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OpenVPN recommended Data Encryption Algorithms when using SG-2100 appliance's crypto engine?

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved OpenVPN
cryptographicsg2100openvpnsmidencryption
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  • M
    michmoor LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance @jimp
    last edited by michmoor Jan 11, 2024, 4:18 PM Jan 11, 2024, 4:18 PM

    @jimp
    Ahh gotcha. Whats interesting is that IPsec MB works with chacha20.
    In my use case it makes sense to actually enable MB as i get the best of both worlds - Support for both types of encryption (GCM/chacha) and the implicit support of WireGuard which QAT doesnt support (yet?!).
    I need to do more testing but this is interesting.
    For what its worth im testing on a 6100

    Firewall: NetGate,Palo Alto-VM,Juniper SRX
    Routing: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
    Switching: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
    Wireless: Unifi, Aruba IAP
    JNCIP,CCNP Enterprise

    J 1 Reply Last reply Jan 11, 2024, 4:23 PM Reply Quote 1
    • J
      jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate @michmoor
      last edited by Jan 11, 2024, 4:23 PM

      @michmoor There are some newer QAT devices that support ChaCha but IIRC they are not yet widely available and even if they were, I don't think FreeBSD has drivers for them yet. But since IPsec-MB performs so well (and it really flies on the CPU in the 4200 with AVX2), there are even less reasons to lean on hardware QAT in the future for these sorts of roles.

      But the hardware is always evolving, we try to keep on top of whatever is best as new things develop.

      Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

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      Do not Chat/PM for help!

      J M 3 Replies Last reply Jan 11, 2024, 4:27 PM Reply Quote 1
      • J
        JonathanLee @jimp
        last edited by JonathanLee Jan 11, 2024, 4:33 PM Jan 11, 2024, 4:27 PM

        @jimp I still can't get vmstat to show anything for OpenVPN on the SafeXcel chip use with IPsec-MB enabled, disabled ChaCha removed, added, DOC enabled, disabled, it shows this ID error.

        Is there something I am doing wrong? I think you told me it should be automatically used but its showing nothing for use and this ID error when I connect. I created a different post for that as that is issues not related to this post.

        dco_update_peer_stat: invalid peer ID 1 returned by kernel

        https://forum.netgate.com/topic/185411/23-09-01-hardware-crypto-showing-no-hardware-crypto-acceleration-for-system-with-crypto-chip-installed/

        I understand that it is automagic now but it still is having issues for my 2100 in 23.09.01

        Thanks

        Make sure to upvote

        J 1 Reply Last reply Jan 11, 2024, 4:54 PM Reply Quote 0
        • M
          michmoor LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance @jimp
          last edited by Jan 11, 2024, 4:37 PM

          @jimp
          Ive loaded IPsec MB, fresh reboot, and so far its about the same with QAT. Doesnt hurt to keep it enabled so i'll leave it.
          We know that DCO takes the load off the CPU but i just want to share my monitoring graph. Can you tell when DCO was enabled? haha

          c6212b28-3032-4b21-b638-0a5ba7f66dda-image.png

          Firewall: NetGate,Palo Alto-VM,Juniper SRX
          Routing: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
          Switching: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
          Wireless: Unifi, Aruba IAP
          JNCIP,CCNP Enterprise

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • M
            michmoor LAYER 8 Rebel Alliance @jimp
            last edited by Jan 11, 2024, 4:45 PM

            @jimp
            Internet line is 500/500 but ATT Fiber does over-provision.
            Here are the wireguard results with IPsec MB
            Im not complaining.

            55df50e0-db7f-4367-9ae9-8d96ea79369d-image.png

            Firewall: NetGate,Palo Alto-VM,Juniper SRX
            Routing: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
            Switching: Juniper, Arista, Cisco
            Wireless: Unifi, Aruba IAP
            JNCIP,CCNP Enterprise

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • J
              jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate @JonathanLee
              last edited by Jan 11, 2024, 4:54 PM

              @JonathanLee said in OpenVPN recommended Data Encryption Algorithms when using SG-2100 appliance's crypto engine?:

              @jimp I still can't get vmstat to show anything for OpenVPN on the SafeXcel chip use with IPsec-MB enabled, disabled ChaCha removed, added, DOC enabled, disabled, it shows this ID error.

              ARM is not like x86, not everything shows up like interrupts, IIRC there is no visible way to tell that SafeXcel is being used except by secondary observations (e.g. improved encryption throughput when enabled vs disabled or lower CPU usage when enabled vs disabled).

              I'd keep that discussion going on your other thread since it's more relevant there. But if you can pass traffic, the error is probably not harmful. And you'll need to run performance tests with it enabled/disabled and measure at least CPU usage and throughput when testing. But again, do all that and post it in the other thread.

              Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

              Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

              Do not Chat/PM for help!

              J 1 Reply Last reply Jan 11, 2024, 5:23 PM Reply Quote 2
              • J
                JonathanLee @jimp
                last edited by Jan 11, 2024, 5:23 PM

                @jimp thanks I got it to show logs I posted everything in the other forum.

                Have a good one

                Make sure to upvote

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • J
                  JonathanLee @jimp
                  last edited by JonathanLee Nov 15, 2024, 3:58 PM Nov 15, 2024, 3:54 PM

                  @jimp Quick Question I am learning that you should not enable both IPsec-MB and SafeXel at the same time, is this true? If so should I open a redmine so that it will not allow the GUI to enable both?

                  Per @kprovost "JonathanLee I mean, you can't use both at the same time. The data's only ever going to be processed by one of them. I'd have to go dig deep in the code to tell you how the selection is made if both are enabled, but it looks like in this case it ends up using IIMB.

                  IIMB is fine, but probably not quite as fast as SafeXcel. You're getting crypto acceleration either way, just in a different way."

                  Leading to if @kprovost has a bug fixe for crypto-graphic code set that OpenVPN uses and it looks like it was merged. So I am confused at this point.

                  Can we or can't we use both of them?

                  This was the bug fix he worked on. So I assume he is a reputable source to state you can't use both with OpenVPN.

                  This was the buffer bug fix
                  https://sourceforge.net/p/openvpn/mailman/message/58728397/
                  https://github.com/OpenVPN/openvpn/issues/487

                  Does anyone have clarity with what occurs when both are enabled?
                  When the GUI has both IP-sec and SafeXel marked active

                  Make sure to upvote

                  K 1 Reply Last reply Nov 15, 2024, 3:59 PM Reply Quote 0
                  • K
                    kprovost @JonathanLee
                    last edited by Nov 15, 2024, 3:59 PM

                    @JonathanLee Either one will work. Things will even work if you have both activated, but then only one of them will do the work. We're not going to be splitting the cryptographic work between the two, or doing it twice just so both will get used.

                    J 1 Reply Last reply Nov 15, 2024, 4:06 PM Reply Quote 1
                    • J
                      JonathanLee @kprovost
                      last edited by Nov 15, 2024, 4:06 PM

                      @kprovost The speed difference is substantial with only having one enabled so much so I would say this would need a Redmine to only allow one to be selected at a time. Anyone else agree?

                      Make sure to upvote

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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