Drop-outs with Modem Bridged and pf PPPoE
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Hello All!
Initial topography was:
TD-8817 [bridged] => pfSense [PPPoE] => 8 Port switch => LAN / WLAN (Linx, Win and Mac OS all on LAN)
Event is that Citrix, Teamspeak and file t/f stall or stop outright as they loose connection across all OS machines. So…... made some changes to the topography in the following stages to isolate the drama.
1/ 8817 [bridged] => Win7 Box using PPPoE to connect and stable.
2/ 8817 [bridged] => Mint13 using PPPoE and stable.
3/ 8817 [PPPoE] => 8p switch => LAN / WLAN and stable.Tests 1-3 rule out the modem being the source of the problem, the line or any other factor such as NIC or other hardware. Let's bring pfSense back into it but slowly…
4/ 8817 [PPPoE] => pfSense [f/w only NO rules] => 8p Switch => LAN / WLAN and stable.
5/ 8817 [PPPoE] => pfSense [f/w only and regular rules] => 8p switch => LAN / WLAN and stable.So that all looks good. Let's go back to the ideal scenario and see what happens…and I did
6 8817 [bridged] => pfSense [PPPoE and f/w] => 8p switch => LAN and WLAN and drop outs again.
PPPoE appears to be the guilty part or at least the routing function.
Version is:
2.0.1-RELEASE (i386)
built on Mon Dec 12 18:24:17 EST 2011
FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE-p6I am now back on iteration #5 above and all is stable.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
EDIT:::::::
I have read some more on similar dramas as well as the drop out with 'snort' which is not installed so that possible cause is ruled out. :( Still suffering drops that kill for example, iView on www.abc.net.au, Teamspeak loosing the channel and so on.
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Next update…
Been digging far and wide and read that the checksum on Realtek cards is broken and that as a result, pfSense may drop the connection randomly. I have a motherboard with Realtek NIC on board! Naturally I disabled that in System=>Advanced=>Networking "Hardware Checksum Offloading" with no positive impact. The random drop outs still take place.
If I directly connect to the 8817, no drop outs at all.
Thoughts?
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Another update….......
Removed ALL the Realtek NICs from the PC that I could - obviously I cannot remove the NIC on the motherboard.
Still dropping out.
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More updates…......
Extra reading on this site and others led me to locate that the GW_WAN default was not correctly set? Perhaps this might be the source of the drop outs?
No. Testing still gives drops.
:(
EDIT:::::
Modem is no longer bridged. -
You're right this is in the wrong place. You're not running a PPPoE server.
I would look for an MTU issue. Running pppoe increases the packet size due to the encapsulation. It shouldn't cause a problem, I'm running a similar setup and have never seen any issues. I have read others having problems on the forum. It could be your modem dropping oversized packets for example.
Steve
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Thanks for the reply Stephen….and yes, I realise that its in the wrong spot. :-\
I will take a peep at the MTU setting - that is a good tip. Since I started this thread, I have gone through some trials and testing. The one that I think has had the most impact is removing all Realtek NICs and disabling the one on the motherboard. It appears to be more stable that of recent time. My next step will be to go back to bridged and let pfSense do all the PPPoE work. Adjusting the MTU and expelling Realtek might save the day!
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OK some progress.
With the removal off all things Realtek, it appears to be stable. Out of interest, I am going to reinstall a Realtek card and see what impact that has…..........
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pfSense now stable…...................
Hope this assists someone.
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Id see if you can find a firmware update for your modem.
Is it possible your running pppoa on the modem but pppoe on your pfsense box when the modem is bridged?
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Id see if you can find a firmware update for your modem.
Is it possible your running pppoa on the modem but pppoe on your pfsense box when the modem is bridged?
Thanks for that and I had checked that possibility. With different modems, it still dropped. Remove the Realtek cards,,,,,,no more drops.
I appreciate you taking the time to reply…........
