Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release

stephenw10

iperf3 is in fact single threaded and will only ever use one CPU core. The -P switch can make it run multiple client streams, which can take advantage of multiqueue NICs for interrupt load, but it will still only use one CPU core on the client and server machine for iperf itself. Which is another good reason to test through the firewall.

If you need to test like that try running multiple iperf servers or clients on different ports simultaneously.

https://fasterdata.es.net/performance-testing/network-troubleshooting-tools/iperf/multi-stream-iperf3/

Steve

NetworkingMicrobe

@Cybermaze - Small update, using multiple client streams into a pfSense iperf3 server yields similar results as a single stream of ~400-450Mbps.
However, I noticed when using multiple client streams when pfSense is the client and another device is the server, I can get steady 800Mbps throughput, much closer to theoretical 1000Mbps max line speed. Interesting...

I'll look into running multiple iperf servers simultaneously as well, thanks @stephenw10.

NetworkingMicrobe

Finally got around to adding some gigabit Intel NICs to the build, and sure enough I can easily obtain 960+ Mbps both to the firewall (to see WAN theoretical max speed) and through the firewall. So definitely something funky going on with the onboard Realtek NIC, like @griffo mentioned, despite using the latest drivers v1.96.04 from Realtek. Not crucial to fix I guess, but still interesting to note for others who may have similar issues in the future.

mikekoke

@rico said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:

Here you go: rtl_bsd12.1_drv_v196.04.zip

-Rico

Hi, I would like to know if this driver also works on the 2.5.0 RC that is about to come out.
Thank you.

stephenw10

As jimp said in the other thread in 2.5 the FreeBSD package for this is in our repo. So you can simply do this at the command line:

pkg install realtek-re-kmod
then
echo 'if_re_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local

Then reboot and check the boot logs for output from the new driver loading like:

re0: <Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller> port 0x1000-0x10ff mem 0xf7a00000-0xf7a00fff,0xf7900000-0xf7903fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
re0: Using Memory Mapping!
re0: Using 1 MSI-X message
re0: ASPM disabled
re0: version:1.96.04
re0: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:37:30:10

Steve

mikekoke

@stephenw10
Ok thanks.

mikekoke

@stephenw10 said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:

As jimp said in the other thread in 2.5 the FreeBSD package for this is in our repo. So you can simply do this at the command line:

pkg install realtek-re-kmod
then
echo 'if_re_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local

Then reboot and check the boot logs for output from the new driver loading like:
re0: <Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller> port 0x1000-0x10ff mem 0xf7a00000-0xf7a00fff,0xf7900000-0xf7903fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
re0: Using Memory Mapping!
re0: Using 1 MSI-X message
re0: ASPM disabled
re0: version:1.96.04
re0: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:37:30:10
Steve

I was forgetting to ask you something, in your opinion it is better to first remove the old driver for realtek that I had installed for 2.4.5, then update to 2.5.0 and finally install the new driver with the procedure you wrote above or I can do upgrade to 2.5.0 and then overwrite the old driver with the new one? Thank you.

stephenw10

I would removed any 2.4.X binaries you have uploaded first. They won't load in 2.5 anyway.

Steve

Allex

@mikekoke said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:

@rico said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:

Here you go: rtl_bsd12.1_drv_v196.04.zip

-Rico

Hi, I would like to know if this driver also works on the 2.5.0 RC that is about to come out.
Thank you.

Thanks. It worked easily for me.

PfSense 2.5.0-RELEASE (amd64)
built on Tue Feb 16 08:56:29 EST 2021
FreeBSD 12.2-STABLE

jgnguyen123

@networkingmicrobe I have the same problem with the built-in RTL8168. In Windows driver, there's an option "Gigabit lite" that is to set to ON by default which reduces its speed to half. I suspect that might be be the default settting on the NIC. Not sure if there's an option to turn it OFF in pfSense.

m4nf47

@mikekoke said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:

@stephenw10 said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:
As jimp said in the other thread in 2.5 the FreeBSD package for this is in our repo. So you can simply do this at the command line:

pkg install realtek-re-kmod
then
echo 'if_re_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local

Then reboot and check the boot logs for output from the new driver loading like:
re0: <Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller> port 0x1000-0x10ff mem 0xf7a00000-0xf7a00fff,0xf7900000-0xf7903fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
re0: Using Memory Mapping!
re0: Using 1 MSI-X message
re0: ASPM disabled
re0: version:1.96.04
re0: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:37:30:10
Steve
I was forgetting to ask you something, in your opinion it is better to first remove the old driver for realtek that I had installed for 2.4.5, then update to 2.5.0 and finally install the new driver with the procedure you wrote above or I can do upgrade to 2.5.0 and then overwrite the old driver with the new one? Thank you.

Hi thread, long time no see! So I recently upgraded from 2.4.5 to 2.5.1 and started getting the dreaded watchdog timeout errors again after a couple of days, would completely hang my connection and force me offline. I noticed that the Realtek driver wasn't loading as before and can confirm that the above simple (pkg install) fix seemed to work for me. The key info to confirm that the driver is loaded is to run the kldstat command and also check the boot logs for the version line as shown above. Many thanks for sharing, fingers crossed this post might help someone else running crappy Realtek hardware on pfSense.

m4nf47

Just an update for anyone reading this old thread for older releases, there are much simpler instructions that worked for me on the 2.5.1 release, I now recommend avoiding any messy compilation and upload of drivers and just using the instructions here:

https://forum.netgate.com/topic/135850/official-realtek-driver-binary-1-95-for-2-4-4-release/168

cooljimy84

@m4nf47
same here, pkg remove and then install
tho i had to add the following to /boot/loader.conf
if_re_load="YES"
if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"

aignatev

Version 1.96.04 for FreeBSD 13, if needed.

https://github.com/anignatev/if_re

j3roen

I'm running into this issue on PFSense 2.6. Does anyone have a working driver?

stephenw10

Do this:

pkg add https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg

Then do:

echo 'if_re_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local
echo 'if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local

Then reboot. Make sure it reports the new driver in the boot log.

Steve

A Former User

@j3roen
Loading and installing over the Webgui
Console or log in via SSH

pkg add https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg 
pkg install -f -y realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg

/boot/loader.conf.local
loader.conf.local and entries must be created by yourself

if_re_load=“YES” 
if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"

stephenw10

You only need the 'pkg add' command to install it.

You don't need to do anything with the existing module if you have specified the path to the alternative module in the _name variable.

j3roen

Thanks all! :)

Oxyacetylene

I am having this same issue, but the repository listed above is giving me a 403 forbidden error. I am on pfSense 2.6 and just set up a new Zimaboard to use for a firewall. My WAN internet connection has dropped multiple times over the last 24 hours.

EDIT: I used pkg add https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/quarterly/All/realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg

2nd Edit: Once I installed this package the firewall behaved even worse. I went back in after a reboot and unchecked the option to disable hardware checksum offload. Rebooted again. Watching now to see if things are stable. I had checked this option to disable the offload as an attempt to fix the problem, before loading the driver.