Support for RTL8153 Adapter?

Quasiguru

Hello everyone, I would be interested in seeing the Realtek 8153 adapter be able to be adapted to the kernel of 2.4.5 or 2.5 if possible. Of course not having the access to the files needed I cannot personally rebuild the PFSense kernel. Any possibility of some assistance from the Netgate team? I can get the device to initialize by typing usbconfig -d x.x set_config 1 however the performance of the adapter is abysmal only hitting 40 Mbps max. From what I am reading the ure driver would be able to get this adapter to run at the full Gigabit speed (also have compiled the FreeBSD 11 and 12 kernel to config), but I would rather not run "just" a FreeBSD kernel, and risk security issues with PF packages.

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ure&sektion=4&manpath=freebsd-release-ports

stephenw10

What USB IDs does it present in config index 1? What driver attaches to it?

I'd be amased if it could use more than one driver.

USB Ethernet devices are pretty much always terrible. 40Mbps us very slow but I would not expect to ever see Gigabit line rate.

Steve

Quasiguru

Driver is cdce0, but a recompile of the kernel can make it ure, I did confirm on standard FreeBSD 11 and 12... Also I was getting Gigabit speeds over usb on the recompiled kernels.

Descriptors are below:
`ugen0.2: <TP-LINK USB 101001000 LAN> at usbus0, cfg=1 md=HOST spd=SUPER (5.0Gbps ) pwr=ON (64mA)

Configuration index 0

bLength = 0x0009
bDescriptorType = 0x0002
wTotalLength = 0x0039
bNumInterfaces = 0x0001
bConfigurationValue = 0x0001
iConfiguration = 0x0000  <no string>
bmAttributes = 0x00a0
bMaxPower = 0x0020

Interface 0
  bLength = 0x0009
  bDescriptorType = 0x0004
  bInterfaceNumber = 0x0000
  bAlternateSetting = 0x0000
  bNumEndpoints = 0x0003
  bInterfaceClass = 0x00ff  <Vendor specific>
  bInterfaceSubClass = 0x00ff
  bInterfaceProtocol = 0x0000
  iInterface = 0x0000  <no string>

 Endpoint 0
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0081  <IN>
    bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0400
    bInterval = 0x0000
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x06
  bDescriptorType = 0x30
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x03
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x06, 0x30, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00


 Endpoint 1
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0002  <OUT>
    bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0400
    bInterval = 0x0000
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x06
  bDescriptorType = 0x30
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x03
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x06, 0x30, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00


 Endpoint 2
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0083  <IN>
    bmAttributes = 0x0003  <INTERRUPT>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0002
    bInterval = 0x0008
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x06
  bDescriptorType = 0x30
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x00
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x06, 0x30, 0x00, 0x00, 0x02, 0x00

Configuration index 1

bLength = 0x0009
bDescriptorType = 0x0002
wTotalLength = 0x0062
bNumInterfaces = 0x0002
bConfigurationValue = 0x0002
iConfiguration = 0x0000  <no string>
bmAttributes = 0x00a0
bMaxPower = 0x0020

Interface 0
  bLength = 0x0009
  bDescriptorType = 0x0004
  bInterfaceNumber = 0x0000
  bAlternateSetting = 0x0000
  bNumEndpoints = 0x0001
  bInterfaceClass = 0x0002  <Communication device>
  bInterfaceSubClass = 0x0006
  bInterfaceProtocol = 0x0000
  iInterface = 0x0005  <CDC Communications Control>

  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x05
  bDescriptorType = 0x24
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x00
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x05, 0x24, 0x00, 0x10, 0x01


  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x05
  bDescriptorType = 0x24
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x06
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x05, 0x24, 0x06, 0x00, 0x01


  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x0d
  bDescriptorType = 0x24
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x0f
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x0d, 0x24, 0x0f, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
   0x08 | 0xea, 0x05, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00


 Endpoint 0
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0083  <IN>
    bmAttributes = 0x0003  <INTERRUPT>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0010
    bInterval = 0x0008
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x06
  bDescriptorType = 0x30
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x00
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x06, 0x30, 0x00, 0x00, 0x08, 0x00



Interface 1
  bLength = 0x0009
  bDescriptorType = 0x0004
  bInterfaceNumber = 0x0001
  bAlternateSetting = 0x0000
  bNumEndpoints = 0x0000
  bInterfaceClass = 0x000a  <CDC-data>
  bInterfaceSubClass = 0x0000
  bInterfaceProtocol = 0x0000
  iInterface = 0x0000  <no string>


Interface 1 Alt 1
  bLength = 0x0009
  bDescriptorType = 0x0004
  bInterfaceNumber = 0x0001
  bAlternateSetting = 0x0001
  bNumEndpoints = 0x0002
  bInterfaceClass = 0x000a  <CDC-data>
  bInterfaceSubClass = 0x0000
  bInterfaceProtocol = 0x0000
  iInterface = 0x0004  <Ethernet Data>

 Endpoint 0
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0081  <IN>
    bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0400
    bInterval = 0x0000
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x06
  bDescriptorType = 0x30
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x03
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x06, 0x30, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00


 Endpoint 1
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0002  <OUT>
    bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0400
    bInterval = 0x0000
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

  Additional Descriptor

  bLength = 0x06
  bDescriptorType = 0x30
  bDescriptorSubType = 0x03
   RAW dump:
   0x00 | 0x06, 0x30, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00

`

johnpoz

@stephenw10 said in Support for RTL8153 Adapter?:

I would not expect to ever see Gigabit line rate.

Depends on what level of usb ;)

I see 2+ gbs using a usb nic plugged into my nas and then one in my pc.. This was the cheapest easiest way to get gig+ to my nas from my pc.

$ iperf3 -c 192.168.10.10
Connecting to host 192.168.10.10, port 5201
[  5] local 192.168.10.9 port 25428 connected to 192.168.10.10 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   268 MBytes  2.24 Gbits/sec
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.37 Gbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   281 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   281 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.37 Gbits/sec
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   284 MBytes  2.38 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.74 GBytes  2.35 Gbits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.01  sec  2.74 GBytes  2.35 Gbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

That is via usb3 on my my nas, and then another usb3 on my pc.. Using 2 CAC-1420 adapters from club 3d. I am normally not a fan of usb nics - but this was only way to achieve plus gig on my nas.. And I had no other slots free on my pc for a actual nic as well.. So this was cheap way to skin that cat.

So clearly it is possible to achieve gig via usb.. But yeah depend on what usb, and nic and drivers, etc.

Quasiguru

@johnpoz said in Support for RTL8153 Adapter?:

@stephenw10 said in Support for RTL8153 Adapter?:

I would not expect to ever see Gigabit line rate.

Depends on what level of usb ;)

I see 2+ gbs using a usb nic plugged into my nas and then one in my pc.. This was the cheapest easiest way to get gig+ to my nas from my pc.
$ iperf3 -c 192.168.10.10
Connecting to host 192.168.10.10, port 5201
[  5] local 192.168.10.9 port 25428 connected to 192.168.10.10 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   268 MBytes  2.24 Gbits/sec
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.37 Gbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   281 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   281 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.37 Gbits/sec
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   282 MBytes  2.36 Gbits/sec
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   284 MBytes  2.38 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.74 GBytes  2.35 Gbits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.01  sec  2.74 GBytes  2.35 Gbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.
That is via usb3 on my my nas, and then another usb3 on my pc.. Using 2 CAC-1420 adapters from club 3d. I am normally not a fan of usb nics - but this was only way to achieve plus gig on my nas.. And I had no other slots free on my pc for a actual nic as well.. So this was cheap way to skin that cat.

I know what you mean... I have a Lenovo M93P Tiny running PFSense, and have the WAN currently configured to a vlan, but would be interested in separating my wan out... I have a lot of VLAN traffic, so any little bit helps ;)

stephenw10

In FreeNAS? Or something Linux based? That's impressive though!

johnpoz

No not freenas - that is on a synology ds918+, they have no official support for them - but there are a lot of smart people out there ;) hehehe

Found the driver for it here.
https://github.com/bb-qq/r8152

Not exactly sure what synology runs - its some sort of bastardized linux of theirs..

ash-4.3# uname -a
Linux NAS 4.4.59+ #25426 SMP PREEMPT Tue Nov 24 17:18:27 CST 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux synology_apollolake_918+

stephenw10

You can open a feature request: https://redmine.pfsense.org/

I don't see one for that specifically.

Steve

stephenw10

Ah, well, yes in Linux the support is likely far better.

I've never seen that sort or rate from USB Ethernet in FreeBSD myself.

Steve

Quasiguru

@stephenw10 and done. Thank you!

https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/11125

johnpoz

How many interfaces does your pfsense have on it now? If the problem is bandwidth for your vlans - while sure multigig interface would be 1 option, be it 2.5, 5 or even better 10

But you can split your vlans across multiple physical gig interfaces.. Part of the reason its a good idea to have router with lots of interfaces ;) That is why I love my 4860, its got 6 interfaces.. So I have my vlans spread across 5 of those.. The only interface that has multiple vlans on it is the one that does the wireless vlans - since they are always low bandwidth anyway - and they don't talk to each other - so no intervlan traffic on the same physical.

jesusvinasaltosystems

for this reason it does not show the link speed
the ure(4) driver is not currently included in pfSense so your adapter is instead using the cdce(4) driver.
You should add comments to the feature request of you want that driver to be included in a future version.

jean-francois

I've upgraded to 2.5.2 and the new kernel driver is unstable with my RTL8153 adaptor, it works for 1 or 2 days and the stops working. It was working perfectly as a module to load with set_config/usbconfig, without needing any reboot for months (uptime > 90 days...). Bad idea guys...

stephenw10

usbconfig does not load kernel modules. What module were you using? In 2.5.1? What happens if you load that module in 2.5.2? More details needed to even define the issue you're seeing.

But at a basic level don't use USB Ethernet if you're looking for speed or stability.

Steve

jean-francois

Your're absolutly right Steve, sorry about it: this is the "cdce" driver that was running! Personnaly, I don't mind the speed as I have a DSL link, however it was very stable (I have tried kernel modules urtwn, urndis and ipheth from FreeBSD deposit before, but stopped due to the complexity to upgrade).

My /conf/config.xml in 2.5.1 and previous releases was:

<earlyshellcmd>usbconfig -d `usbconfig list | grep "Thinkpad" | cut -c5-7` set_config 1</earlyshellcmd>

Jean-Francois.

jean-francois

@stephenw10
I forgot to answer the other questions:

in 2.5.2, the same config as the one reported doesn't work: the interface is active but no DHCP received (and no communication if I set a fixed IP address)
in 2.5.2, if I change the config to "set_config 0", then it also works for 1 or 2 days (same as removing the whole line in config.xml)

I know USB Ethernet is not the best solution, but my mini PC only hosts 1 NIC in my homelab.

Jean-Francois.

stephenw10

So it was using the generic cdce(4) driver in 2.5.1 but is now using ure(4) in 2.5.2?

How does it fail? Anything logged?

Steve

jean-francois

I can't see anything in system logs, but maybe I'm not looking at the right place. ifconfig indicates that the interface is down, but the activity links are still blinking. If my memory is good, with "set_config 0" there was a "disconnected" message on the console, but I'm not 100% sure (since I removed the config.xml line I can't see any message related to this NIC on the console).

The weirdest thing it that the link being active while the interface is down (GUI & ifconfig, and the console doesn't display any IP address assigned to the NIC). My wife and I were working from home with 2 VPNs and we only figured the Internet was not working when we tried to use our personnal PC. The existing TCP tunnels were working perfectly fine.

Please let me know if you want me to run special command lines for you the next time it happens (in 2 days probably sigh).

stephenw10

Grab a status_output file when it fails. Navigate to <firewall IP>/status.php , it's not linked from the GUI anyway. Then you can review that later.

However if open connections continued to p[ass traffic that doesn't sound like a NIC issue. More like state exhaustion or conflciting states maybe.

You could try adding to /boot/loader.conf.local:

hint.ure.0.disabled=1

That might just disable it completely rather than allow cdce to attach though.

Steve

jean-francois

I tried "hint.ure.0.disabled=1" but then ue0 interface was not available anymore... Do you mean I should use this loader.conf.local to disable the new driver, in which case I should revert config.xml with the previous <earlyshellcmd> to get the previous cdce driver?

If so, I'll give it a 2nd try next time it fails (I'm waiting to grab status_output before).