USB NIC no State and Media and slow download

[sfrederiksen]

Hello
I have a USB to Ethernet Interface as my WAN interface on my Pfsense. I have a 100/100mbit internet connection, but when tested through pfsense I have only arround 40-50mbit in download speed, and still 100mbit in upload speed. It's tested directly with speedtest-cli on the pfsense shell, so no routing/firewall'ing involved in the test.
If I connect my laptop directly to my ISP modem i can confirm that the bandwidth is there.

If i run ifconfig i miss alot of information, like, state, media, output here:
ue0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether 00:e0:4c:13:55:e0
hwaddr 00:e0:4c:13:55:e0
inet6 fe80::2e0:4cff:fe13:55e0%ue0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6
inet 89.x.x.x netmask 0xffffffc0 broadcast 255.255.255.255
nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>

in the pfsense webgui I have no option to change nor see duplex settings on the WAN/USB interface the dropdown box is simply not there. If i choose my onbord NIC /LAN interface, I can see the dropdown box for selecting duplex, also alot more information from ifconfig on onbord/LAN interface:
re0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
ether b0:83:fe:5a:1f:92
hwaddr b0:83:fe:5a:1f:92
inet6 fe80::b283:feff:fe5a:1f92%re0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 192.168.0.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
status: active

However I see no interface errors in the pfsense gui for the WAN/USB interface.
I can confirm that both the USB interface and the ethernet cable is working just fine, as there is no speed issues if i run ubuntu on the same PC.

How do i troubleshoot this? Is it a driver problem? And if it is, why does it work at all then?
Brgds

[KOM]

USB NICs do not get a lot of love around here. It could be the FreeBSD driver for your NIC, but it's hard to know for sure without knowing what NIC it actually is.

Are you using a laptop as a router? Do you have the option of replacing that USB NIC with something more robust?

[Renat]

@sfrederiksen it is better if you use wan switch + vlans. USB nic is not good idea for pfsense.

[sfrederiksen]

Hi Guys
thanks for quick reply.
I have also read the USB nics do not get a lot of love by now, I just simply don't understand why it works at all, but missing duplex info and somehow lack of download speed.
I use a ultra small form factor PC, with no additional PCI slots. However if i install ubuntu 16.04 and just use iptables as router/firewall solution it works just fine.
Is there anyway to toubleshoot it without not using a USB nic?

[NogBadTheBad]

@sfrederiksen said in USB NIC no State and Media and slow download:

ue0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether 00:e0:4c:13:55:e0
hwaddr 00:e0:4c:13:55:e0

re0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
ether b0:83:fe:5a:1f:92
hwaddr b0:83:fe:5a:1f:92

Not only USB to Ethernet but also both interfaces use Realtek chips which aren't the best.

ether 00:e0:4c:13:55:e0 https://www.macmonster.co.uk/macoui=00E04C

re0: https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?re(4) I'm guessing rebadged by Dell

[Renat]

@sfrederiksen I think good way to troubleshoot is beginning from compatibility page https://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/11-STABLE/hardware/support.html#ethernet

[KOM]

@sfrederiksen There isn't really a lot you can about it. It's most likely a driver issue if it's working as expected in Ubuntu but I'm just guessing. I don't think many people here have experience with USB NICs.

Depending on how powerful your mini-pc is, you might get better performance and NIC support by virtualizing everything.

[stephenw10]

Yup, there's not much can be done here. You might have some driver tweaks available depending on what chip/driver it actually is.
Some people report successfully running USB NICs. You might just try a different USB device.

Steve