I have tested the following BIOS versions:
                                        V4.9.0.2
                                        V4.11.0.2
                                        V4.12.0.1

                                        All the same.

                                        But what I noticed, tested on APU2 and APU3, that pfsense version 2.4.5 does not reach the same throughput as 2.4.4-p3.
                                        With Single Connection pfsense 2.4.5 reaches "only" about 400-500Mbit/s. With pfsense 2.4.5 I can only reach 940Mbps with 8 connections.

                                        I also noted something weird with 2.4.5.

                                        My iPerf speeds were also much lower than normal. What I did to fix it was:

                                        • disabling hardware offload (check the check boxes)
                                        • save, no reboot (iPerf results the same)
                                        • re-enabling hardware offload (clear the check boxes)
                                        • save, no reboot (iPerf results back up to the expected levels)

                                        The only thing I did between having good iPerf results and slow ones was reboot the device. It's as if after a reboot, it forgot that hardware offload was enabled, and I just needed to set it again.

                                        @dugeem

                                        Do you have any comments on this? As we discussed before, here are the tweaks I have:

                                        b8eba554-297e-41bb-b2bf-e741464c198a-image.png

                                        bc292172-d169-4596-8a74-122d4909c5a6-image.png

                                        /boot/loader.conf.local contains:

                                        hw.igb.rx_process_limit=-1

                                        Also, it looks like the guys here updated their article but they are still insisting to enable all three HW offloads as they see that it gives better speeds.

                                        And what is the recommended setting for hardware checksum offload? Checked (disabled) or unchecked (enabled)?

                                        I'm asking again because my ISP connection is at 400/400 now and I'm thinking of upgrading to 800/800 soon. I want to know if my APU2C4 can handle these speeds with the tweaks that we have.

                                        @Veldkornet

                                        Which of the HW offloads did you enable (unchecked) to get significantly better multi-connection speeds?

                                        @VAMike

                                        What is your comment on the HW offload settings? I see that you had a comment against the post of Veldkornet where he enabled those settings to get better speeds. If he saw better speeds with those enabled, is that an inaccurate test or something because it only helps the client and not end-to-end? Sorry if I misunderstood.

                                        QinnQ DaddyGoD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • QinnQ
                                          Qinn @kevindd992002
                                          last edited by

                                          @kevindd992002 Why only the receive (rx) and not the transmit (tx) in the loader.conf.local file and why did you not uncheck?

                                          Hardware TCP Segmentation Offloading
                                          Hardware Large Receive Offloading

                                          Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                                          Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                                          Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                                          K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • K
                                            kevindd992002 @Qinn
                                            last edited by

                                            @qinn said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                            @kevindd992002 Why only the receive (rx) and not the transmit (tx) in the loader.conf.local file and why did you not uncheck?

                                            Hardware TCP Segmentation Offloading
                                            Hardware Large Receive Offloading

                                            Answers to your questions:

                                            https://forum.netgate.com/post/908003

                                            QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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