PfSense kernel: interrupt storm detected on "irq257:"; throttling interrupt sour

VSpike

Hi.

I've installed pfSense on an old Sony Vaio notebook to use as a home firewall/router. It's a Core2Duo with 2GB RAM and an SSD.

[2.2.1-RELEASE][admin@gateway.kcnet]/root: vmstat -i
interrupt total rate
irq1: atkbd0 154 0
irq9: acpi0 105312 0
irq14: ata0 318167 1
irq17: wpi0 uhci0+ 2969399 11
irq20: hpet0 cbb0 294224736 1121
irq21: fwohci0+ 1 0
irq23: ehci0 27220716 103
irq256: hdac0 76 0
irq257: mskc0 7298558 27
Total 332137119 1266

( section of dmesg output )
mskc0: <marvell yukon="" 88e8055="" gigabit="" ethernet="">port 0x2000-0x20ff mem 0xf6000000-0xf6003fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci2
msk0: <marvell technology="" group="" ltd.="" yukon="" ec="" ultra="" id="" 0xb4="" rev="" 0x03="">on mskc0
miibus0: <mii bus="">on msk0
e1000phy0: <marvell 88e1149="" gigabit="" phy="">PHY 0 on miibus0
e1000phy0: none, 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-master, 1000baseT-FDX, 1000baseT-FDX-master, auto, auto-flow

This port is in use as the LAN port, and these messages do seem to coincide with times of high traffic. However, peak traffic seems to be typically about 300-400 packets per second in and out. RRD shows about 5Mb/s peak (probably nearer 10-15 in short bursts which are getting averaged out) so should be well within port capability.

Any ideas of how to resolve this issue (if it is an issue)?

Thanks!</marvell></mii></marvell></marvell>

<marvell yukon="" 88e8055="" gigabit="" ethernet=""></marvell>

Perhaps this is owed to the marvel chip set, but I am not really sure.

VSpike

Re-reading my post today, it's not 100% clear - sorry!

I'm getting a lot of messages in the log saying 'pfSense kernel: interrupt storm detected on "irq257:"; throttling interrupt source'. vmstat -i shows that this IRQ belongs to the built-in ethernet port, which appears to be a Marvell one. These messages seem to coincide with times of higher traffic, but overall the traffic is very low compared to what the port should be able to handle.

If anyone has any idea on how to debug or fix this, that would be great.

but overall the traffic is very low compared to what the port should be able to handle.

Please use iPerf from one PC to another one across the pfSense and then you will be getting a real
number of what the NIC is capable to perform.

Also perhaps the auto sensing at this ports a miss matching could this be?

Well since it's a laptop and spewing IRQ messages i would disable all unused things in the BIOS. Like sound and all that use interrupts. For console only who needs trackpad or bluetooth?
Just a thought…

@VSpike
Could also being interesting for to to solve it out or better understand it.
Tuning & Troubleshooting Network Cards