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    Load updated Intel IX module to get 10Gbps

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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      Well if you're able to test against a local server on the WAN side that would be a good test.

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        ogghi @stephenw10
        last edited by

        @stephenw10 I should probably enable post notifications...
        The only way here would be for me to disconnect the WAN interface from the modem and attach a server to it?

        Only other way could be if the provider modem has another 10Gb port and I connect a server there, then give it another public IP we still have. But then traffic would already passing through the modem (which should certainly support 10Gb as the provider uses it for lots of customers)

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Hmm, you could use a switch on the WAN side but it would obviously have to be 10G capable.

          That CPU is probably somewhere between the 1537 and 1541 for routing that traffic. I'd expect to see somewhere around 5-6Gbps with pf and NAT enabled.

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            ogghi @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10
            What do you mean with between 1537 and 1541?
            The Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU D-1518 ?

            So you think the limiting factor here could be the CPU?

            Would we need to get another Netgate certified appliance here to get the full 10Gb?

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              It doesn't need to be a Netgate appliance but you might need some other device to pass 10Gbps.

              However your top output above does not show any CPU core at 100%. It appears there is some other limit in play here before it exhausts the CPU.

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                ogghi @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10
                That's a tough one then?
                How could I figure out what is limiting here?

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Well we did see one user report nearly 25Gbps using that CPU with Mellanox NICs: https://forum.netgate.com/post/1119611

                  I still find that hard to believe though.

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                    ogghi @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10
                    Interesting!
                    I am wondering, should I try getting such a Mellanox card?
                    Or should we be fine achieving 10Gbps with a 6100 for example?
                    That would be fine to buy I guess...

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      The C3558 in the 6100 will not pass 10Gbps either. Again there are a lot of variables but I'd expect to see something in the 3-4Gbps range for an equivalent config.

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                        ogghi @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10
                        So to get 10Gbps we would need much bigger hardware then?
                        I thought the 6100 could be an option, looking at this:
                        04b9bb3e-9f58-4447-9254-7657b208a0c7-image.png

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          That is a total throughput value though. You won't see that in an iperf3 test across an single link.

                          Yes you need significant CPU power if you want to pass 10Gbps using a single TCP stream like downloading a file.

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                            ogghi @stephenw10
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10 what appliance would you suggest here?
                            Not sure if budget allows me to get another PFsense, but I could ask 😄
                            Otherwise, building something could be an option?
                            What specs would you recommend to have at least?

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              For a single TCP stream like that I would look for fewer cores with a higher frequency. And something newer is obviously more efficient so some relatively recent i3 or i5 for example.

                              There a few threads discussing specific options.

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                                ogghi @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10 So you are saying that basically I could take an old desktop I have laying around and add some SFP+ card and that's it?
                                Just because of the higher CPU clock speed it would be faster?

                                Netgate 8200 for example has only 2.4GHz compared to our current Intel Xeon CPU D-1518 with 2.20GHz.

                                There won't be much of a difference then?

                                Also, can we be sure this is actually the limiting factor?

                                Eg. if I do an Iperf3 with 8 streams, this is not getting faster either? I am missing something conceptional here?

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  iperf itself is deliberately single threaded so you may be limited there. You might need to run multiple iperf processes.

                                  No there's not much difference between the D1518 and C3758:
                                  https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/2799vs3696vs4746vs3280/Intel-Xeon-D-1518-vs-Intel-Atom-C3758-vs-Intel-i3-12300-vs-Intel-i3-8300

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                                    ogghi @stephenw10
                                    last edited by

                                    @stephenw10
                                    So in theory I could use an old desktop PC with a CPU with 4+GHz and 16GB RAM, add a Intel X520-DA2 card and should be getting better bandwidth routed?

                                    thanks :)

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                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      If you have one I would certainly try it. Be aware some of those old systems can be very power hungry though.

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                                        ogghi @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10
                                        in the office it does not matter to have even 100W more running all time here, then I would first tell people to not leave their PCs running 😄
                                        I'll buy a card, install PFsense on a PC, backup current instance, restore on new machine, re-assign network interfaces where needed, test. Sounds like a plan?

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                                          ogghi @stephenw10
                                          last edited by

                                          @stephenw10
                                          Ok, seems that after all I shall not build a system myself, rather get an official appliance or something with warranty and possibly support.
                                          What appliance would manage to give us the 10Gb here?

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                                            Patch @ogghi
                                            last edited by Patch

                                            @ogghi said in Load updated Intel IX module to get 10Gbps:

                                            @stephenw10
                                            So to get 10Gbps we would need much bigger hardware then?
                                            I thought the 6100 could be an option

                                            What traffic mix is the operational requirement? More specifically

                                            • WAN type
                                            • VPN connections and load
                                            • typical number of concurrent connections, especially high bandwidth connections.

                                            The reason I ask is I wonder how well the test results correlate with the operational performance under likely load conditions.

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