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    Pre-compiled, installable version of pfsense with Mellanox ConnectX-3 drivers

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    • E
      EniGmA1987
      last edited by

      I really would like to use pfsense to connect my 5 LAN gaming computers over Infiniband, but there are no drivers built in to make these cards work. I have seen a couple posts from the past few years of people compiling the drivers and making these cards work, and from what I understand FreeeBSD has support out of the box already. What I would like is for someone to make a version of pfsense using the latest stable build, that I can take and use to install on my box from scratch with a USB flash drive. Just like regular pfsense installs and works, but with the Mellanox ConnectX OFED drivers already there so that my ConnectX-3 cards will work.

      I can pay with Paypal, and am willing to put up $50 for this.

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      • H
        heper
        last edited by

        I really would like to use pfsense to connect my 5 LAN gaming computers over Infiniband

        just one question …. why would anyone want todo that ?

        Latency on lan should be less then 1ms ( 1/1000 of second)
        A monitor typically runs on 60hz.  That is around 17ms for each frame.

        I figure money is best spent elsewhere

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        • E
          EniGmA1987
          last edited by

          Cause I want more bandwidth than my 10GbE provides and Ethernet over RJ45 has atrocious speeds in small random files. I already tested my 10GbE network vs my 80gb Infiniband network and the increase in speed for small random files was around 21x.  A 21x speed improvement in small random files is pretty good for only a 6x increase in max bandwidth (because while it is technically an 80gb link, the PCI-E slot only can give 63gb worth of bandwidth at 8 lanes which the cards use). Now I just want to be able to connect over infiniband directly to the router so I dont have to convert it over to Ethernet and move down to a 10GbE link.

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          • jimpJ
            jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
            last edited by

            By definition if anyone else compiles it, the result cannot be called "pfSense" or distributed as such, it is no longer "pfSense" unless it comes from us. The name could be changed, so long as the references are changed along with any logos/graphics/etc, but again: It cannot be "pfSense".

            If someone else compiles it or changes the distribution, you cannot trust it. Anything could have been inserted in there without being disclosed, so you have no idea if the result is secure.

            Seek a different solution that isn't fundamentally flawed.

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