Netgate 6100 <full-duplex,rxpause,txpause>

bwhaley

Installed a new 6100 this evening and once all was connected and configured, I noticed that the WAN interface (ix3) showed 1000BaseT<full-duplex,rxpause,txpause> where as the remaining three interfaces (igc0-2) all show 1000BaseT<full-duplex>. The ix3 interface is a direct connection to my SB8200 Cable Modem.

Things appear to be working, but I did not see this on my SG-5100 and was curious if I missed a setting or something.

Thanks!

keyser

@bwhaley said in Netgate 6100 <full-duplex,rxpause,txpause>:

Installed a new 6100 this evening and once all was connected and configured, I noticed that the WAN interface (ix3) showed 1000BaseT<full-duplex,rxpause,txpause> where as the remaining three interfaces (igc0-2) all show 1000BaseT<full-duplex>. The ix3 interface is a direct connection to my SB8200 Cable Modem.

Things appear to be working, but I did not see this on my SG-5100 and was curious if I missed a setting or something.

Thanks!

I believe that means flowcontrol is enabled on the interface.
It is enabled on all the ix interfaces in the 6100 by default. I don’t know about the igc interfaces, but from your report it would seem it’s not enabled on them.

bwhaley

@keyser Thanks for the reply. Do you know if there are any impacts by leaving it enabled on the interface when I don't believe it is configurable in the port on the cable modem? Wondering if it is best to leave it on or disable it.

Thanks!

keyser

@bwhaley said in Netgate 6100 <full-duplex,rxpause,txpause>:

@keyser Thanks for the reply. Do you know if there are any impacts by leaving it enabled on the interface when I don't believe it is configurable in the port on the cable modem? Wondering if it is best to leave it on or disable it.

Thanks!

To my understanding there should be no impacts.
Flowcontrol only has effect if it is end-to-end respected and enabled.
Otherwise frames will be dropped in high pressure situations - like they will if flowcontrol is completely disabled on all devices.

stephenw10

Yeah, I would expect it to be fine. When the link is set to autonegotiate it will negotiate the flow control with the other and and enable it if it supports it.
It only makes any significant difference when the link is fully saturated.

Very occasionally we see a link where the remote side does not negotiate correctly and disabling it can improve throughput.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/hardware/tune.html#flow-control

Steve

bwhaley

@stephenw10 Thank you for the explanation and the link to the documentation in the event it would need to be disabled. Things seem to be fine as it is. It was just something I had not seen on my SG-5100 .

Thanks again!
Bill