Panic with possible solution.

[cyber7]

Hi Guys (Please see the attached panic screenshots I had this morning after upgrading to today - 17-02-11 - snapshot)

Background:
I initially ran the pfSense Firewall on a VMware Server (ESXi), but decided to move this onto a dedicated server.  This was due to the fact that I started over-utilizing the ESXi box and had to do the move.  Since installing the new server, I have not been able to run for more than a 24hour period without a panic.  Yesterday, I started getting deadlocks on the system, which started me questioning the hardware itself.  (Memory, normally the culprit.)

At the same time:
My TELECOMS (Telkom SA, not my ISP, MWEB) started having problems on the DIGINET HARDWARE driven by the exchange and delivering my connection.  This caused mass confusion where to start looking at the problem, as now it could be HARDWARE, SOFTWARE or the LINE itself!  I also started getting MESSAGE 324 errors when opening HTTPS sites at my users, so all in all a mass mess.

What I did find:
Setting the MTU on the interfaces on the network to 1492 (default 1500) solved the 324 error. (MTU Missmatch)

So, is it not possible the errors (panics) I got was due to a miss-matched MTU?

I will keep an eye on this and report back.

Kind Regards
Aubrey Kloppers

[cyber7]

Further on this:

I see the
plip0: mtu 1500
enc0: mtu 1536
pfsync0: mtu 1460

Is it not possible that this could be part of the problem?
just my 10c

Kind regards
Aubrey

[cyber7]

even further on this:
(Possable DHCP fix…)

from: http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/mtu.htm
<start>It seems that the dhcp clients are not configured by default to do the same for dynamically-assigned configurations . So, you need to use a tweak to achieve the same. We're going to use the pre-up feature of /etc/network/interfaces like this:

iface eth0 inet dhcp
hostname "mymachine"
name LAN Interface
pre-up /sbin/ifconfig $IFACE mtu 1492
<end>Looking at this, it seems something has changed in the code of pfSense.  (Nic Drivers?)  I sould like to see if this is a possible solution to all the guys with DHCP problems...

Kind regards
Aubrey</end></start>

[cyber7]

even forther on this:

ORIGINAL CONFIG:
SUPERMICRO MB with 2*Onboard NIC's running on 4GB MEM, 500GB HDD, SUPERMICRO NIC with 2 GB ports.

CHANGED CONFIG:
Removed 1 MEM (2GB) card.
Disabled additional NIC (2*GB ports)

Background (original config):
1 * DIGINET line
1 * ADSL line
2 * LAN lines

(Changed config):
1 * DIGINET line
1 * LAN line
using the ONBOARD NICs.

Adding an additional NIC (OPT1) I got a DEADLOCK on the system.  The MTU on this nic is set by default to 1500.  Will be doing testing later tomorrow, changing the NIC MTU to 1492 first and then adding it into the system.  Will report back.

Kind regards
Aubrey
ps - I run a LIVE i386 release installed on the HDD. (Today's SNAP - 17-02-2011)

[cyber7]

Sorry to say, this is not the solution.  I am sitting remotely and just got locked out of the system…

Kind regards
Aubrey

[cmb]

@cyber7:

So, is it not possible the errors (panics) I got was due to a miss-matched MTU?

That particular panic was related to the PPTP or FTP proxy, upgrading should fix.

[jimp]

Due to the builders being offline the latest snap doesn't have the final fix in it yet. One is building now that should have it though.