Ubuntu 9.04 x64 HOST + VirtualBox 3.0.8 + PFsense 1.2.3 RC3

[acidrop]

Hello!

I'm testing the following configuration:

1 box Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7600 @ 3.06GHz,4 GB RAM, 2x500gb HD SATA RAID 1, 1 onboard gigabit ethernet if
Ubuntu 9.04 x64 HOST + VirtualBox 3.0.8 + PFsense 1.2.3 RC3 Full Installation
On VirtualBox I've setup 3 ifs (AMD PCNETII) LAN,WAN,WAN2 all bridged.
WAN -> router1 WAN2 -> router2
I've setup loadbalance/failover.
All are working normally except the fact that there is high CPU usage.
I ssh on the box and run top -S and i get the following:

If i enable traffic shaping cpu usage is no lower than 80% no matter if there are clients browsing internet or not.

Update:
It seems that there is high interrupt usage.

Also it is ok to have 1 physical interface on the machine and have 3 virtual ethernet interfaces on virtual pc?

[acidrop]

I disabled ACPI as suggested from the forum and now the cpu usage from 80-85% now is 60-65% but still i think is too much..

[Guest]

is VT enabled?
any benefit from 64bit? i am using similar 32bit os and… i am using only 1 cpu and single core kernal for pf.
i thought that all bsd have that problem (of high cpu in virtual appliance)

[heitor.lessa]

One suggestion.

Try to use VMware =).

But if is possible, use VMware ESXi ( is free ! ), today I use pfsense under ESXi with more 4 VM (3 Windows 2003, 1 Linux) shared resources.

PFsense is the gateway running squid, CP, squidguard, snort, traffic shaping with 150 users on-line, browsing, downloading and using network resources.

usage CPU?
60%.

Hardware?
Dell Optiplex 740, almost impossible right? but on VMware seems magic =D.

If you can, I can help you to use this.

P.S: VT may to be enabled.

Regards.
Heitor Lessa

[Guest]

before i was looking for this solution. but 3.x was not installable to simple disks (ata example)
i am now fine width my solution that i do most of time: ubuntu 32bit, amd x2, 1GB, 2x HD (as file/backup/http sharing server) and pf as virtual appliance. i wish alix mobo r more cheaper

[heitor.lessa]

Are you sure?

I´m using VMware over Dell Desktop Optiplex 740, two 160 HD (Sata e IDE) and works fine!

Try to download VMwares ESXi 4.0

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_esxi/4

[Guest]

yeap. i am talking about previous version. not interested in esxi as before. vbox from release 3 is perfect for me.
(above setup can work even on oldish single core Athlon and 512MB system)
i am waiting next generation of cheap cpu (x6, x8) to get more cheap virtual appliance.
this month i will play width endian (for my windows users), UTM is very interesting module. similar packages in pf do not promise so many new stuff and i will see if openvpn is easier to setup. and do not get me wrong pf is my 1st choice for fw & traffic shap.

[jalgaz]

With kvm, virtualized pfsense it's ok

Un saludo!

[heitor.lessa]

Remember that pfSense have additional packages that do incredible things, and not just a firewall and traffic shap box w/ features.

I see several people asking How to do this.. Could be easy if…., but First before you test or try this box, think... You really need to know basic knowledge in networking.. cause when box crash or something was going wrong you need to see system logs, can be on WebGUI or more time in console shell. ^^

But going back to Virtualization subject, Oracle VM can be a great solution if VBox will be fail.

Anyway.. good luck ^^ w/ endian or other box that will be test.

[acidrop]

Hello

After some research i found a workaround for this problem.
I want to share this if somebody else encounters my problem.

I added the following line in /boot/loader.conf
kern.hz="100"
I rebooted the machine and after that cpu usage is 10-14% from 50-60%