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    Slow speed from my new pfsense hardware

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    • T
      tjabas
      last edited by

      So I've just bought a new hardware it's a china manufactured 4 nics with 2,5gbit.
      I have a 1gbit connection but I only get about 500 mbit on speed test with cat cable connected.
      I run the 2.6.0 pfsense version.
      What can I do to increase the speed?
      In pfsense I can see that I run 1000mbit full duplex on both Wan and Lan.
      Can I somehow active the 2,5gbit connection?

      JonathanLeeJ Dobby_D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JonathanLeeJ
        JonathanLee @tjabas
        last edited by

        @tjabas what's your duplex set to? Is it full or half?

        Make sure to upvote

        T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • T
          tjabas @JonathanLee
          last edited by

          @JonathanLee it says full duplex on the dashboard

          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S
            SteveITS Galactic Empire @tjabas
            last edited by

            @tjabas What NICs? What CPU, and CPU usage during the test?

            Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
            When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
            Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Dobby_D
              Dobby_ @tjabas
              last edited by

              @tjabas said in Slow speed from my new pfsense hardware:

              So I've just bought a new hardware it's a china manufactured 4 nics with 2,5gbit.

              And the NICs are from wich vendor?
              And the CPU is from wich vendor?

              I have a 1gbit connection but I only get about 500 mbit on speed test with cat cable connected.

              With PPPoE in usage?
              Wich driver is installed?

              I run the 2.6.0 pfsense version.

              Wich CPU? Cores and HT?

              What can I do to increase the speed?

              Therefore you should answer the questions
              from above.

              In pfsense I can see that I run 1000mbit full duplex on both Wan and Lan.

              But you told above that there is 2.5 Gbit/s
              ports in the hardware, why there is now
              only 1 GBit/s shown?

              Can I somehow active the 2,5gbit connection?

              In normal it should be running on 2.5 GBit/s
              with auto negotiation otherwise it could be
              also a negotiation missmatch.

              #~. @Dobby

              Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
              PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
              PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

              T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • T
                tjabas @Dobby_
                last edited by

                @Dobby_

                I'm quite new to this but I found some information about the router :

                Fanless Soft Router Celeron J4125 Mini PC Quad Core 4x Intel i225 2.5G LAN HDMI VGA pfSense Firewall Appliance ESXI AES-NI

                I'm using this one, it also have 8 gb/ram and 256gb/ssd

                I hope this helps, best regards

                Dobby_D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Dobby_D
                  Dobby_ @tjabas
                  last edited by

                  @tjabas said in Slow speed from my new pfsense hardware:

                  Fanless Soft Router Celeron J4125 Mini PC Quad Core

                  Should be strong enough!

                  I'm using this one, it also have 8 gb/ram and 256gb/ssd

                  So you will be not running out of space!

                  4x Intel i225 2.5G LAN

                  With some of them v1/v2 were problems before
                  but if this will be the v3 NICs it should be no problem there anymore.

                  #~. @Dobby

                  Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
                  PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
                  PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • M
                    mer
                    last edited by

                    If both ends of the link are set to autonegotiate they should wind up at the highest common setting for speed and duplex. If the NICs on your pfSense device are 2.5G NICs but the link is showing at 1G, then check your physical connection. Make sure you are using good cables, make sure that whatever the other end is plugged into is capable of 2.5G or better.

                    T 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • T
                      tjabas @mer
                      last edited by

                      @mer thanks for your reply, I'm pretty sure that the fiberbox where the fibre cable is connected to is only 1gbit, so I guess that pfsense sees that and adjust the router port to 1gbit? Am I right?
                      I tried to change the Wan port of the pfsense router to 2.5gbit but then I lost internet connection on Wan, so I hade to change it back.

                      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • T
                        tjabas @mer
                        last edited by

                        @mer i have a cat 5 cable between fibre box and pfsense router.

                        M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • M
                          mvikman @tjabas
                          last edited by mvikman

                          @tjabas You need both ends to support 2.5G, if the fiberbox port is only 1G then you are limited to 1G.

                          You should use at least Cat5e, preferably Cat6 cables.

                          pfSense Plus 24.11-RELEASE (amd64)
                          Dell Optiplex 7040 SFF
                          Core i5-6500, 8GB RAM, 2x 240GB SSD (ZFS Mirror)
                          HPE 561T (X540-AT2), 2-port 10Gb RJ45
                          HPE 562SFP+ (X710-DA2), 2-port 10Gb SFP+

                          T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • T
                            tjabas @mvikman
                            last edited by

                            @mvikman thanks, well it might be a cat5e cable, I don't remember, I do get speeds up to 500mb/s, I think I read somewhere that cat 5 only support 100mb/s.

                            T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • T
                              tjabas @tjabas
                              last edited by

                              I thoug wonder if I should replace that old cat5e to a cat 6 or 7, if I could get a better speed? The cable is about 50 meters long.

                              S Dobby_D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • M
                                mer @tjabas
                                last edited by

                                @tjabas That would be my guess. Forcing the WAN port to only 2.5G would cause autonegotiation to fail, so no physical link.
                                For the LAN side, if you have a switch, try to find a switch that has 2.5G ports and see what happens.
                                I'm guessing you'd get 2.5 between the LAN port and the switch which would help get traffic "Off the LAN" quicker, but you'd still wind up with 1G out to the internet.
                                Longer cable distance you want to make sure you have the highest quality you can afford.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • S
                                  SteveITS Galactic Empire @tjabas
                                  last edited by

                                  @tjabas If you can, it’d probably be easier to temporarily move the router 50m and test with a short cable, than it would to string a new cable.

                                  Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                  Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • JonathanLeeJ
                                    JonathanLee
                                    last edited by

                                    They have a deal on Cat8 patch cables right now on Amazon I just got a couple.

                                    Make sure to upvote

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • Dobby_D
                                      Dobby_ @tjabas
                                      last edited by

                                      @tjabas said in Slow speed from my new pfsense hardware:

                                      I thoug wonder if I should replace that old cat5e to a cat 6 or 7, if I could get a better speed? The cable is about 50 meters long.

                                      100 MBit/s = 4 wires of the cable
                                      "punched down or crimped"
                                      1000 MBit/s = all 8 wires of the cable
                                      "punched down or crimped"

                                      CAT.5 = 100 MBit/s
                                      (But not seldom able to archive a full Gbit/s)
                                      CAT.5e = 1000 MBit/s
                                      Is made up to 100 meters for 1 GBit/s

                                      If you want to change something
                                      CAT.6A patchcables for devices and switches
                                      S-FTP (1200MHz) (PiMf)
                                      CAT.6A wall network sockets
                                      Also for real 10 GBit/s
                                      CAT.7 = 10 GBit/s installation cable (orange)
                                      Latest standard into the wall cable channel (tube)

                                      I personally would say you should be getting
                                      at first a 2.5 GBit/s switch that the bottleneck
                                      will be gone. And then you could think about
                                      getting qualifiet patch cables (devices) and
                                      installation cables (wall).

                                      #~. @Dobby

                                      Turris Omnia - 4 Ports - 2 GB RAM / TurrisOS 7 Release (Btrfs)
                                      PC Engines APU4D4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense CE 2.7.2 Release (ZFS)
                                      PC Engines APU6B4 - 4 Ports - 4 GB RAM / pfSense+ (Plus) 24.03_1 Release (ZFS)

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        If it's a cable problem I'd expect to see a large error count in Status > Interfaces.

                                        Have you tested the connection actually provides 1Gbps using a client connected to it directly?

                                        Steve

                                        T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • T
                                          tjabas @stephenw10
                                          last edited by

                                          @stephenw10
                                          i have moved the router and i have tried with a speed test with 1 meter of cat5e cable between the router and fiber box, and i get about 30-50mbit better performace in that way, so about 600mb/s down and about 800mb/s up, and i have a 1gb/s line, so i guess that its all i get, maybe a cat6 cable could increase the speed a bit, but im not sure.

                                          i guess that i have to be pleased with the result.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by

                                            Yes, that could be the speed you are limited to by the line anyway.

                                            You'd have to connect a client directly, bypass pfSense and retest, to know.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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