UMB/MBIM Support on Web Interface
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Now that the UMB/MBIM driver has been fully ported to FreeBSD and actually works (as much as it can) on 2.9.0, we need a way to configure it and support it in the web interface. In theory, it should just be modifying the interfaces editor to allow configuring the settings before passing them to umbctl. The settings in theory should be similar to PPP. We would also need to figure out the best way to store this in the configuration and what settings are actually needed.
Anyone have any experience adding a new interface type?
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Mmm, I tested this a while back and found the results disappointing. Are you actually seeing better connection rates?
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I have it working since a while, just opened a PR on github for you to check and test: https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/pull/4760
@4pack I saw your comment on the FreeBSD reviews portal ;-)
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Mmm, I tested it manually from the cli with an em7455 and it appeared to work fine but I didn't see any increase in throughput which was disappointing.
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@stephenw10 with respect to which mode/interface for em7455? I also have a spare EM7455 in my old Dell Venue 11 Pro I can test with just to see my bandwidth milage.
About the MC7710 which is older LTE class I confirm MBIM does not improve bandwidth with respect to the Sierra DirectIP mode which used to work with cdce driver up to pfSense 2.6.0 (and in my pfSense 2.7.x via patched cdce driver with reverted carrier detection capabilities).Anyway speed is dramatically faster then PPPoS mode.
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Mmm, for me it wasn't obviously faster using MBIM vs PPP. In both cases I was able to see ~15Mbps best case.
[admin@8200-2.stevew.lan]/root: umbctl umb0 umb0: state up, mode automatic, registration home network provider "SMARTY", dataclass GPRS, signal #99 phone number "", roaming "" (denied) APN "mob.asm.net", TX 50000000, RX 300000000 firmware "SWI9X30C_02.08.02.00", hardware "EM7455" -
@LuKePicci said in UMB/MBIM Support on Web Interface:
I have it working since a while, just opened a PR on github for you to check and test: https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/pull/4760
@4pack I saw your comment on the FreeBSD reviews portal ;-)
That PR looks pretty good. It just will obviously need to be ported to 2.8 and 2.9 as well.
And yeah, I've been working on getting this driver working in FreeBSD for a while. Helps when I have a ton of cell modems I don't use. Unfortunately they're all old ones.
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Yeah, I had the plan to port to 2.8.x but I couldn't find the RELENG_2_8_0 branch for the kernel to compile the umb driver against and so test the patches.
Not sure if the umb driver is now being shipped pre-built in 2.9.0 by default, in that case I might skip 2.8.x and port to 2.9.0 directly.
I also had the plan to rename "UMB" string references to "MBIM" as that is the actual protocol name. -
@LuKePicci yeah in 2.9.0, the UMB driver is shipped by default, so it might just be better to skip 2.8. I can also look for the kernel sources as well.
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You mean change the actual driver name? It's far less likely to be accepted if it requires additional patches over upstream.
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@stephenw10 said in UMB/MBIM Support on Web Interface:
You mean change the actual driver name? It's far less likely to be accepted if it requires additional patches over upstream.
Nope, I meant in my PR. I incorrectly used the driver name (umb) as an IP protocol name in pSsense patches within my PR.
Drivers in BSD have their own naming conventions, umb is correctly respecting that convention.That said, @stephenw10 I just realized the umb driver in CE 2.9.0 obviously lacks the patch I submitted for review here: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D58641
is by any chance possible for you or your team to provide a patched umb.ko for my testing? -
Hmm, I'll see what I can do. Adding patches to carry is always frowned upon though. It would be much better to just get it accepted upstream. But just for testing....let's see.
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Just added @4pack to reviewers, happy to include you as well if useful.
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Ha, no I'd be useless personally there. Let me see if I can get any traction internally.
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@LuKePicci I can send you my compiled version of this patch if you would like to try it on your end.
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@4pack that would help a lot as I could use one of the spare boxes I have already equipped with the MC7710. Just curious... how did you get it compiled? did you extract pfSense kernel flags somehow or you made it from vanilla FreeBSD reference commit?
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@LuKePicci I used the FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT latest VMDK image and brought in the master pfSense source repo. Then I just injected the patch you made and ran make on the umb module.
I DM'd you a link to the compiled module. I can also wrap up my entire development VM if you want that.
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@4pack thank you, ah ok so it's from vanilla Freebsd CURRENT, I fear there might be kernel flags/patch mismatch with the pfsense rebuild of the reference (older) 16-CURRENT. Let me test.
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@LuKePicci Eh there could be. I figured as long as I wasn't replacing the whole kernel and just replacing the UMB module, there wouldn't be too many issues. I haven't panic'd my system yet.
I also quickly ported over your 2.7.2 changes to 2.9.0. Haven't tested them yet though so no guarantees that it works or doesn't break anything.
https://github.com/4pack/pfsense/tree/umb290
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If the module loads it should be OK. Usually that sort of mismatch just rejects the module entirely. If there is a mismatch.
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