PfSense virtio networking under KVM

cyr123 · Mar 25, 2011, 8:20 AM

Hi.

I took it upon myself to compile the FreeBSD virtio network driver to use on my pfSense that I have running on a KVM host.

The files and quick instructions are posted on the web:

http://wp.area26.se/2011/03/24/virtio-for-pfsense-2-0rc1/

Quick instructions:

Make a backup of your pfSense VM!
Download the driver files from the URL above.
Unzip and then copy the files (*.ko) to your pfSense, and put them under /boot/kernel
Edit the file /boot/loader.conf and add the following lines:
virtio_load="YES"
virtio_pci_load="YES"
if_vtnet_load="YES"
Shut down pfSense, change the NIC type to “virtio” and restart.
Re-assign your interfaces in pfSense.

It seems to work OK for me, so it may work for you as well - YMMV.

The driver BTW was not written by me, this is where I found it:

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-current/2011-January/022036.html

All appropriate credit goes to the original author…

sullrich · Apr 5, 2011, 3:31 PM

We have added this driver to 2.0. Please test a new snapshot and it should be present sometime tomorrow.

kobuki · Apr 19, 2011, 1:31 AM

I've installed the latest snapshot from iso. The drivers are not included in the installed system (in /boot/kernel). If I install/configure them from the mentioned source, they work fine, but an update launched on the web interface deletes the drivers from /boot/kernel. I need to copy them back after every update and reconfigure the interfaces. It's rather tedious since I need to switch back and forth between e1000 and virtio in KVM… Can you suggest a solution?

kobuki · Apr 19, 2011, 10:49 AM

Hasn't anyone tried a similar setup? For example Debian's kFreeBSD installs the virtio network drives by default, also working nicely. The reinstalling of drivers can be semi-automated with init scripts but I don't really think that would be the solution.

homa · May 5, 2011, 6:57 PM

The download link isn't available any more.

can anybody upload the driver.

thanks

preview · May 12, 2011, 2:09 PM

Same here.

I will love to get a hand on these drivers.

kobuki · May 13, 2011, 8:00 PM

i386: http://www.multiupload.com/4TL8NFJRLN
amd64: http://www.multiupload.com/UGFE0L4MKB

catfish · May 13, 2011, 10:28 PM

rapidshare isn't serious man!

kobuki · May 14, 2011, 1:32 PM

I guess you can use the other six services to download.

v1ad · Jun 6, 2011, 8:02 PM

Apparently this mod breaks traffic shaper, the interfaces are not available under traffic shaper. I wonder if there is an easy way to fix it…

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,37518.0.html

jimp · Jun 8, 2011, 3:35 PM

Try adding it to the list at line 3520 of /etc/inc/interfaces.inc

It may not really be altq capable, but you can try.

tyllee · Aug 11, 2011, 7:14 PM

Will the virtio driver be included in the final release of PfSense 2.0?

It's mentioned in this thread that it's included since 2.0 but I won't get it working only by installing it manually.

"We have added this driver to 2.0. Please test a new snapshot and it should be present sometime tomorrow."

valshare · Sep 3, 2011, 7:01 PM

Hello,

i would bump this topic and ask, are there now virtio drivers in the latest pfSense 2.0 RCx?

Regards, Valle

valshare · Sep 10, 2011, 12:11 PM

@jimp

can you please make a statement and tell us if in the final pfsense 2.0 will be virtio drivers for kvm?

Thanx for answer.

Valshare

valshare · Sep 19, 2011, 7:25 PM

after a view tests, i can say that the actual virtio driver didn´t work correkt. More than 3 network interfaces didn´t work correct (routing)

catfish · Sep 19, 2011, 7:57 PM

thanks for that information. did you also test the virtio disk driver?

valshare · Sep 21, 2011, 2:56 PM

hi,

no i didn´t test die virtio disc driver because of the trouble with the virtio net drivers. I think its better to wait for the offical, when there ever will be released.

I have tested successfull the network e1000 and iscsi disc drivers with pfsense.

paolo_denti · Oct 8, 2011, 1:39 PM

any news about that ?
are the virtio drivers included in the 2.0 final release ?

toomeek · Nov 7, 2011, 11:02 PM

Hello!
Running pfSense-2.0-RELEASE-i386
Same problem here :)
On E1000 with KVM I'm getting 250-300Mbit/s
This isn't enough for internal routing (for example when using pfSense to route traffic between 192.168.x.x and 10.x.x.x).
I'm just curious about that.

Okay. Some tests.
Q1: why I have to exit shell and go into shell again (press 8…) to see new command (iperf) available after adding in packages?
Q2: reaching about 240-250Mbit/s DebianVM+virtio-net -> pfSenseVM+e1000 and pfSenseVM+e1000 -> DebianVM+virtio-net
Q3: there is no problem to reach about 900Mbit/s from DebianVM+virtio-net to the client.
Q4: timeouts on IDE drive attached in pfSenseVM. No such thing when using virtio-storage in DebianVM.
Both VM placed on the same storage - software mdadm RAID1 with 2 drives.

WetWilly · Dec 12, 2011, 3:45 AM

maybe this could help:

http://people.freebsd.org/~kuriyama/virtio/