realtek-re-kmod missing in pfSense 2.6 repository?
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I am using board with embedded realtek NICs, when I try to install realtek-re-kmod driver as I did with 2.5.x version I get "no packages matching..."
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@w0w I have the same problem.
I upgrade to pfSense 2.6.0 yesterday and immediately WAN network problems started. After searching i found it is the driver of the RealTek onboard network interface. Upgrading the driver doesn't work anymore in pfSense 2.6.0.
How can we solve this?
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A fellow user also reports the package file for updating the ethernet Realtek adapter set does not seem to be present in PfSense version 2.6.0.
It was added as a feature to 2.5.0 per https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/11079
Was this an oversight for 2.6.0? Or...is the "updated" driver from https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/11079 now the default install driver? If so, why was that not mentioned in the 2.6.0 release notes?
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@gerard64
SSH or use Command Prompt in guifetch -v https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/realtek-re-kmod-196.04.txz pkg install -f -y realtek-re-kmod-196.04.txz
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@w0w Great, thank you!
I went back to version 2.5.2 because to many problems with the network Interfaces.
I will try again soon to upgrade to 2.6.0 and try your tip to install the RealTek driver. -
A system administrator posted info that the driver as part of 2.6.0 is more recent, but not AS recent as one Realtek made available to freebsd...as I asked a similar question (and referenced the information supplied by @w0w, thank you very much for the link!)
Based on the information below, when you use the updated drivers directly from freebsd.org, please let everyone know if you find they work well here on the forum.
From the post at https://forum.netgate.com/topic/169896/updated-realtek-nic-drivers-missing-in-pfsense-2-6-0/4?lang=en-US
@stephenw10 NETGATE ADMINISTRATOR
*The in kernel drivers in 2.6 are updated compared to the in kernel drivers in 2.5.2, they now support more devices.
Those are the FreeBSD drivers not Realtek's own driver which was relatively recently made available as a kmod pkg. That is not currently in the 2.6 repo because of build issues we hit.You can still import the module from FreeBSD directly as referenced though I have not personally tested that in 2.6.
Steve*
(also, thank you Steve for clarifying this info)
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@w0w I installed the driver in pfSense 2.5.2 then i upgrade to pfSense 2.6.0. Sadly the onboard RealTek Interface of the HP T730 is still not stable. Every several minutes i lose connection. In pfsense 2.5.2 it has no problems.
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@gerard64
Do you have those lines in your loader.conf file?if_re_load="YES" if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"
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@w0w Yes i have.
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@gerard64
Does kldstat command show module loaded?
Also my settings are tuned
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@w0w yes it is in the list.
Also the 4 hardware offloading options are checked like you have. -
@Gerard64 retest with "Enable the ALTQ support for hn NICs" Unchecked. For Network Interfaces, I've found these settings to be the most stable with the recent drivers.
However, I'm still on 2.5.2 but with the new drivers per @w0w on a Lenovo M90n, dual NIC system. Both are Realtek RTL8111K + RTL8111H. ALL traffic effectively goes through those two adapters, one WAN, one LAN with VLANs.
This weekend, I'll reformat the whole system and install 2.6.0 with zfs and the new drivers...and I'll let you know if it works.
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@rk0 Thank you.
I unchecked "hn ALTQ support" sadly that changed nothing still unstable WAN.I use a HP T730 system with a onboard RealTek nic as WAN. I added a broadcom quad port nic and configured a LAG on bge0 & bge1 with vlan trunk on top of that to my switch. Works really well or well till now this RealTek problem turned up.
I probably return to 2.5.2 tomorrow wen i wake up.
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@gerard64 Out of curiosity, what is your CPU and memory utilization (roughly) when the worst of the packet loss occured? I'm just wondering how "stressed" the firewall was when you started to have issues....(probably unrelated, but wondering)
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@rk0 The local side of my pfSense with 7 vlans over a 2 port LAG works very well, full 1gbit speed, no stuttering ever.
The CPU is normally, with 2.5.2, never higher then ~ 5% or so. Now with 2.6.0 CPU usage is higher sometimes as high as 45%. The RealTek is stuttering constantly very bad ping times.
It is a AMD RX-427BB CPU 4 cores 2.7ghz - 3.6ghz turbo with 8 GB ram memory. And a 32Gb SSD.
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Curious. I did a 2.5.2 > 2.6.xRC > 2.6.0 > 22.01 and never lost my loader.conf.local file nor the modules themselves. kldstat confirms loaded. Several high bandwidth tests completed with no dropouts over several weeks (well on the RCs anyway).
Everything seems stable enough to me. Much better than a while back before the if_re.ko was made an easy install.
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@gerard64
Do you mean you have all three first options checked already? -
I have four realtek NICs, two embedded and two external
re3@pci0:6:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x012310ec chip=0x816810ec rev=0x0c hdr=0x00 vendor = 'Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.' device = 'RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller' class = network subclass = ethernet bar [10] = type I/O Port, range 32, base 0xb000, size 256, enabled bar [18] = type Memory, range 64, base 0x81200000, size 4096, enabled bar [20] = type Prefetchable Memory, range 64, base 0xa0000000, size 16384, enabled cap 01[40] = powerspec 3 supports D0 D1 D2 D3 current D0 cap 05[50] = MSI supports 1 message, 64 bit cap 10[70] = PCI-Express 2 endpoint MSI 1 max data 128(128) RO max read 4096 link x1(x1) speed 2.5(2.5) ASPM disabled(L0s/L1) ClockPM disabled cap 11[b0] = MSI-X supports 4 messages, enabled Table in map 0x20[0x0], PBA in map 0x20[0x800] cap 03[d0] = VPD ecap 0001[100] = AER 1 0 fatal 0 non-fatal 0 corrected ecap 0002[140] = VC 1 max VC0 ecap 0003[160] = Serial 1 01000000684ce000 ecap 0018[170] = LTR 1
Currently I see no problem. I must check, did I tune anything else...
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@w0w All four were already checked in 2.5.2 so yes.
I unchecked the 4th for a short while to test but that didn't change anything so i am back to all four checked again.I upgraded twice to 2.6.0 to test all the above without success. At the moment i am back to 2.5.2 and the RealTek works 100% again.
If somebody has another idea i will try again to upgrade to 2.6.0 and test the RealTek.
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@gerard64
The driver you are using in 2.5.2 is the same? -
@w0w At the moment i have on 2.5.2 the driver installed as you advised for 2.6.0 which works. Without the installed RealTek driver the RealTek NIC works also. So in 2.5.2 it makes no difference with or without.
I don't know if the default RealTek driver of 2.5.2 is the same. I don't know how to check it. With what command?
I have little knowledge of Freebsd. I know some Linux CLI commands. In Freebsd some commands are different.
In 2.6.0 with or without the driver from your tip the RealTek NIC is very unstable.
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@gerard64
I think there is no need to check the driver version, if you have it installed and module is loaded... it works. The question remains what has changed.
IDK...
This is last thing I can offer to try in 2.6. Just copy-paste into loader.confhw.re.msi_disable=1 hw.re.msix_disable=1 hw.re.eee_enable=0 hw.re.phy_power_saving=0 hw.re.phy_mdix_mode=0
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@w0w Thank you!
I'l try this soon. "I am afraid my famlily is going to kill me" if i do it right now -
@gerard64, one of @w0w 's post prompted a thought (the commands he pasted, some have to do with power)...
What are the power settings you have in System > Advanced> Miscellaneous? With the high CPU utilization, you may want to play with it a bit. How does the system CPU respond if Enable PowerD is checked, and all choices are set to Hiadaptive? (assuming it is not set that way already....)
Also, I would still use the package install command(s) @w0w recommended, even if you stay on 2.5.2 for a while...it does seem to be nicely stable, and "better" than the "built in" drivers.
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Thank you for the updated instructions for the installation package.
This resolved my issue in 2.6.0 since I forgot to do it.
It reminded me to look at my "pfsense upgrade notes" text file, which had the drivers mentioned among other things I forgot to configure for my slow n3450 zotac with realtek nics.
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The RealTek onboard NIC works under 2.5.2, i am currently running, normally.
After I added the extra RealTek NIC commands in /boot/loader.com lsast night nothing changed.The wierd thing is: today, for the first time, port bge0 of the Broadcom PCIe quad NIC card went down.
Probably nothing to do with the RealTek NIC or the extra commands in /boot/loader.conf but to test it i removed the extra commands of @w0w i added yesterday.
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@gerard64
It could be just some hardware error, like memory or motherboard, cpu errors or whatever else. What about stress testing system overnight?
Don't remember is it installed by default in pfSense, but you can install stress package manuallypkg install -f -y stress
Also there is another one test called memtester
pkg install -f -y memtester
try just
stress --cpu 4 --vm-bytes 3G
Also it can be just some other driver glitch...
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@gerard64 I went ahead and did a total PfSense reload/reformat of my Lenovo ThinkCentre M90n IoT system.
Although it has only been a short while, everything is working well. CPU utilization seems the same or lower. No errors on any adapters after I updated the Realtek drivers per the procedure below.
First, I made sure the BIOS level of the system was at the most current release per the Lenovo support site at pcsupport.lenovo.com. The system BIOS settings were put into pure UEFI mode, CSM enabled, Secure Boot disabled. I also disabled wifi on the M90n (PfSense can't "understand" the built in wifi card, and I have AP's anyway), disabled the serial ports on the unit, and set it to return to last power state if the power goes out. The file system was installed "fresh"...the ZFS file system and PfSense version 2.6.0, since ZFS will be the default file system going forward.
It took the backup XML file restore settings from my 2.5.2 installation with no issues.
I used SSH to log in and open a command prompt as admin.
I then issued the commands to download the revised Realtek drivers from freebsd
fetch -v https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/realtek-re-kmod-196.04.txz pkg install -f -y realtek-re-kmod-196.04.txz
I then loaded nano...just because it is easier than vi
pkg install nano
I then created a /boot/loader.conf.local file with the entries
if_re_load="YES" if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"
...and then rebooted the system
Logged back in after the reboot, disabled ssh, and looked for errors....
There were none...the system is stable.
The M90n IoT model is built like a tank, overkill for PfSense with an i3 8th gen processor, and in my case, 4GB of RAM and two Realtek NIC's. (not all M90n models are dual NIC, so if anyone reading this post intends to use one for PfSense, make sure it is a dual NIC variant). CPU utilization is in the single digits, and RAM usage a bit heavy at roughly 50% since I have Wildcard Blocking (TLD) enabled with version 2.6.0.I don't know what is going on with your AMD RX-427BB system, but @w0w advice to stress test it may be a good idea....maybe it is having some issues....if the manufacturer offers some bootable diagnostics test, you may want to run it through that a few times. It also can't hurt to see if there are any revised firmware version(s) for BIOS, and for whatever SSD storage device you put in the system.
As of this post, I've had no issues with 2.6.0.
My thanks to @w0w, who provided the link for the freebsd package install of the more current realtek driver package.
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@gerard64 might as well experiment a bit... Assuming the new drivers installed correctly, what happens if you step up processor performance settings to the max? Still have lost packets?
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@rk0 How do i do that?
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@gerard64 said in realtek-re-kmod missing in pfSense 2.6 repository?:
I wanted to install the stress command as @w0w suggested (thank you for that btw) but don't have any luck with installing it.
Try
/usr/local/bin/stress --cpu 4 --vm-bytes 3G
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@w0w Oke that works
CPU is at 100%, temperature stable at 52°C.
Network works stable, full line speed.pfSense 2.5.2
With:
if_re_load="YES" if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"
Without:
hw.re.msi_disable=1 hw.re.msix_disable=1 hw.re.eee_enable=0 hw.re.phy_power_saving=0 hw.re.phy_mdix_mode=0
This runs now for 30 minutes and i keep it running for another hour then i have to leave the house. But it seems to be pretty stable for this short while.
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System has been running for a tad less than a full day right now with 2.6.0 and the newest Realtek drivers with zero packet errors, zero dropped packets. All looks good.
@gerard64 under System > Advanced> Miscellaneous you should see choices for power settings, which have an impact on the CPU. While you are at it, I'd spot check all your BIOS settings...while the following should not have an impact on a Realtek adapter and dropped packets, the "new" going forward settings for 2.6.0 should be having the BIOS in pure UEFI mode (not Auto), ZFS File system, Secure Boot disabled. I also decided to leave CSM enabled. Spot check your BIOS power management settings (separate from PFSense), and make sure they are set to allow you to utilize the full performance of your system. I'd just go through them all while you have the system down, see if there is anything else. I tend to turn off anything in BIOS that PfSense won't be using, just "because"...(example, PXE is off for the NIC adapters).
Set all the power settings...AC Power, Battery Power (even though your system is AC Powered), and Unknown Power to Maximum, and see how it does for a while. Also, my setting on the Thermal Sensors is because I have an Intel Processor...since yours is AMD, you should change that.
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@gerard64
You're welcome!
Found some BIOS update for your HP
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/rs7mn6/hp_t730_bios/Is it the one you have already installed? Some L43_0115.bin I think the file name is the BIOS version.
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@w0w W0w that is really nice of you to think of that. At the moment I have very little time my wife is in the hospital since yesterday so my time is very limited at the moment. I hope things are more calm again next week then i will pick this back up and check it out and let you know.
I am really thankful for all your help -
@rk0 Thank you a lot for all the information. I disabled all the com ports and parallel port. I also disabled WOL and PXE. But with PXE disabled pfSense hangs after 5 minutes. Now i enabled the PXE rom and seems pfSense doesn't hang anymore.
The IO ports and WOL were already disabled by me before. Now i tried to disable the PXE port as well but no luck with that one.
I have pfSense installed on UFS and BIOS not EUFI.
Wen i upgrade to pfsense 2.6.0 its is still on UFS in legacy biosShould i install pfsense 2.6.0 and recover from a saved config?
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@gerard64 If you look at the 2.6.0 version upgrade, it says ZFS will be the default file system for PfSense going forward...and is also supposedly more forgiving if there is a sudden power outage. So, I figured change it now with the upgrade.
Weird that disabling PXE killed the adapters....and extra weird that it takes 5 min to hang...there are deeper problems with your system....
From https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/releases/22-01_2-6-0.html
*ZFS is now the default filesystem for new installations of pfSense Plus and pfSense CE software on all platforms which support booting from ZFS.
It is not possible to change from UFS to ZFS in place, a reinstallation of pfSense Plus or CE is required to migrate from UFS use ZFS.
The ZFS pool name and datasets have also been updated and optimized. Users who were already using ZFS may want to reinstall as well to ensure they have the most optimal disk layout.
pfSense Plus software has a new ZFS dashboard widget to track the status of disks using ZFS.
Log Compression for rotation of System Logs is now disabled by default for new ZFS installations as ZFS performs its own compression.*
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@w0w i upgrade the bios from L43 1.00 (2015) to L43 1.15 (2019).
Tomorrow i am planning to try another upgrade to pfSense 2.6.0 with the help of the tips from @RK0 I will clean install and after that i'l use a saved config to recover my old configuration. Hopefully things work better from there. I'l let you guys know of course.
Thank you both a lot!