<![CDATA[How to test pfSense after previous problems]]>Hello,

I've been running pfSense (latest stable release) on an HP DL380 G5, the HP box was bringing us huge problems due to the NICs (broadcoms) were having troubles with pfSense.

So I thought like:
VMWare ESXi emulates Intel e1000 NICs, so in theory I would be able to run pfSense just fine under ESXi

But now i'm looking for a way to test if it runs just fine, there are the problems we've had before.

  • HIGH Ping

  • Bandwith not getting higher then 2Mbit (even when only a single device was connected to pfSense, connecting the same, single device to the modem gave us 120Mbit)

  • DNS Names not resolving with nameserver due to high ping.

Now i'd expect these problems to be solved with ESXi as I stated before, but can I rely on this theory? And how can I put it to the test, without having to put all 400 devices behind the pfSense firewall? (Those devices need 24/7 working internet access)

Thanks :)
aTastyAim

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/52151/how-to-test-pfsense-after-previous-problemsRSS for NodeSat, 13 Jun 2026 08:52:09 GMTSun, 20 Jan 2013 20:50:22 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:42:35 GMT]]>I may have remebered incorrectly about the errors, I can't now find a example of it. However:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,35895.0.html

Steve

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373875https://forum.netgate.com/post/373875Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:42:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:51:30 GMT]]>Well I could recall many errors thrown into the log. Couldn't recall what it was about.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373859https://forum.netgate.com/post/373859Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:51:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:34:57 GMT]]>Exactly. The Broadcom NICs are handled by ESXi so the issue is mute. Theoretically!  :)
If it was that problem I would have expected you to see many many errors in the logs.

Steve

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373856https://forum.netgate.com/post/373856Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:34:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:26:29 GMT]]>That's exactly what happened.
So, if I get this straight, it shouldn't happen when I run pfSense virtualized with ESXi (because ESXi emulates Intel PRO/1000 NICs)?

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373854https://forum.netgate.com/post/373854Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:26:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:22:04 GMT]]>Ah well that's more difficult to test if you have to wait 2 days for it to show up.  ;)
That does sound similar to the problem that is addressed by the tweaks in the wiki. The system eventually runs out of mbufs due to a driver issue and the NICs start throwing errors. However usually when that happens the logs are full of errors and the traffic stops almost entirely.

Steve

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373852https://forum.netgate.com/post/373852Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:22:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:14:12 GMT]]>@stephenw10:

Hmm, well since they are Broadcom NICs did you try the advise here:
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Tuning_and_Troubleshooting_Network_Cards#Broadcom_bce.284.29_Cards

I would expect it work fine under ESXi though. It should be easy to test that you're not restricted to 2Mbps on a 120Mbps connection.

Steve

Yes, I tried that, for me it didn't make the diffrence. And well, the issue is, when running unvirtualised on the broadcom NICs it ran fine for a few days, from then i'd only go downhill.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373851https://forum.netgate.com/post/373851Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:14:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:05:06 GMT]]>Hmm, well since they are Broadcom NICs did you try the advise here:
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Tuning_and_Troubleshooting_Network_Cards#Broadcom_bce.284.29_Cards

I would expect it work fine under ESXi though. It should be easy to test that you're not restricted to 2Mbps on a 120Mbps connection.

Steve

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373845https://forum.netgate.com/post/373845Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:05:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:27:56 GMT]]>I already swapped cables, no result, and set the interface to 100Mbit on both ends, which also, gave me no result.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373780https://forum.netgate.com/post/373780Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:27:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How to test pfSense after previous problems on Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:26:16 GMT]]>Those problems sound like an interface duplex mismatch or bad cable (or both  ;)).
You should check for errors on the interface. That is usually caused by a negotiation problem between the two ends of the link which can a result of one end not set to auto-negatioate speed/duplex or a bad cable.

Steve

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/373779https://forum.netgate.com/post/373779Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:26:16 GMT