Dual Core CPUs

jonnytabpni

Hi Folks,

Does pfSense benifit from a Dual Core CPU? Something like the Core 2 Duo..

Would I need to install the SMP kernel?

Thanks

Jonny

danswartz

You should get that by default.

jimp

Certain parts of the kernel, including pf, may not directly benefit from multiple CPUs/Cores, but much of the system as a whole will definitely take advantage of it.

You do need to install the SMP kernel, but as danswartz said, that is the default choice in the installer so you may already have it.

danswartz

One way to be sure it's ok is when it boots, on the console, you will see a message like:

SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!

(possibly more than one of these, depending on the number of cores)

jimp

You can also run this command from the console or Diagnostics > Command:

sysctl kern.smp.cpus

It will show you the number of active CPUs (real, cores, virtual, etc)