Would apinger (or anything else on pfsense) interfere with streaming Hulu?

MakOwner

I'm having horrible issues with streaming hulu to a FireTV behind pfSense, and although it looks more and more like a networking issue, speedtest.net and speedof.me both report sufficient bandwidth and low enough latency to provide more than sufficient bandwidth for video streaming.

I'm at a loss and pretty much flailing in the dark at this point.

cmb

Nothing would discriminate one site from another. Speed tests don't run very long, so might not be indicative of performance for streaming purposes. Something like streaming Youtube or Netflix as a comparison would be better. And/or Hulu from a different device.

Stewart

I've noticed an issue with squid whereby networked PCs could stream just fine by the Netflix app on iPhones wouldn't stream. Try it on a PC and see if you have the same problems. It may help narrow down the issue. Then again, this may have nothing to do with your issue. Good Luck!

Guest

I'm at a loss and pretty much flailing in the dark at this point.

It would be perhaps better that you provide us some more details of your configuration and other things such as;

Country & Internet connection & ISP
Used modem or router in front of the pfSense firewall
installed packets and enabled services in pfSense firewall
used or enabled features and options in pfSense firewall such as IDS/IPS, Proxy or AV scanning
Are a WiFi card is installed in the pfSense?
What kind of hardware is used to run pfSense? (Board, CPU, RAM, NICs, drives or storages)

The most common way I know is setting up a DMZ and there inside of this DMZ the net or multimedia
players or Internet TV devices would be placed in without Squid filtering and over GB Ethernet LAN Ports.

If WiFi is used to the streaming clients it would be often a benefit to use a dedicated WiFi AP connected
to a Switch in the LAN or DMZ, that is then better to serve the WiFi clients.

MakOwner

@BlueKobold:

I'm at a loss and pretty much flailing in the dark at this point.

It would be perhaps better that you provide us some more details of your configuration and other things such as;

Country & Internet connection & ISP
US, Verizon FIOS Business account 50/50 with fairly consistent 55+ both ways.
Used modem or router in front of the pfSense firewall
Direct ethernet to Verizon ONT.
installed packets and enabled services in pfSense firewall
2.2.4 stock, right off the CD.
used or enabled features and options in pfSense firewall such as IDS/IPS, Proxy or AV scanning
Nope. IPV4 only, DHCP and NTP, no addon packages, no proxy, nothing.
Are a WiFi card is installed in the pfSense?
Nope.
What kind of hardware is used to run pfSense? (Board, CPU, RAM, NICs, drives or storages)
Dell PowerEdge 850
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz 2 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 1 core(s) x 2 HTT threads
dual 1GB Broadcom NICs, bge driver
Memory 2GB RAM.
Running from a 16GB 600x CF card connected via the onboard SATA port to a SATA to CF adapter. (Brand new, bought it and did a fresh 2.2.4 install last weekend.)

I recently changed the server from a chassis that has a NIC chipset that didn't work with the drivers on the install CD - I used an add in quad port 1GB Intel NIC.

If WiFi is used to the streaming clients it would be often a benefit to use a dedicated WiFi AP connected
to a Switch in the LAN or DMZ, that is then better to serve the WiFi clients.

A Linksys EA6300 is hanging off the switch on the green network, however the FireTV is configured for Wired access only.

Guest

You could be trying out to enable the following;

PowerD (hi adaptive)
Is really urgent to get the power from the CPU that is just in the moment needed
increasing the mbuf size step by step
You might be having to less RAM inside to do so
tuning for Broadcom NICs
Could be a hit, but not a must be.
Installing better NICs likes Intel server grade net work adapters
Would be the best option here as I see it right.
Tuning and Troubleshooting Network Cards

"System->Advanced“ "Use PowerD" enable hi adaptive

MakOwner

@BlueKobold:

You could be trying out to enable the following;

PowerD (hi adaptive)
Is really urgent to get the power from the CPU that is just in the moment needed

increasing the mbuf size step by step
You might be having to less RAM inside to do so

tuning for Broadcom NICs
Could be a hit, but not a must be.

Installing better NICs likes Intel server grade net work adapters
Would be the best option here as I see it right.
Tuning and Troubleshooting Network Cards

"System->Advanced“ "Use PowerD" enable hi adaptive

I have already tried using Intel (Server) NIC and did not see any difference.
For this reason, I'll leave tuning the Broadcoms until later.

PowerD was not selected, but was already set at "hiadaptive".
I presume checking this activates the daemon and requires a reboot?

Edit: Random other information that makes me think this is not pfSense or (my) network related: Other media (amazon/Netflix) play fine, only Hulu is having the issue.