NAT - Bandwidth throttling with RealTek 8168/8111

[vanst]

Hi All,

I installed pfSense on the mini computer. It has 2 RealTek 8168/8111 onboard NICs.
CPU: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525 @ 1.80GHz
RAM: 2 GB
The connection was set up as per the below diagram:

When using 2 Realtek NIC, 1 for WAN and 1 for LAN, either downloading the file from HTTP server or copy via Windows Explore, the speed is capped at ~ 50 MB/s. However, when I plug another Intel PCIE network card and set it up as WAN or LAN, I can get the speed of 100 MB/s.

Could you advise how to investigate further. Thank you!

[TheNarc]

Realtek NICs are notoriously problematic, but you should be able to get more than 50MB/s out of them. If you haven't yet already, I would try using the latest driver per the instructions on this thread:
https://forum.netgate.com/topic/135850/official-realtek-driver-binary-1-95-for-2-4-4-release

[vanst]

Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion. I have install the driver. This is the result of kldstat

[2.4.5-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root: kldstat
Id Refs Address            Size     Name
 1    5 0xffffffff80200000 37191d8  kernel
 2    1 0xffffffff8391b000 7d2c0    if_re.ko
 3    1 0xffffffff83a21000 10c0     cpuctl.ko

The speed is still the same, fluctuates between 55 to 58 MB/s. However, I am able to get the speed of 100 MB/s when using 1 Realtek NIC and 1 Intel PCIe NIC.

[DaddyGo]

@vanst

Hi,
if you don’t change anything in the base settings and Intel performs better, the answer is evident (igb(4) vs. re(4)

this is an old theme on the forum, wherever possible avoid the Realtek stuff
as correctly outlined by @TheNarc

[vanst]

@DaddyGo Thanks mate. I have been reading article about Re vs Intel, I think it true my case or perhaps the 2 onboard NIC shares the same bus line ... dmesg show the below messgage, dow you have any idea what is it about?

[2.4.5-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root: dmesg | grep 'error'
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_bss_fw, 0xffffffff806a2f20, 0) error 1
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_ibss_fw, 0xffffffff806a2fd0, 0) error 1
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_monitor_fw, 0xffffffff806a3080, 0) error 1
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (iwi_bss_fw, 0xffffffff806ca140, 0) error 1
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (iwi_ibss_fw, 0xffffffff806ca1f0, 0) error 1
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (iwi_monitor_fw, 0xffffffff806ca2a0, 0) error 1
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (vesa, 0xffffffff812d9960, 0) error 19

[2.4.5-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root: dmesg | grep 'Firmware*'
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure looking up [\134_SB.PCI0.LPC0.PS2M._STA.PS2F], AE_NOT_FOUND (20171214/psargs-503)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure creating [\134_SB.PCI0._OSC.CAPB], AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20171214/dsfield-344)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure looking up [\134_SB.PCI0.LPC0.PS2M._STA.PS2F], AE_NOT_FOUND (20171214/psargs-503)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure looking up [\134_SB.PCI0.LPC0.PS2K._STA.KBDI], AE_NOT_FOUND (20171214/psargs-503)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Failure looking up [\134_TZ.TZ01._SCP.CTYP], AE_NOT_FOUNDugen5.1: <Intel UHCI root HUB> at usbus5

[DaddyGo]

@vanst

Is this some kind of Chinese miniPC?
Is the latest BIOS on it?
It could be a compatibility issue in the ACPI firmware code.

@vanst
"module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (vesa, 0xffffffff812d9960, 0) error 19"

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/vesa-wont-load.59462/