From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 18 17:55:23 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 05FD516A4CE for ; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 17:55:23 +0000 (GMT) Received: from rwcrmhc13.comcast.net (rwcrmhc13.comcast.net [204.127.198.39]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B238943D39 for ; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 17:55:22 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jshamlet@comcast.net) Received: from [68.49.62.120] (pcp04631688pcs.gambrl01.md.comcast.net[68.49.62.120]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc13) with ESMTP id <2004061817544801500sst5de>; Fri, 18 Jun 2004 17:54:48 +0000 From: "J. Seth Henry" To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 13:52:16 -0400 User-Agent: KMail/1.6.2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <200406181353.31623.jshamlet@comcast.net> Subject: Odd performance issues - fxp vs xl? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 17:55:23 -0000 Guys, I recently had a little run-in with lightning during a recent thunderstorm - which destroyed my FreeBSD based router (along with a good chunk of my home automation system...) The machine had a VIA EPIA mainboard with a 933MHz processor. I had two 3Com 3C905C-TX boards installed for the router, and used the local vr interface for monitoring (although it was mostly unused). The machine had a 40GB ATA hard disk, and 128MB of RAM. It performed quite well as a router up until the storm. The machine ran a custom compiled version of FreeBSD 4.8, and I used ipfilter/ipnat for routing. Now, I have a new machine with a Tyan S2425 mainboard, and a 850MHz Pentium III processor. The Tyan board has two Intel 10/100 Pro (fxp) interfaces onboard. The system has an 18GB Ultrawide SCSI drive and Adaptec 29160UW controller - and 256MB of RAM. (it was a workstation before being pressed into service as a router). This machine had just been upgraded to FreeBSD 4.10-REL - and I recently recompiled again to add some IPFILTER options. The trouble is, the new machine routes much slower than the original. Even text based (ssh) traffic appears slower. X apps are always a bit slow, and I could always see the refreshes, but it takes forever now. I replicated as much of the configuration from the original machine as I could (same ipf.rules, ipnat.rules, sysctl.conf, etc). The new machine runs an identical software set (dhcpd, sshd, etc). As far as I know, nothing is consuming an inordinate amount of CPU time. In theory, the new machine is better all around. More RAM, faster CPU, etc - so I am a little confused as to what the problem could be? It seems as though the network adapters could be the issue, but this is a broadband link 3Mb/s peak from comcast - to a 10/100 adapter??? I did enable the downloadable firmware for the internal network interface (link0), but turning it on or off doesn't seem to make a difference. Any ideas? Thanks, -Seth