Pfsense not responding to large packet pings

[JKnott]

@gertjan said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

Windows - the ping command, doesn't allow me to use values above "65500"

That's because 65K is the maximum packet size. So, that would be 65536 less overhead.

[JKnott]

@stephenw10

Well, that is the maximum allowed for IP.

[GemeenAapje]

Good morning guys.
I'm so sorry for sending you all down the rabbit hole :-D

Well I tried some things in the weekend too...
-Upgraded to 2.5.2
-Tried unchecking the "disable hardware offload" options.
-Disabled suricata and pfBlockerNG
-Pinging various other devices in different directions

Basically, nothing helps. It's only pfSense I have a problem with. All other devices can ping 65500 in any direction with almost zero latency.

It's connected with 2 glass fibre cables (sorry I stated this wrong before).
1 glass fibre from the ISP and the other glass fibre going to a 10gb/s switch.

Even just trying to send a large ping packet to the directly-connected switch, over fibre, is impossible. Works up to about 20,000 which give a (broken) response in about 1.8 seconds (not milliseconds!). Above 20k it just fails.

I can ping the pfsense from itself using it's own IP, which is successful (doesn't go out over the network I suppose).

I'm running all good hardware. The NIC is connected via direct passthrough from the VM Host to the pfSense box so the VM has complete control of it.

Something just isn't right though.

I'm not using Jumbo packets by the way, just 1500. I expect the switch the just fragment any large packets.

Anyone got anymore ideas?

Thanks
Matt

PS: anyone know how to reload the Menu after using the shell in pfsense?

[Gertjan]

@gemeenaapje

Your pfSense runs from a VM ?
So, for you the 'how many bytes per packet' is hard coded in the NIC device driver. And the VM "virtual" NIC driver.
The smallest wins, of course.

My pfSense, 2.5.2 CE, a bare bone install, using a quad Intel NIC card, works fine.

@gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

I can ping the pfsense from itself using it's own IP

Aha : the local - for pfSense - NIC driver is used, the transport stays purely 'in software' to physical or VM rules don't apply. Again : go bare bone and you have your 'close to "65535"'.

@gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

PS: anyone know how to reload the Menu after using the shell in pfsense?

Console ? SSH ?

This menu :

0) Logout (SSH only)                  9) pfTop
1) Assign Interfaces                 10) Filter Logs
2) Set interface(s) IP address       11) Restart webConfigurator
3) Reset webConfigurator password    12) PHP shell + pfSense tools
4) Reset to factory defaults         13) Update from console
5) Reboot system                     14) Disable Secure Shell (sshd)
6) Halt system                       15) Restore recent configuration
7) Ping host                         16) Restart PHP-FPM
8) Shell

?

Press Enter an it shows up.

When you entered the 8 or Shell option just type "exit" + enter.

[stephenw10]

I'd still love to know why you're trying to send such huge packets. I've never seen anyone attempt that. Though I agree, I expect it to work.
Try looking at netstat -s. Do you see fragments dropped?

[22.01-DEVELOPMENT][root@6100.stevew.lan]/root: netstat -sp ip
ip:
        1139040 total packets received
        0 bad header checksums
        0 with size smaller than minimum
        0 with data size < data length
        0 with ip length > max ip packet size
        0 with header length < data size
        0 with data length < header length
        0 with bad options
        0 with incorrect version number
        0 fragments received
        0 fragments dropped (dup or out of space)
        0 fragments dropped after timeout
        0 packets reassembled ok
        1135659 packets for this host
        3070 packets for unknown/unsupported protocol
        0 packets forwarded (0 packets fast forwarded)
        10 packets not forwardable
        0 packets received for unknown multicast group
        0 redirects sent
        1181042 packets sent from this host
        4 packets sent with fabricated ip header
        0 output packets dropped due to no bufs, etc.
        15 output packets discarded due to no route
        0 output datagrams fragmented
        0 fragments created
        0 datagrams that can't be fragmented
        0 tunneling packets that can't find gif
        0 datagrams with bad address in header

Steve

[GemeenAapje]

Morning guys. Thanks again for the replies.

I am not using the VM NIC or drivers for them. I'm using the Linux drivers for the real card (see link above to information and specs).

I see 0 fragments dropped when I check using that command.

tcp:
	83035 packets sent
		36238 data packets (41227594 bytes)
		582 data packets (243226 bytes) retransmitted
		6 data packets unnecessarily retransmitted
		0 resends initiated by MTU discovery
		38414 ack-only packets (0 delayed)
		0 URG only packets
		0 window probe packets
		3 window update packets
		7969 control packets
	74803 packets received
		32446 acks (for 41228656 bytes)
		600 duplicate acks
		0 acks for unsent data
		29375 packets (14627752 bytes) received in-sequence
		26 completely duplicate packets (2050 bytes)
		0 old duplicate packets
		0 packets with some dup. data (0 bytes duped)
		11 out-of-order packets (5806 bytes)
		0 packets (0 bytes) of data after window
		0 window probes
		10 window update packets
		11 packets received after close
		304 discarded for bad checksums
		0 discarded for bad header offset fields
		0 discarded because packet too short
		0 discarded due to full reassembly queue
	550 connection requests
	6711 connection accepts
	0 bad connection attempts
	0 listen queue overflows
	83 ignored RSTs in the windows
	7261 connections established (including accepts)
		4975 times used RTT from hostcache
		4975 times used RTT variance from hostcache
		247 times used slow-start threshold from hostcache
	7452 connections closed (including 466 drops)
		4703 connections updated cached RTT on close
		4703 connections updated cached RTT variance on close
		30 connections updated cached ssthresh on close
	0 embryonic connections dropped
	29794 segments updated rtt (of 15066 attempts)
	2225 retransmit timeouts
		179 connections dropped by rexmit timeout
	0 persist timeouts
		0 connections dropped by persist timeout
	0 Connections (fin_wait_2) dropped because of timeout
	0 keepalive timeouts
		0 keepalive probes sent
		0 connections dropped by keepalive
	1855 correct ACK header predictions
	22033 correct data packet header predictions
	6712 syncache entries added
		19 retransmitted
		32 dupsyn
		0 dropped
		6711 completed
		0 bucket overflow
		0 cache overflow
		1 reset
		0 stale
		0 aborted
		0 badack
		0 unreach
		0 zone failures
	6712 cookies sent
	0 cookies received
	116 hostcache entries added
		0 bucket overflow
	29 SACK recovery episodes
	59 segment rexmits in SACK recovery episodes
	84944 byte rexmits in SACK recovery episodes
	563 SACK options (SACK blocks) received
	125 SACK options (SACK blocks) sent
	0 SACK scoreboard overflow
	0 packets with ECN CE bit set
	0 packets with ECN ECT(0) bit set
	0 packets with ECN ECT(1) bit set
	0 successful ECN handshakes
	0 times ECN reduced the congestion window
	0 packets with matching signature received
	0 packets with bad signature received
	0 times failed to make signature due to no SA
	0 times unexpected signature received
	0 times no signature provided by segment
	0 Path MTU discovery black hole detection activations
	0 Path MTU discovery black hole detection min MSS activations
	0 Path MTU discovery black hole detection failures
TCP connection count by state:
	0 connections in CLOSED state
	6 connections in LISTEN state
	0 connections in SYN_SENT state
	0 connections in SYN_RCVD state
	1 connection  in ESTABLISHED state
	0 connections in CLOSE_WAIT state
	0 connections in FIN_WAIT_1 state
	0 connections in CLOSING state
	3 connections in LAST_ACK state
	0 connections in FIN_WAIT_2 state
	3 connections in TIME_WAIT state
udp:
	783358 datagrams received
	0 with incomplete header
	0 with bad data length field
	0 with bad checksum
	12958 with no checksum
	464 dropped due to no socket
	560538 broadcast/multicast datagrams undelivered
	0 dropped due to full socket buffers
	0 not for hashed pcb
	222356 delivered
	1574821 datagrams output
	0 times multicast source filter matched
sctp:
	0 input packets
		0 datagrams
		0 packets that had data
		0 input SACK chunks
		0 input DATA chunks
		0 duplicate DATA chunks
		0 input HB chunks
		0 HB-ACK chunks
		0 input ECNE chunks
		0 input AUTH chunks
		0 chunks missing AUTH
		0 invalid HMAC ids received
		0 invalid secret ids received
		0 auth failed
		0 fast path receives all one chunk
		0 fast path multi-part data
	0 output packets
		0 output SACKs
		0 output DATA chunks
		0 retransmitted DATA chunks
		0 fast retransmitted DATA chunks
		0 FR's that happened more than once to same chunk
		0 output HB chunks
		0 output ECNE chunks
		0 output AUTH chunks
		0 ip_output error counter
	Packet drop statistics:
		0 from middle box
		0 from end host
		0 with data
		0 non-data, non-endhost
		0 non-endhost, bandwidth rep only
		0 not enough for chunk header
		0 not enough data to confirm
		0 where process_chunk_drop said break
		0 failed to find TSN
		0 attempt reverse TSN lookup
		0 e-host confirms zero-rwnd
		0 midbox confirms no space
		0 data did not match TSN
		0 TSN's marked for Fast Retran
	Timeouts:
		0 iterator timers fired
		0 T3 data time outs
		0 window probe (T3) timers fired
		0 INIT timers fired
		0 sack timers fired
		0 shutdown timers fired
		0 heartbeat timers fired
		0 a cookie timeout fired
		0 an endpoint changed its cookiesecret
		0 PMTU timers fired
		0 shutdown ack timers fired
		0 shutdown guard timers fired
		0 stream reset timers fired
		0 early FR timers fired
		0 an asconf timer fired
		0 auto close timer fired
		0 asoc free timers expired
		0 inp free timers expired
	0 packet shorter than header
	0 checksum error
	0 no endpoint for port
	0 bad v-tag
	0 bad SID
	0 no memory
	0 number of multiple FR in a RTT window
	0 RFC813 allowed sending
	0 RFC813 does not allow sending
	0 times max burst prohibited sending
	0 look ahead tells us no memory in interface
	0 numbers of window probes sent
	0 times an output error to clamp down on next user send
	0 times sctp_senderrors were caused from a user
	0 number of in data drops due to chunk limit reached
	0 number of in data drops due to rwnd limit reached
	0 times a ECN reduced the cwnd
	0 used express lookup via vtag
	0 collision in express lookup
	0 times the sender ran dry of user data on primary
	0 same for above
	0 sacks the slow way
	0 window update only sacks sent
	0 sends with sinfo_flags !=0
	0 unordered sends
	0 sends with EOF flag set
	0 sends with ABORT flag set
	0 times protocol drain called
	0 times we did a protocol drain
	0 times recv was called with peek
	0 cached chunks used
	0 cached stream oq's used
	0 unread messages abandonded by close
	0 send burst avoidance, already max burst inflight to net
	0 send cwnd full avoidance, already max burst inflight to net
	0 number of map array over-runs via fwd-tsn's
ip:
	87076069 total packets received
	0 bad header checksums
	0 with size smaller than minimum
	1 with data size < data length
	0 with ip length > max ip packet size
	0 with header length < data size
	0 with data length < header length
	0 with bad options
	0 with incorrect version number
	70 fragments received
	0 fragments dropped (dup or out of space)
	0 fragments dropped after timeout
	23 packets reassembled ok
	844447 packets for this host
	0 packets for unknown/unsupported protocol
	48034746 packets forwarded (12779678 packets fast forwarded)
	2157 packets not forwardable
	0 packets received for unknown multicast group
	0 redirects sent
	983998 packets sent from this host
	0 packets sent with fabricated ip header
	0 output packets dropped due to no bufs, etc.
	0 output packets discarded due to no route
	810 output datagrams fragmented
	2826 fragments created
	0 datagrams that can't be fragmented
	0 tunneling packets that can't find gif
	0 datagrams with bad address in header
icmp:
	6483 calls to icmp_error
	0 errors not generated in response to an icmp message
	Output histogram:
		echo reply: 3139
		destination unreachable: 6464
		time exceeded: 19
	0 messages with bad code fields
	0 messages less than the minimum length
	0 messages with bad checksum
	0 messages with bad length
	0 multicast echo requests ignored
	0 multicast timestamp requests ignored
	Input histogram:
		echo reply: 82
		destination unreachable: 63
		echo: 3139
		time exceeded: 51
	3139 message responses generated
	0 invalid return addresses
	0 no return routes
	ICMP address mask responses are disabled
igmp:
	0 messages received
	0 messages received with too few bytes
	0 messages received with wrong TTL
	0 messages received with bad checksum
	0 V1/V2 membership queries received
	0 V3 membership queries received
	0 membership queries received with invalid field(s)
	0 general queries received
	0 group queries received
	0 group-source queries received
	0 group-source queries dropped
	0 membership reports received
	0 membership reports received with invalid field(s)
	0 membership reports received for groups to which we belong
	0 V3 reports received without Router Alert
	2 membership reports sent
ipsec:
	0 inbound packets violated process security policy
	0 inbound packets failed due to insufficient memory
	0 invalid inbound packets
	0 outbound packets violated process security policy
	0 outbound packets with no SA available
	0 outbound packets failed due to insufficient memory
	0 outbound packets with no route available
	0 invalid outbound packets
	0 outbound packets with bundled SAs
	0 spd cache hits
	0 spd cache misses
	0 clusters copied during clone
	0 mbufs inserted during makespace
ah:
	0 packets shorter than header shows
	0 packets dropped; protocol family not supported
	0 packets dropped; no TDB
	0 packets dropped; bad KCR
	0 packets dropped; queue full
	0 packets dropped; no transform
	0 replay counter wraps
	0 packets dropped; bad authentication detected
	0 packets dropped; bad authentication length
	0 possible replay packets detected
	0 packets in
	0 packets out
	0 packets dropped; invalid TDB
	0 bytes in
	0 bytes out
	0 packets dropped; larger than IP_MAXPACKET
	0 packets blocked due to policy
	0 crypto processing failures
	0 tunnel sanity check failures
esp:
	0 packets shorter than header shows
	0 packets dropped; protocol family not supported
	0 packets dropped; no TDB
	0 packets dropped; bad KCR
	0 packets dropped; queue full
	0 packets dropped; no transform
	0 packets dropped; bad ilen
	0 replay counter wraps
	0 packets dropped; bad encryption detected
	0 packets dropped; bad authentication detected
	0 possible replay packets detected
	0 packets in
	0 packets out
	0 packets dropped; invalid TDB
	0 bytes in
	0 bytes out
	0 packets dropped; larger than IP_MAXPACKET
	0 packets blocked due to policy
	0 crypto processing failures
	0 tunnel sanity check failures
ipcomp:
	0 packets shorter than header shows
	0 packets dropped; protocol family not supported
	0 packets dropped; no TDB
	0 packets dropped; bad KCR
	0 packets dropped; queue full
	0 packets dropped; no transform
	0 replay counter wraps
	0 packets in
	0 packets out
	0 packets dropped; invalid TDB
	0 bytes in
	0 bytes out
	0 packets dropped; larger than IP_MAXPACKET
	0 packets blocked due to policy
	0 crypto processing failures
	0 packets sent uncompressed; size < compr. algo. threshold
	0 packets sent uncompressed; compression was useless
pim:
	0 messages received
	0 bytes received
	0 messages received with too few bytes
	0 messages received with bad checksum
	0 messages received with bad version
	0 data register messages received
	0 data register bytes received
	0 data register messages received on wrong iif
	0 bad registers received
	0 data register messages sent
	0 data register bytes sent
carp:
	0 packets received (IPv4)
	0 packets received (IPv6)
		0 packets discarded for wrong TTL
		0 packets shorter than header
		0 discarded for bad checksums
		0 discarded packets with a bad version
		0 discarded because packet too short
		0 discarded for bad authentication
		0 discarded for bad vhid
		0 discarded because of a bad address list
	0 packets sent (IPv4)
	0 packets sent (IPv6)
		0 send failed due to mbuf memory error
pfsync:
	0 packets received (IPv4)
	0 packets received (IPv6)
		0 clear all requests received
		0 state inserts received
		0 state inserted acks received
		0 state updates received
		0 compressed state updates received
		0 uncompressed state requests received
		0 state deletes received
		0 compressed state deletes received
		0 fragment inserts received
		0 fragment deletes received
		0 bulk update marks received
		0 TDB replay counter updates received
		0 end of frame marks received
		/0 packets discarded for bad interface
		0 packets discarded for bad ttl
		0 packets shorter than header
		0 packets discarded for bad version
		0 packets discarded for bad HMAC
		0 packets discarded for bad action
		0 packets discarded for short packet
		0 states discarded for bad values
		0 stale states
		0 failed state lookup/inserts
	0 packets sent (IPv4)
	0 packets sent (IPv6)
		0 clear all requests sent
		0 state inserts sent
		0 state inserted acks sent
		0 state updates sent
		0 compressed state updates sent
		0 uncompressed state requests sent
		0 state deletes sent
		0 compressed state deletes sent
		0 fragment inserts sent
		0 fragment deletes sent
		0 bulk update marks sent
		0 TDB replay counter updates sent
		0 end of frame marks sent
		0 failures due to mbuf memory error
		0 send errors
arp:
	2989 ARP requests sent
	47409 ARP replies sent
	203553 ARP requests received
	1558 ARP replies received
	205111 ARP packets received
	2481 total packets dropped due to no ARP entry
	1229 ARP entrys timed out
	0 Duplicate IPs seen
ip6:
	23482557 total packets received
	0 with size smaller than minimum
	0 with data size < data length
	0 with bad options
	0 with incorrect version number
	0 fragments received
	0 fragments dropped (dup or out of space)
	0 fragments dropped after timeout
	0 fragments that exceeded limit
	0 atomic fragments
	0 packets reassembled ok
	160041 packets for this host
	17515875 packets forwarded
	0 packets not forwardable
	959 redirects sent
	866221 packets sent from this host
	0 packets sent with fabricated ip header
	0 output packets dropped due to no bufs, etc.
	0 output packets discarded due to no route
	0 output datagrams fragmented
	959 fragments created
	0 datagrams that can't be fragmented
	0 packets that violated scope rules
	108127 multicast packets which we don't join
	Input histogram:
		hop by hop: 13610
		TCP: 14062747
		UDP: 9169861
		fragment: 959
		ESP: 36
		ICMP6: 235344
	Mbuf statistics:
		480 one mbuf
		two or more mbuf:
			lo0= 27250
		23454827 one ext mbuf
		0 two or more ext mbuf
	0 packets whose headers are not contiguous
	0 tunneling packets that can't find gif
	0 packets discarded because of too many headers
	282 failures of source address selection
	source addresses on an outgoing I/F
		273468 link-locals
		559008 globals
	source addresses on a non-outgoing I/F
		3431 globals
		282 addresses scope=0xf
	source addresses of same scope
		273468 link-locals
		318195 globals
	source addresses of a different scope
		244244 globals
	Source addresses selection rule applied:
		835907 first candidate
		282 same address
		562439 appropriate scope
icmp6:
	955 calls to icmp6_error
	0 errors not generated in response to an icmp6 message
	0 errors not generated because of rate limitation
	Output histogram:
		unreach: 951
		time exceed: 4
		echo reply: 5
		router solicitation: 2
		router advertisement: 27400
		neighbor solicitation: 64021
		neighbor advertisement: 29642
		MLDv2 listener report: 16
	0 messages with bad code fields
	0 messages < minimum length
	0 bad checksums
	0 messages with bad length
	Input histogram:
		unreach: 1
		echo: 5
		router solicitation: 2339
		router advertisement: 32621
		neighbor solicitation: 29642
		neighbor advertisement: 60940
	Histogram of error messages to be generated:
		0 no route
		0 administratively prohibited
		0 beyond scope
		941 address unreachable
		10 port unreachable
		0 packet too big
		4 time exceed transit
		0 time exceed reassembly
		0 erroneous header field
		0 unrecognized next header
		0 unrecognized option
		959 redirect
		0 unknown
	5 message responses generated
	0 messages with too many ND options
	0 messages with bad ND options
	0 bad neighbor solicitation messages
	0 bad neighbor advertisement messages
	0 bad router solicitation messages
	0 bad router advertisement messages
	0 bad redirect messages
	0 path MTU changes
ipsec6:
	0 inbound packets violated process security policy
	0 inbound packets failed due to insufficient memory
	0 invalid inbound packets
	0 outbound packets violated process security policy
	0 outbound packets with no SA available
	0 outbound packets failed due to insufficient memory
	0 outbound packets with no route available
	0 invalid outbound packets
	0 outbound packets with bundled SAs
	0 spd cache hits
	0 spd cache misses
	0 clusters copied during clone
	0 mbufs inserted during makespace
rip6:
	0 messages received
	0 checksum calculations on inbound
	0 messages with bad checksum
	0 messages dropped due to no socket
	0 multicast messages dropped due to no socket
	0 messages dropped due to full socket buffers
	0 delivered
	0 datagrams output

Maybe it's a bad driver?
Not sure if the driver is loaded in VM Esxi or in pfSense now. I can't remember and I also don't know many linux commands. I think it might have been loaded in VM and the esxi passes the device through to the VM.

[bingo600]

@gemeenaapje
Do you avoid the "Why do you need 65K packets" question intentionally

/Bingo

[GemeenAapje]

@bingo600 Oh sorry, not at all. Thought I had already mentioned.
It's an old software system which streams medical images and videos.
All I know is that the system has problems when large packets don't get through to the destination in a stable manner.

So while investigating it, I just wanted to understand better myself. Hence I started playing with my own network at home and found I have similar problems with the pfsense box. Might also explain why I get regular network warnings when playing computer games too.

Finding a solution for my work isn't a big issue - I just tell the hospital involved to look into it as we're not respnsible for their network.

But for my home network I'd love to figure it out and learn in the process

[johnpoz]

@gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

Might also explain why I get regular network warnings when playing computer games too.

Your game is not putting 65k sized data on the wire..

Also for work - what sized is this old stuff putting on the wire... I have a really hard time believing its 65k either..

[NogBadTheBad]

@gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

fibre from the ISP and the other glass fibre going to a 10gb/s switch.

Are we all the interfaces ethernet ?

I only ask as many years ago we had a mix of FDDI & 100baseT in the same Chipcom chassis, FDDI had a frame size of 4.5k bytes and as a result every FDDI client we had to drop the frame size

[JKnott]

@johnpoz said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

I have a really hard time believing its 65k either..

Yep, even with jumbo frames, you're not likely to see that. The most I've seen that a switch can handle is 16K and typical use is 9K.

[JKnott]

@nogbadthebad

IIRC, we had 4K frames on token ring, when I was at IBM.

[stephenw10]

@gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

70 fragments received

That doesn't look like enough...

What are the NICs you are passing though? How do they appear in pfSense in pciconf -lv for example?
I could definitely believe this is some NIC hardware offloading or driver issue.

The frame size us not really relevant here. I would expect to be able to pass a 65K packet in fragments over a link of any MTU size (within reason!). As long is it's correctly fragmented and assembled, which seems to be failing here.

Steve

[johnpoz]

@stephenw10 said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

The frame size us not really relevant he

Very true..

[GemeenAapje]

@stephenw10 Hi Steve.
Here's the results of that command....

hostb0@pci0:0:0:0:	class=0x060000 card=0x197615ad chip=0x71908086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
pcib1@pci0:0:1:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71918086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:0:7:0:	class=0x060100 card=0x197615ad chip=0x71108086 rev=0x08 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:0:7:1:	class=0x01018a card=0x197615ad chip=0x71118086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = ATA
intsmb0@pci0:0:7:3:	class=0x068000 card=0x197615ad chip=0x71138086 rev=0x08 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI'
    class      = bridge
none0@pci0:0:7:7:	class=0x088000 card=0x074015ad chip=0x074015ad rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'Virtual Machine Communication Interface'
    class      = base peripheral
vgapci0@pci0:0:15:0:	class=0x030000 card=0x040515ad chip=0x040515ad rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'SVGA II Adapter'
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA
mpt0@pci0:0:16:0:	class=0x010000 card=0x197615ad chip=0x00301000 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Broadcom / LSI'
    device     = '53c1030 PCI-X Fusion-MPT Dual Ultra320 SCSI'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = SCSI
pcib2@pci0:0:17:0:	class=0x060401 card=0x079015ad chip=0x079015ad rev=0x02 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib3@pci0:0:21:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib4@pci0:0:21:1:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib5@pci0:0:21:2:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib6@pci0:0:21:3:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib7@pci0:0:21:4:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib8@pci0:0:21:5:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib9@pci0:0:21:6:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib10@pci0:0:21:7:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib11@pci0:0:22:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib12@pci0:0:22:1:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib13@pci0:0:22:2:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib14@pci0:0:22:3:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib15@pci0:0:22:4:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib16@pci0:0:22:5:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib17@pci0:0:22:6:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib18@pci0:0:22:7:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib19@pci0:0:23:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib20@pci0:0:23:1:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib21@pci0:0:23:2:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib22@pci0:0:23:3:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib23@pci0:0:23:4:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib24@pci0:0:23:5:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib25@pci0:0:23:6:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib26@pci0:0:23:7:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib27@pci0:0:24:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib28@pci0:0:24:1:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib29@pci0:0:24:2:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib30@pci0:0:24:3:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib31@pci0:0:24:4:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib32@pci0:0:24:5:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib33@pci0:0:24:6:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib34@pci0:0:24:7:	class=0x060400 card=0x07a015ad chip=0x07a015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
uhci0@pci0:2:0:0:	class=0x0c0300 card=0x197615ad chip=0x077415ad rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'USB1.1 UHCI Controller'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ehci0@pci0:2:3:0:	class=0x0c0320 card=0x077015ad chip=0x077015ad rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'USB2 EHCI Controller'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
vmx0@pci0:3:0:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x07b015ad chip=0x07b015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
vmx1@pci0:11:0:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x07b015ad chip=0x07b015ad rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'VMware'
    device     = 'VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
bxe0@pci0:19:0:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x3382103c chip=0x168e14e4 rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries'
    device     = 'NetXtreme II BCM57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
bxe1@pci0:19:0:1:	class=0x020000 card=0x3382103c chip=0x168e14e4 rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries'
    device     = 'NetXtreme II BCM57810 10 Gigabit Ethernet'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

Sorry I was mistaken also in that the VM NICs are connected in the guest. As backups I think, it's been so long since I set them up I forget.
For the HP SFP+ NIC, one connects the server to the main switch (fibre). The other connects straight in from my fibre ISP

[stephenw10]

Do you see the same thing if you use the vmx interfaces instead or is it just on the bxe NICs?

Do you have all the hardware off-loading disabled?

[GemeenAapje]

@stephenw10 said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

Do you see the same thing if you use the vmx interfaces instead or is it just on the bxe NICs?

Do you have all the hardware off-loading disabled?

I tried disabling the "disable" button (so enabling offload) one by one but that didn't help. So I disabled offloading again.

The router is being used for a web server I run at home so I can't risk changing the settings and swapping NICs or my customers will get upset. Also took me so long just to get this working with all the vlans tags and stuff coming from the ISP.

Is there anything else I could test?

[Gertjan]

@gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

Is there anything else I could test?

Yeah ;)
Change the title of the thread, as it is pretty clear by know that "big packets" is a hardware/driver issue.
Plenty of proof shown above that pfSense itself can go to 65xxx.

@gemeenaapje said in Pfsense not responding to large packet pings:

Also took me so long ....

Well, let's say you're nothing finished yet.
Go bare bone with pfsense, exclude the VM from the configuration and you're ok.
The VM support might be able to tell you if very big packets are possible..

[GemeenAapje]

@gertjan Can't change title, too much time has passed it says.

Other VMs respond fine to 65500 over the network. It's just pfsense which is using the direct passthrough of the additional NIC card.

It must be the drivers then, I just don't know where to start with it :-/ Linux is so difficult.

Having the VM gives me a huge advantage over bare bone in that I can, if necessary, quickly roll back broken upgrades or changes. I've done this many times and it reduces downtime for my business.

[GemeenAapje]

Ok something just came back to me!

I'm using the drivers on the pfsense box, not the VM. So the pfsense OS controls the drivers.

The commands for the drivers are here:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bxe&sektion=4

I see settings there for offloading too.

Is it necessary for me to change some of these settings or should the normal web config page for pfsense control these too?

Here's a dump of some settings:

hw.bxe.udp_rss: 0

hw.bxe.autogreeen: 0

hw.bxe.mrrs: -1

hw.bxe.max_aggregation_size: 32768

hw.bxe.rx_budget: -1

hw.bxe.hc_tx_ticks: 50

hw.bxe.hc_rx_ticks: 25

hw.bxe.max_rx_bufs: 4080

hw.bxe.queue_count: 4

hw.bxe.interrupt_mode: 2

hw.bxe.debug: 0



dev.bxe.1.queue.3.nsegs_path2_errors: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.nsegs_path1_errors: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.tx_mq_not_empty: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.bd_avail_too_less_failures: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.tx_request_link_down_failures: 1

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.bxe_tx_mq_sc_state_failures: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.tx_queue_full_return: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_alloc_tpa: 64

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_alloc_sge: 1020

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_alloc_rx: 4080

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_alloc_tx: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_rx_sge_mapping_failed: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_rx_sge_alloc_failed: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_rx_tpa_mapping_failed: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_rx_tpa_alloc_failed: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_rx_bd_mapping_failed: 0

dev.bxe.1.queue.3.mbuf_rx_bd_alloc_failed: 0

dev.bxe.1.que