What does this message mean?

[stephenw10]

It looks like you're using a loaded kernel module rather than the standard in kernel ix driver.
It's showing some warnings you would likely not see with the normal driver.

Was is compiled with debugging options enabled?

Why are you running that driver?

Steve

[Jiffyjeeff]

Yes that is true.

I installed the <Intel(R) PRO/10GbE PCI-Express Network Driver, Version - 3.3.14 driver from FreeBSD repo

in Diagnostic - command prompt- pkg add https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:11:amd64/latest/All/intel-ix-kmod-3.3.14_1.txz

Everything apppears to be working fine. I just noticed those messages in the dmesg.

This is the message after installed the package.

Fetching intel-ix-kmod-3.3.14_1.txz: .......... done
Installing intel-ix-kmod-3.3.14_1...
Extracting intel-ix-kmod-3.3.14_1: ........ done

Message from intel-ix-kmod-3.3.14_1:

--
THIS PACKAGE INSTALLS THE NEWER VERSION OF THE SOFTWARE WHICH CAN CAUSE SYSTEM
INSTABILITY WHILE USED. USE THE UPDATED VERSION ONLY IF YOU EXPERIENCE
PROBLEMS WITH THE DRIVER PRESENT IN THE KERNEL DISTRIBUTION

Usage:
To load the updated version of the driver add this:

if_ix_updated_load="YES"

to your /boot/loader.conf and reboot the machine.
There's no need to recompile the GENERIC kernel without if_ix driver

After the reboot you may see this kind of messaged in the dmesg:

module_register: module pci/ix already exists!
Module pci/ix failed to register: 17

This is the side effect of the newer version of the driver overriding the
older one and can be safely disregarded

[stephenw10]

Ah, OK. Well loading it from the FreeBSD repo is probably about as safe as you can get without reviewing all the code and compiling it yourself.
Those warnings do not look fatal and you're not seeing any actual connectivity issues so you can likely ignore it.
However if you don't have a good reason to use those drivers I would not. We have patches against ixgbe in the in kernel driver that you no longer have.

Steve

[Jiffyjeeff]

@stephenw10 said in What does this message mean?:

We have patches against ixgbe in the in kernel driver that you no longer have

I tried out this driver because i read somewhere they fixed support for netmap and IPS Inline and some other bug fixes? I didn't realize you guys patched the old driver?
I can revert back to the old driver by removing if_ix_updated_load="YES"
from boot/loader.conf.local?

Here are the changes listed from the freebsd site.

Revision 538566 - Directory Listing
Modified Fri Jun 12 07:44:24 2020 UTC (3 months, 1 week ago) by skozlov

Change approach to missing manpage in net/intel-ix-kmod

Instead of not installing the missing man page - use the one from the previous
version.

Changes include:

• Revert all the MANPAGEEXISTS-related changes from net/intel-{ixl,ix}-kmod
• Allow slave ports of net/intel-ixl-kmod to set their own MASTER_SITES
• Add previous version of intel-ix-kmod to it's DISTFILES
• Add pre-install target to intel-ixl-kmod to place the man page where
  do-install expects to find it

Revision 538399 - Directory Listing
Modified Wed Jun 10 14:52:07 2020 UTC (3 months, 2 weeks ago) by skozlov

Update net/intel-ix-kmod to 3.3.14

• New version doesn't have a man page
• Builds fine with netmap on all the currently supported FreeBSD versions

[stephenw10]

Yes, you can just remove or comment out that loader line and reboot to revert.

Did it help with netmap? Unclear if that module actually has the driver built with netmap.

Steve

[Jiffyjeeff]

@stephenw10

I don't know I sort gave up on snort inline IPS
I get better performance with HW checksum turned on and flow control off.
I know you have to turn off HW checksum for ips inline to work. I didn't notice any performance difference between the drivers. My ix NIC are the 1gb ports connected to a Marvell chip on a

Supermicro Motherboard MBD-A2SDI-4C-HLN4F. Maybe different results with a 10gbe nic?

[stephenw10]

Indeed you may get different results with a different NIC chip.

[Jiffyjeeff]

i reverted back to the kernel drivers

[Gertjan]

Just for the record :
When you read this :

@Jiffyjeeff said in What does this message mean?:

Usage:
To load the updated version of the driver add this:
if_ix_updated_load="YES"
to your /boot/loader.conf and reboot the machine.

You should actually (create and) use the /boot/loader.conf.local file for your own manually added lines.
The /boot/loader.conf can get overwritten by pfSense itself.

[Jiffyjeeff]

Yes, I did that.