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    Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • LaxarusL Offline
      Laxarus @stephenw10
      last edited by Laxarus

      @stephenw10 okay, all the tests done but it was a nightmare
      I have done more than disabling lagg
      updated the NIC firmware
      updated the BIOS
      reinstalled the pfsense with uefi boot instead of legacy
      set my nic pci to EFI instead of legacy
      disabled the lagg

      now it is a single SFP28 25G DAC cable

      tuned some system variables
      11a1bc04-0e96-4395-a1d2-fd9536dcf043-image.png

      enabled Hardware TCP Segmentation Offloading

      but still cannot get more than 5g.

      Next step would be to use the actual 10g onboard NIC to see if the problem is with the 25G card.

      any other troubleshooting steps are welcome

      maybe this intel NIC does not play nice with pfsense

      L 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • L Offline
        louis2 @Laxarus
        last edited by

        @Laxarus

        May I suggest to use jumbo frames if you do not use them already !

        I changed every thing within the 10G part of my network including the pfSense lagg related to that to '9000' (netto), which did improve the trough put.

        I did start a discussion about that a couple of month ago on the forum.

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

          Do you still see one CPU core hitting 100% while the others are 50% idle?

          LaxarusL 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • LaxarusL Offline
            Laxarus @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 I think it is hitting all the cores.

            iperf3 layer3 test.zip

            w0wW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • A Offline
              Averlon @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

              I wouldn't expect to see much advantage to anything over 8 streams when you have 8 CPU cores.

              The CPU has only 4 real cores, the other 4 are SMT placebos, which don't help in term of packet processing. Most likely they slowing things down. I'd suggest to disable SMT / HT at all in the BIOS and configure the NIC queues down to 4. Also Disable any other unneeded features like SR-IOV. My guess is you won't run any VMs on the machine and pass NICs to these.

              The Power management configuration of your system affects also the maximum possible throughput. From your first post I can see that your CPU is running on the 2.2GHz base frequency. This is good for constant latency and throughput. Allowing the CPU to scale down the frequency introduces more variance to latency, but it allows to run longer on boost clock (3GHz), which can process more interrupts and make more throughput. Allowing the CPU to scale down, may make things worse. On some systems I had good results in term of throughput, with that on other I don't. It depends on the CPU and NICs.

              The last thing I would check is how the interrupt distribution of the nic queues is under network load. As far as I remember you can check this with vmstat -i and systat -vmstat 1

              Do you have net.isr.dispatch set to deferred? If yes and you don't have any PPPoE connection in use, you want to try the default dispatcher (direct)

              stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • w0wW Offline
                w0w @Laxarus
                last edited by

                @Laxarus
                No errors logged anywhere?

                netstat -I ixl0 -w1 
sysctl dev.ixl.0

                Try some live linux distribution, like Ubuntu, RHEL or Debian or just install pfSense in proxmox, without any pcie pass through, use card ports as virtual switches, one port per switch and test it again with iperf. If you hit the same limit there, you will need to go deeper.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • LaxarusL Offline
                  Laxarus @louis2
                  last edited by Laxarus

                  @louis2 I tested jumbo frames but did not make any difference and my network have too different speeds so I have to stay at MTU 1500.

                  @Averlon said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                  The CPU has only 4 real cores, the other 4 are SMT placebos, which don't help in term of packet processing. Most likely they slowing things down. I'd suggest to disable SMT / HT at all in the BIOS and configure the NIC queues down to 4. Also Disable any other unneeded features like SR-IOV. My guess is you won't run any VMs on the machine and pass NICs to these.

                  I tried toggling the SR-IOV, did not see any difference.
                  Enabled "Extended APIC" and "Above 4G Decoding" is enabled by default.
                  I did not try disabling SMT/HT or playing with power settings. Currently, it is set to "Energy Efficient" profile, so no custom profiles yet.

                  @Averlon said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                  The last thing I would check is how the interrupt distribution of the nic queues is under network load. As far as I remember you can check this with vmstat -i and systat -vmstat 1

                  It seems evenly distributed to me. (this was during a running iperf3 test)

                  2 users    Load  1.99  2.31  1.79                  Oct 25 22:47:13
   Mem usage:   8%Phy  5%Kmem                           VN PAGER   SWAP PAGER
Mem:      REAL           VIRTUAL                        in   out     in   out
       Tot   Share     Tot    Share     Free   count          26
Act   685M  62444K   4613G   93312K   28840M   pages          39
All   701M  78508K   4614G     366M                       ioflt  Interrupts
Proc:                                                3847 cow   53387 total
  r   p   d    s   w   Csw  Trp  Sys  Int  Sof  Flt   17K zfod   1129 cpu0:timer
             320      132K  21K  14K  43K  23K  21K       ozfod  1133 cpu1:timer
                                                         %ozfod  1131 cpu2:timer
10.1%Sys  39.5%Intr  0.9%User  2.5%Nice 47.0%Idle         daefr  1129 cpu3:timer
|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |   19K prcfr  1132 cpu4:timer
=====++++++++++++++++++++-                            26K totfr  1129 cpu5:timer
                                           dtbuf          react  1131 cpu6:timer
Namei     Name-cache   Dir-cache    615219 maxvn          pdwak  1134 cpu7:timer
   Calls    hits   %    hits   %      4989 numvn       90 pdpgs    23 xhci0 65
    4569    4569 100                  3402 frevn       33 intrn       ixl0:aq 67
                                                    1829M wire   7733 ixl0:rxq0
Disks  nda0 pass0 pass1 pass2                        220M act    5309 ixl0:rxq1
KB/t   0.00  0.00  0.00  0.00                        551M inact    18 ixl0:rxq2
tps       0     0     0     0                           0 laund  4948 ixl0:rxq3
MB/s   0.00  0.00  0.00  0.00                         28G free   7413 ixl0:rxq4
%busy     0     0     0     0                           0 buf    7284 ixl0:rxq5
                                                                 4568 ixl0:rxq6
                                                                 6949 ixl0:rxq7
                                                                      nvme0:admi
                                                                      nvme0:io0
                                                                      nvme0:io1
                                                                      nvme0:io2
                                                                      nvme0:io3

                  @Averlon said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                  Do you have net.isr.dispatch set to deferred? If yes and you don't have any PPPoE connection in use, you want to try the default dispatcher (direct)

                  it is set as direct by default, I did not touch that. My WAN is pppoe but I dont test WAN connections anyway.

                  @w0w said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                  No errors logged anywhere?

                  netstat -I ixl0 -w1
                  sysctl dev.ixl.0

                  no errors at all.

                  dev.ixl.0.mac.xoff_recvd: 0
dev.ixl.0.mac.xoff_txd: 0
dev.ixl.0.mac.xon_recvd: 0
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dev.ixl.0.mac.tx_frames_1024_1522: 375614975
dev.ixl.0.mac.tx_frames_512_1023: 16690370
dev.ixl.0.mac.tx_frames_256_511: 13612270
dev.ixl.0.mac.tx_frames_128_255: 4052150
dev.ixl.0.mac.tx_frames_65_127: 152914345
dev.ixl.0.mac.tx_frames_64: 500265
dev.ixl.0.mac.checksum_errors: 3
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dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_frames_1024_1522: 377904852
dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_frames_512_1023: 16329494
dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_frames_256_511: 14111348
dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_frames_128_255: 3145926
dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_frames_65_127: 138214041
dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_frames_64: 184281
dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_length_errors: 0
dev.ixl.0.mac.remote_faults: 0
dev.ixl.0.mac.local_faults: 2
dev.ixl.0.mac.illegal_bytes: 0
dev.ixl.0.mac.crc_errors: 0
dev.ixl.0.mac.bcast_pkts_txd: 46661
dev.ixl.0.mac.mcast_pkts_txd: 644978
dev.ixl.0.mac.ucast_pkts_txd: 562692736
dev.ixl.0.mac.good_octets_txd: 593759862696
dev.ixl.0.mac.rx_discards: 0
dev.ixl.0.mac.bcast_pkts_rcvd: 75168
dev.ixl.0.mac.mcast_pkts_rcvd: 280282
dev.ixl.0.mac.ucast_pkts_rcvd: 549534492
dev.ixl.0.mac.good_octets_rcvd: 596407236239
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq07.itr: 122
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq07.bytes: 41143051364
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq07.packets: 47973936
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq07.mss_too_small: 0
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq07.tso: 28225
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dev.ixl.0.pf.txq06.bytes: 66474474763
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq06.packets: 57167819
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq06.mss_too_small: 0
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq06.tso: 101247
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dev.ixl.0.pf.txq01.mss_too_small: 0
dev.ixl.0.pf.txq01.tso: 1743
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dev.ixl.0.pf.txq00.packets: 78235275
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dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq06.itr: 62
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dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq01.itr: 62
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dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq01.bytes: 73019041590
dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq01.packets: 75989766
dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq01.irqs: 30805377
dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq00.itr: 62
dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq00.desc_err: 0
dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq00.bytes: 104282185425
dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq00.packets: 102756379
dev.ixl.0.pf.rxq00.irqs: 34272354
dev.ixl.0.pf.rx_errors: 3
dev.ixl.0.pf.bcast_pkts_txd: 46661
dev.ixl.0.pf.mcast_pkts_txd: 652008
dev.ixl.0.pf.ucast_pkts_txd: 562692736
dev.ixl.0.pf.good_octets_txd: 591509013288
dev.ixl.0.pf.rx_discards: 4294964835
dev.ixl.0.pf.bcast_pkts_rcvd: 76284
dev.ixl.0.pf.mcast_pkts_rcvd: 142100
dev.ixl.0.pf.ucast_pkts_rcvd: 549533766
dev.ixl.0.pf.good_octets_rcvd: 596393803623
dev.ixl.0.admin_irq: 4
dev.ixl.0.link_active_on_if_down: 1
dev.ixl.0.eee.rx_lpi_count: 0
dev.ixl.0.eee.tx_lpi_count: 0
dev.ixl.0.eee.rx_lpi_status: 0
dev.ixl.0.eee.tx_lpi_status: 0
dev.ixl.0.eee.enable: 0
dev.ixl.0.fw_lldp: 1
dev.ixl.0.fec.auto_fec_enabled: 1
dev.ixl.0.fec.rs_requested: 1
dev.ixl.0.fec.fc_requested: 1
dev.ixl.0.fec.rs_ability: 1
dev.ixl.0.fec.fc_ability: 1
dev.ixl.0.dynamic_tx_itr: 0
dev.ixl.0.dynamic_rx_itr: 0
dev.ixl.0.rx_itr: 62
dev.ixl.0.tx_itr: 122
dev.ixl.0.unallocated_queues: 760
dev.ixl.0.fw_version: fw 9.153.78577 api 1.15 nvm 9.53 etid 8000fcfe oem 1.270.0
dev.ixl.0.current_speed: 25 Gbps
dev.ixl.0.supported_speeds: 22
dev.ixl.0.advertise_speed: 22
dev.ixl.0.fc: 0
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq7.rxq_fl0.credits: 2047
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq4.rxq_fl0.cidx: 1261
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq4.cpu: 0
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq1.cpu: 2
dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq0.rxq_fl0.buf_size: 2048
dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq0.rxq_fl0.credits: 2047
dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq0.rxq_fl0.cidx: 27
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.rxq0.cpu: 0
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq7.r_enqueues: 48007467
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq7.txq_in_use: 8
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq7.txq_cidx: 1975
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq7.m_pullups: 1377
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq4.txq_cleaned: 59003490
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq4.txq_in_use: 8
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq4.txq_cidx_processed: 618
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq4.txq_cidx: 610
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq4.txq_pidx: 618
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.txq_cleaned: 78294052
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dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.txq_in_use: 8
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.txq_cidx_processed: 1068
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.txq_cidx: 1060
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.txq_pidx: 1068
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.no_tx_dma_setup: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.txd_encap_efbig: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.tx_map_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.no_desc_avail: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.mbuf_defrag_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.m_pullups: 409
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.mbuf_defrag: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq3.cpu: 6
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.r_abdications: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.r_restarts: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.r_stalls: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.r_starts: 61084731
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.r_drops: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.r_enqueues: 61139632
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.ring_state: pidx_head: 0688 pidx_tail: 0688 cidx: 0688 state: IDLE
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.txq_cleaned: 61925883
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.txq_processed: 61925891
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.txq_in_use: 8
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.txq_cidx_processed: 515
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.txq_cidx: 507
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.txq_pidx: 515
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.no_tx_dma_setup: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.txd_encap_efbig: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.tx_map_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.no_desc_avail: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.mbuf_defrag_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.m_pullups: 550
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.mbuf_defrag: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq2.cpu: 4
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.r_abdications: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.r_restarts: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.r_stalls: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.r_starts: 101436836
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.r_drops: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.r_enqueues: 101537592
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.ring_state: pidx_head: 1848 pidx_tail: 1848 cidx: 1848 state: IDLE
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.txq_cleaned: 101552637
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.txq_processed: 101552645
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.txq_in_use: 8
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.txq_cidx_processed: 517
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.txq_cidx: 509
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.txq_pidx: 517
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.no_tx_dma_setup: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.txd_encap_efbig: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.tx_map_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.no_desc_avail: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.mbuf_defrag_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.m_pullups: 1089
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.mbuf_defrag: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq1.cpu: 2
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.r_abdications: 1
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.r_restarts: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.r_stalls: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.r_starts: 78227423
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.r_drops: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.r_enqueues: 78277869
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.ring_state: pidx_head: 1261 pidx_tail: 1261 cidx: 1261 state: IDLE
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.txq_cleaned: 78508028
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.txq_processed: 78508036
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.txq_in_use: 8
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.txq_cidx_processed: 4
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.txq_cidx: 2044
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.txq_pidx: 4
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.no_tx_dma_setup: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.txd_encap_efbig: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.tx_map_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.no_desc_avail: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.mbuf_defrag_failed: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.m_pullups: 484
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.mbuf_defrag: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.txq0.cpu: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.override_nrxds: 2048
dev.ixl.0.iflib.override_ntxds: 2048
dev.ixl.0.iflib.allocated_msix_vectors: 9
dev.ixl.0.iflib.use_extra_msix_vectors: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.use_logical_cores: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.separate_txrx: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.core_offset: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.tx_abdicate: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.rx_budget: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.disable_msix: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.override_qs_enable: 0
dev.ixl.0.iflib.override_nrxqs: 8
dev.ixl.0.iflib.override_ntxqs: 8
dev.ixl.0.iflib.driver_version: 2.3.3-k
dev.ixl.0.%domain: 0
dev.ixl.0.%iommu: rid=0x6500
dev.ixl.0.%parent: pci7
dev.ixl.0.%pnpinfo: vendor=0x8086 device=0x158b subvendor=0x15d9 subdevice=0x0978 class=0x020000
dev.ixl.0.%location: slot=0 function=0 dbsf=pci0:101:0:0
dev.ixl.0.%driver: ixl
dev.ixl.0.%desc: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XXV710 for 25GbE SFP28 - 2.3.3-k

                  is it possible that there are too many vlans on the network and too many rules/packets to process with my cpu during high speed transfer spikes?
                  Currently 13 vlans + LAN on the same cable with various rules.

                  w0wW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • w0wW Offline
                    w0w @Laxarus
                    last edited by w0w

                    @Laxarus said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                    Currently 13 vlans + LAN on the same cable with various rules.

                    It doesn't sound like serious load.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • P Offline
                      pwood999
                      last edited by pwood999

                      What's the traffic like on the other VLAN's, etc. If it's low it shouldn't have much impact ?

                      What PfSense Rules are on the VLAN's that have the iperf3 client & server ?

                      Also, what managed switch are you using on the PfSense LAN & VLAN side ?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • P Offline
                        pwood999
                        last edited by

                        Another thought. Your tests are using iperf3 TCP, so not only are the flows are up & down the same 25G connection, there's also the reverse SYN & ACK going over the same pipe as your traffic.

                        Definitely try UDP but you might need to specify UDP on the server as well as client side.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • w0wW Offline
                          w0w
                          last edited by w0w

                          I’d test the firewall hardware by installing Proxmox on it and running pfSense with the NICs as virtual devices. Even virtualized, I tested my Intel X710-T4L on the pfSense LAN with an N100 CPU and the card in an x4 PCIe slot. Even in that setup, iperf reaches 6–7 Gbps.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • stephenw10S Offline
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @Averlon
                            last edited by

                            @Averlon said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                            From your first post I can see that your CPU is running on the 2.2GHz base frequency. This is good for constant latency and throughput. Allowing the CPU to scale down the frequency introduces more variance to latency, but it allows to run longer on boost clock (3GHz), which can process more interrupts and make more throughput.

                            The max value shown there of 2201 means that Turbo is enabled. It never actually shows the turbo speed on a speed-step enabled CPU. But it could be hitting some thermal/power limit perhaps I agree. Though I'd expect to see some spikes above the 5Gbps if that was the case. At least some variation between repeated tests.

                            A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • A Offline
                              Averlon @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 It's not about Turbo is enabled or not, it's about power management in general, since it is one of many factors affecting throughput of the platform and it wasn't considered yet. Too aggressive power saving settings can also lead to performance degradations.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • LaxarusL Offline
                                Laxarus
                                last edited by

                                Thank you all for suggestions

                                @pwood999 said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                What's the traffic like on the other VLAN's, etc. If it's low it shouldn't have much impact ?

                                there is not much file transfer traffic on L3. Generally chatter.

                                @pwood999 said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                What PfSense Rules are on the VLAN's that have the iperf3 client & server ?

                                For testing purposes, I allowed all traffic.

                                @pwood999 said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                Also, what managed switch are you using on the PfSense LAN & VLAN side ?

                                All unifi switches, but I have no problem getting 10G on L2 so I have ruled out the switches as the problem.

                                @w0w said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                I’d test the firewall hardware by installing Proxmox on it and running pfSense with the NICs as virtual devices. Even virtualized, I tested my Intel X710-T4L on the pfSense LAN with an N100 CPU and the card in an x4 PCIe slot. Even in that setup, iperf reaches 6–7 Gbps.

                                I cannot afford testing this hardware in a virtual environment. This is currently in production and there is no backup for it.

                                @pwood999 said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                Definitely try UDP but you might need to specify UDP on the server as well as client side.

                                Good point. Testing with UDP I got very interesting results.

                                root@PROXMOX1:~# iperf3 -c 192.168.40.40 -u -b 9.5G -t 10 -l 1472 --get-server-output -P 4
warning: UDP block size 1472 exceeds TCP MSS 1448, may result in fragmentation / drops
Connecting to host 192.168.40.40, port 5201
[  5] local 192.168.55.21 port 53975 connected to 192.168.40.40 port 5201
[  7] local 192.168.55.21 port 36922 connected to 192.168.40.40 port 5201
[  9] local 192.168.55.21 port 57106 connected to 192.168.40.40 port 5201
[ 11] local 192.168.55.21 port 43050 connected to 192.168.40.40 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Total Datagrams
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203373
[  7]   0.00-1.00   sec   286 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203512
[  9]   0.00-1.00   sec   286 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203515
[ 11]   0.00-1.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203332
[SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec  1.12 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  813732
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203224
[  7]   1.00-2.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203205
[  9]   1.00-2.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203122
[ 11]   1.00-2.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203127
[SUM]   1.00-2.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812678
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203131
[  7]   2.00-3.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203188
[  9]   2.00-3.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203161
[ 11]   2.00-3.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203165
[SUM]   2.00-3.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812645
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203180
[  7]   3.00-4.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203170
[  9]   3.00-4.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203211
[ 11]   3.00-4.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203119
[SUM]   3.00-4.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812680
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203136
[  7]   4.00-5.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203126
[  9]   4.00-5.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203134
[ 11]   4.00-5.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203145
[SUM]   4.00-5.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812541
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203125
[  7]   5.00-6.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203171
[  9]   5.00-6.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203162
[ 11]   5.00-6.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203157
[SUM]   5.00-6.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812615
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203178
[  7]   6.00-7.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203207
[  9]   6.00-7.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203174
[ 11]   6.00-7.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203166
[SUM]   6.00-7.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812725
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203199
[  7]   7.00-8.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203171
[  9]   7.00-8.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203138
[ 11]   7.00-8.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203196
[SUM]   7.00-8.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812704
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203085
[  7]   8.00-9.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203155
[  9]   8.00-9.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203137
[ 11]   8.00-9.00   sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203124
[SUM]   8.00-9.00   sec  1.11 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  812501
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203169
[  7]   9.00-10.00  sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203196
[  9]   9.00-10.00  sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203177
[ 11]   9.00-10.00  sec   285 MBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  203195
[SUM]   9.00-10.00  sec  1.11 GBytes  9.56 Gbits/sec  812737
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Jitter    Lost/Total Datagrams
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.79 GBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  0.000 ms  0/2031800 (0%)  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.18 GBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  1170176/2030971 (58%)  receiver
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.79 GBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  0.000 ms  0/2032101 (0%)  sender
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.19 GBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.018 ms  1163621/2031264 (57%)  receiver
[  9]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.79 GBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  0.000 ms  0/2031931 (0%)  sender
[  9]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.17 GBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.010 ms  1175570/2031116 (58%)  receiver
[ 11]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.79 GBytes  2.39 Gbits/sec  0.000 ms  0/2031726 (0%)  sender
[ 11]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.15 GBytes   991 Mbits/sec  0.011 ms  1189040/2030907 (59%)  receiver
[SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec  11.1 GBytes  9.57 Gbits/sec  0.000 ms  0/8127558 (0%)  sender
[SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec  4.70 GBytes  4.03 Gbits/sec  0.012 ms  4698407/8124258 (58%)  receiver

Server output:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201 (test #3)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Accepted connection from 192.168.55.21, port 33208
[  5] local 192.168.40.40 port 5201 connected to 192.168.55.21 port 53975
[  6] local 192.168.40.40 port 5201 connected to 192.168.55.21 port 36922
[  9] local 192.168.40.40 port 5201 connected to 192.168.55.21 port 57106
[ 11] local 192.168.40.40 port 5201 connected to 192.168.55.21 port 43050
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Jitter    Lost/Total Datagrams
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   120 MBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.008 ms  116792/202427 (58%)
[  6]   0.00-1.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  115872/202564 (57%)
[  9]   0.00-1.00   sec   118 MBytes   985 Mbits/sec  0.009 ms  118800/202535 (59%)
[ 11]   0.00-1.00   sec   115 MBytes   963 Mbits/sec  0.020 ms  120523/202367 (60%)
[SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec   474 MBytes  3.98 Gbits/sec  0.012 ms  471987/809893 (58%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.010 ms  116048/203048 (57%)
[  6]   1.00-2.00   sec   120 MBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.010 ms  117649/203048 (58%)
[  9]   1.00-2.00   sec   115 MBytes   967 Mbits/sec  0.013 ms  120927/203008 (60%)
[ 11]   1.00-2.00   sec   114 MBytes   959 Mbits/sec  0.019 ms  121594/202996 (60%)
[SUM]   1.00-2.00   sec   472 MBytes  3.96 Gbits/sec  0.013 ms  476218/812100 (59%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.014 ms  116649/203371 (57%)
[  6]   2.00-3.00   sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.012 ms  115793/203379 (57%)
[  9]   2.00-3.00   sec   121 MBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.010 ms  117380/203379 (58%)
[ 11]   2.00-3.00   sec   112 MBytes   939 Mbits/sec  0.011 ms  123560/203353 (61%)
[SUM]   2.00-3.00   sec   477 MBytes  4.00 Gbits/sec  0.012 ms  473382/813482 (58%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.013 ms  115535/203161 (57%)
[  6]   3.00-4.00   sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  115716/203181 (57%)
[  9]   3.00-4.00   sec   119 MBytes   997 Mbits/sec  0.012 ms  118496/203183 (58%)
[ 11]   3.00-4.00   sec   117 MBytes   982 Mbits/sec  0.013 ms  119764/203121 (59%)
[SUM]   3.00-4.00   sec   482 MBytes  4.04 Gbits/sec  0.012 ms  469511/812646 (58%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.014 ms  116366/203129 (57%)
[  6]   4.00-5.00   sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.022 ms  115463/203140 (57%)
[  9]   4.00-5.00   sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.017 ms  115425/203123 (57%)
[ 11]   4.00-5.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.013 ms  116144/203140 (57%)
[SUM]   4.00-5.00   sec   490 MBytes  4.11 Gbits/sec  0.016 ms  463398/812532 (57%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   120 MBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.022 ms  117455/203241 (58%)
[  6]   5.00-6.00   sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.022 ms  115785/203257 (57%)
[  9]   5.00-6.00   sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.023 ms  115539/203263 (57%)
[ 11]   5.00-6.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.023 ms  116512/203255 (57%)
[SUM]   5.00-6.00   sec   488 MBytes  4.09 Gbits/sec  0.023 ms  465291/813016 (57%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   116 MBytes   971 Mbits/sec  0.015 ms  120389/202814 (59%)
[  6]   6.00-7.00   sec   119 MBytes  1.00 Gbits/sec  0.010 ms  117896/202957 (58%)
[  9]   6.00-7.00   sec   121 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.023 ms  116693/202940 (58%)
[ 11]   6.00-7.00   sec   118 MBytes   988 Mbits/sec  0.011 ms  119068/202957 (59%)
[SUM]   6.00-7.00   sec   474 MBytes  3.98 Gbits/sec  0.015 ms  474046/811668 (58%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   119 MBytes   998 Mbits/sec  0.009 ms  118459/203188 (58%)
[  6]   7.00-8.00   sec   121 MBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.013 ms  117195/203087 (58%)
[  9]   7.00-8.00   sec   117 MBytes   981 Mbits/sec  0.011 ms  119700/203046 (59%)
[ 11]   7.00-8.00   sec   119 MBytes   996 Mbits/sec  0.012 ms  118481/203087 (58%)
[SUM]   7.00-8.00   sec   475 MBytes  3.99 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  473835/812408 (58%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.020 ms  116771/203418 (57%)
[  6]   8.00-9.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.014 ms  116689/203445 (57%)
[  9]   8.00-9.00   sec   122 MBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.013 ms  116864/203438 (57%)
[ 11]   8.00-9.00   sec   120 MBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.023 ms  117691/203420 (58%)
[SUM]   8.00-9.00   sec   485 MBytes  4.07 Gbits/sec  0.017 ms  468015/813721 (58%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.016 ms  115712/203031 (57%)
[  6]   9.00-10.00  sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.018 ms  115563/203054 (57%)
[  9]   9.00-10.00  sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  115746/203054 (57%)
[ 11]   9.00-10.00  sec   123 MBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.018 ms  115703/203066 (57%)
[SUM]   9.00-10.00  sec   491 MBytes  4.12 Gbits/sec  0.016 ms  462724/812205 (57%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]  10.00-10.00  sec   206 KBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  0/143 (0%)
[  6]  10.00-10.00  sec   218 KBytes  1.08 Gbits/sec  0.018 ms  0/152 (0%)
[  9]  10.00-10.00  sec   211 KBytes  1.05 Gbits/sec  0.010 ms  0/147 (0%)
[ 11]  10.00-10.00  sec   208 KBytes  1.03 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  0/145 (0%)
[SUM]  10.00-10.00  sec   844 KBytes  4.19 Gbits/sec  0.012 ms  0/587 (0%)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Jitter    Lost/Total Datagrams
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.18 GBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.011 ms  1170176/2030971 (58%)  receiver
[  6]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.19 GBytes  1.02 Gbits/sec  0.018 ms  1163621/2031264 (57%)  receiver
[  9]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.17 GBytes  1.01 Gbits/sec  0.010 ms  1175570/2031116 (58%)  receiver
[ 11]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.15 GBytes   991 Mbits/sec  0.011 ms  1189040/2030907 (59%)  receiver
[SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec  4.70 GBytes  4.03 Gbits/sec  0.012 ms  4698407/8124258 (58%)  receiver


iperf Done.

                                so the client can blast 10g with UDP but the server only receives about 4G. There is a massive loss.

                                I looked more closely to my CPU thinking maybe it was not going Turbo and I was right.
                                pfSense is reporting Current: 2200 MHz, Max: 2201 MHz. However, I still suspect this is the reason 2.2GHz fixed CPU should be capable of 10g anyway.

                                However, this CPU should be able to go up to 3.00 GHz in any case.

                                https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/136429/intel-xeon-d2123it-processor-8-25m-cache-2-20-ghz/specifications.html

                                Checking in with sysctl

                                sysctl dev.cpu | grep freq
dev.cpu.7.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.7.freq: 2200
dev.cpu.6.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.6.freq: 2200
dev.cpu.5.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.5.freq: 2200
dev.cpu.4.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.4.freq: 2200
dev.cpu.3.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.3.freq: 2200
dev.cpu.2.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.2.freq: 2200
dev.cpu.1.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.1.freq: 2200
dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 2201/60000 2200/60000 2100/56352 2000/52778 1900/49855 1800/46415 1700/43611 1600/40303 1500/37618 1400/34440 1300/31871 1200/28822 1100/26367 1000/23442
dev.cpu.0.freq: 2200

                                and after putting some heavy load on CPU to test it stayed stuck at 2200.

                                sysctl dev.cpu | grep freq was also reporting the same during the test.

                                Then I went into BIOS to play with power settings which is a foreign territory to me.

                                But the power technology was set to "Energy Efficient" which did not let me modify anything at all. I changed this to Custom
                                Then for tuning I choose OS controls EPB but pfsense was still reporting the CPU at 2200. (PowerD enabled with HiAdpt)
                                I am not sure what I did wrong here, I assumed pfSense can manage P states of CPU. But it did not work and I had to enable BIOS controls EPB with Maximum Performance
                                Anyway, after a lot of rebooting and tinkering I got to see 2693 on my CPU. (This was the highest I could get)
                                PowerD disabled, Speed Shift enabled at 10 with core level control.

                                As a final test, I run iperf3 again. I saw marginal improvements up to 6g with p4 but that is it. Nowhere near where it should be.

                                My current BIOS settings are:
                                2e8aee45-3d89-4906-a8e9-5ef0be21d8b7-iKVM_capture.jpg
                                7a3bab84-08f1-460d-b659-89045ea9b357-iKVM_capture(1).jpg
                                5fc2d0c2-a269-440f-9505-05213489748b-iKVM_capture(2).jpg
                                6e1aadfe-815e-452e-b434-eb25aba77cf9-iKVM_capture(3).jpg
                                682637be-ca86-4888-8abe-1687a94e04d3-iKVM_capture(4).jpg
                                dc04e413-e5d6-4811-819a-20166f7b4e74-iKVM_capture(5).jpg
                                +

                                @stephenw10 said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                The max value shown there of 2201 means that Turbo is enabled. It never actually shows the turbo speed on a speed-step enabled CPU. But it could be hitting some thermal/power limit perhaps I agree. Though I'd expect to see some spikes above the 5Gbps if that was the case. At least some variation between repeated tests.

                                CPU is not thermal throttling, it is generally at 50C even with all the testing.

                                I am also not sure what are the suitable BIOS settings for the pfsense since I am having hard time. Is there anyone with the same CPU?

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

                                  You will never see the reported CPU frequency show the 3.0GHz turbo value. pfSense can only ever see 2201 which means the full speed with turbo.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • P Offline
                                    pwood999
                                    last edited by

                                    You should probably separate the problem into stages rather the just assume is a CPU issue.

                                    Ideally you need to build a Lab setup rather than use a production system. That way you have control over any background activities.

                                    Test with UDP between each server & PfSense iperf directly. Try running it with PfSense as the server, and then the other way round. That should prove you can get full speed to & from each server to PF in all modes & prove your Microtik VLAN's plus PF Firewall rules.

                                    If the above works, then it must be the PF Routing engine where the packets are being dropped.

                                    A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • A Offline
                                      Averlon @pwood999
                                      last edited by Averlon

                                      @pwood999 said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                      You should probably separate the problem into stages rather the just assume is a CPU issue.

                                      Can you name the stages you have in mind to divide the problem into?
                                      CPU performance is crucial on a platform where packet forwarding is performed in software. Testing with UDP is a non-sense, cause it has no flow control and you have to calculate the possible throughput by accounting the packet lost. Running pfSense as iPerf server coast also CPU time to process packets received and does not reflect the possible throughput of the platform. Testing between two endpoints connected to Pfsense is the right way to do. It's why it is called throughput ...
                                      Devices in between may affect possible throughput, especially when packet lost occurs there for whatever reason and TCP congestion algorithms kicks in. So it's good to check the interface counter in the path and ensure there are no drops on interfaces in the path for whatever reason.

                                      My suggestion is to disable HT / SMT, scale queues down to 4 and there might be another improvement. The Intel SpeedShift may work better on packed level rather than core level.

                                      LaxarusL P 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • LaxarusL Offline
                                        Laxarus @Averlon
                                        last edited by Laxarus

                                        @Averlon what would you suggest for other BIOS power settings? Can pfSense manage power well enough for me to disable BIOS control? From my testing, when I let pfSense manage the power, it did not go over the 2200 limit (or I put some wrong settings in the BIOS and got stuck at 2200 when I let pfsense handle the power management)

                                        w0wW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • w0wW Offline
                                          w0w @Laxarus
                                          last edited by

                                          @Laxarus
                                          152d9ae8-3d7b-4379-83ce-30dd47ad22f5-image.png
                                          And never getting closer with your settings.

                                          This is what I am using on a Windows machine

                                          iperf3 -c 192.168.40.40 -P 8 -t 30 -O 3 -w 2M -N -R

                                          As @stephenw10 already said, this is not a CPU frequency issue, this is just maximum reported by pfSense.

                                          @Laxarus said in Cannot Achieve 10g pfsense bottleneck:

                                          I cannot afford testing this hardware in a virtual environment. This is currently in production and there is no backup for it.

                                          Are you using UEFI mode and SATA drive or this is NVME installation?

                                          LaxarusL 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • LaxarusL Offline
                                            Laxarus @w0w
                                            last edited by

                                            @w0w ı was using legacy but switched to uefi later thinking this will improve things but it did not change anything. Installation is on a m.2 nvme.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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