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    Kernel: arp: runt packet - What could be causing this?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved 2.1 Snapshot Feedback and Problems - RETIRED
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    • J
      JoeSzymkowicz
      last edited by

      My system logs are getting filled with this:

      Jul 20 15:17:00 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:17:00 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:17:15 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:17:15 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:17:30 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:17:30 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:17:45 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:17:45 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:00 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:00 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:15 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:15 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:30 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:30 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:45 kernel: arp: runt packet
      Jul 20 15:18:45 kernel: arp: runt packet

      This just recently started happening. How can I find what is causing this?

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      • D
        doktornotor Banned
        last edited by

        Well, ARP packet has been received however its size is shorter than suggested by the ARP header. Might be bad switch (port), bad NIC or whatever.

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        • J
          JoeSzymkowicz
          last edited by

          Ugh, I think my switch is bad. I replaced it, waited a bit, refreshed and they went away. That sucks I bought it only a year ago. I haven't noticed major network degradation; I might just try to grin and bear it for a while. Thank you.

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          • J
            JoeSzymkowicz
            last edited by

            And just like that, still on the faulty switch, the runt packet messages disappear. I will keep an eye on this in the future.

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            • J
              JoeSzymkowicz
              last edited by

              I just wanted to followup and give the group a post-mortem on this issue. The culprit behind these seems to have been a backup cell phone we keep around the house in case one gets broken, which I turned off around the time of my previous post. I have roughly 3 or 4 devices on wireless in my house and to be honest, I thought this would've been due to one of the 18 wired drops I have throughout the house (poor wiring, bad NIC, etc.)

              I have actually pulled the battery from the phone for the time being but I'm thinking about finding some kind of packet sniffer for Android to see if I can clearly see the packets in question. Interesting exercise.

              In the past couple days of searching though, I never found any way to identify the source interface of these runt packets within Pfsense; am I missing something? If not, would it be logical/practical to add something like that to the System Logs?

              EDIT: Could a mod move this out of the 2.1 Snapshot forum, since this doesn't directly relate to functions within 2.1?

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