pfSense User VPN Super Slow
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I have 13 users setup on my pfSense for remote connection when needed. When 1 user connected, the data transfer rate from the remote site to the laptop is extremely slow. Is there anything I can do to speed this up?
We have found this out by trying to open a file in quickbooks remotely and it takes about 15-20 min before it errors out. Locally the files open just fine.
We connect to the pfsense and then have a mapped drive on the laptop -
Only for one particular user? Does it change if that connect from somewhere else?
How slow exactly is it?
What is the available Up/Down bandwidth at the server site?
I assume this is OpenVPN?
Steve
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@stephenw10
He has never tried to connect at a different site. Just from his home. The site with the server has a 200x10 connection. It may take about 25 min to open a quickbooks compnay file. It is a user added to the pfsense directly not through AD. I assume pfsense used openvpn by default for user connections.
It may be an issue on his side but I am just trying to rule my side out. -
Ok so if they are pulling the file across the tunnel the fastest they will ever see is 10Mbps. That assume there is no other upload traffic. As long as their local download rate is higher that should not be restricting it.
You are using OpenVPN?
What size is the file though? Just what rate are they seeing?
If this is just one user seeing an issue and the others are all fine it's almost certainly a client side problem.
They should try connecting from somewhere else to confirm if it's their client itself or their local connection.Steve
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The issue you are having CANNOT be fixed without upgrading both the Server and Client side Internet to a minimum of 100 x 100. Your upload speed needs to be just as fast as your download speed at both locations. This is the nature of QuickBooks and not a problem with your VPN.
Intuit has something called the QuickBooks Database Manager that runs on the Server hosting QuickBooks. However, don’t confuse the “QuickBooks Database Manager “ with something like SQL. The QuickBooks database may as well be a “flat” file. This means every time you access QuickBooks from a workstation it is taking all of the QuickBooks files on the Server and passing them over the network to the workstation. There are four QuickBooks files that are involved with one company file. They are the QBW, DSN, ND, and TLG files. Combine the total size of all those files and that is what has to pass across the VPN. Obviously, things probably work well within your LAN because you most likely have a Gigabit switch which is 1000 x 1000.
There is NO WAY you can make this usable for an end user without very fast bandwidth, in both directions, at both sites.
An alternative would be to setup another workstation at your office (a VM perhaps). Install QuickBooks on that workstation and have the user log in via Windows RDP to that workstation across the VPN. OR, if QuickBooks Online is a viable option you could migrate to it and pay the monthly fee.
Unfortunately, I know a ton about setting up QuickBooks and it’s something I’m not proud of. There is a saying in IT about QuickBooks. It goes….”I don’t know why they call it QuickBooks, cause there is nothing quick about it.”...at least from an IT standpoint.
