Realistic Lifespan on Netgate Hardware 5100
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I have a 7 year old 5100 that's been causing me grief with routing and DNS. Unit was stable for years then suddenly craps out - network slows to a crawl then stops all WAN and DNS. I replaced the SSD last year and the unit ran for about six months before WAN/DNS issues appeared again and the routing and DNS issues stops all internet traffic. I've done a complete re-install which worked for about a week. The unit is now going down daily and hourly.
I really can't find anything in the software/hardware logs to explain what is happening. I am suspecting a board or power supply issue or both. I am now debating to do a complete re-install again with a reflash from USB or do I retire the device and upgrade to a 6100.
What are your experiences with Netgate hardware and longevity?
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@mike123 Sounds like a software/config issue tbh. Aside from eMMC wear, have seen no general issues except the amount of RAM gets too small over time . Or I suppose we have a client with one old 2440 that is super low on disk space after many years of upgrades, and the next choice will be to reinstall or replace. (Not a BE issue)
On to your symptoms..,
Is gateway monitoring logging anything for WAN?If you’re forwarding DNS ensure DNSSEC is disabled.
Messages on console?
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@SteveITS said in Realistic Lifespan on Netgate Hardware 5100:
@mike123 Sounds like a software/config issue tbh. Aside from eMMC wear, have seen no general issues except the amount of RAM gets too small over time . Or I suppose we have a client with one old 2440 that is super low on disk space after many years of upgrades, and the next choice will be to reinstall or replace. (Not a BE issue)
On to your symptoms..,
Is gateway monitoring logging anything for WAN?If you’re forwarding DNS ensure DNSSEC is disabled.
Messages on console?
DNSEC is disabled
no console messeges
I'm not clear why the WAN is acting intermittentlyI'm doing a complete rebuild from scratch. I will not use backups to restore. If it craps out again with a basic install the unit is going into the bin.
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Is there a reason why on a brand new clean install on my 5100 using an SSD drive (not eMMC), my ping times are higher and transfer speeds are 50% slower for IX2 to WAN (IGB0) compared to IGB1 to IGB0 (WAN)?
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@mike123 Generally, no. Check the note at https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/sg-5100/io-ports.html#:~:text=Note ? Are you seeing packet loss? Half duplex?
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@SteveITS said in Realistic Lifespan on Netgate Hardware 5100:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/sg-5100/io-ports.html
No packet loss but ping times are not consistent on IX2
I'm testing from my laptop directly connected to IX2/IGB1 and the WAN on IGB0
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@mike123 said in Realistic Lifespan on Netgate Hardware 5100:
WAN (IGB0) compared to IGB1 to IGB0 (WAN)
On a clean install with default configuration / minimal changes
- Cable / Dry joint
- NIC / hardware failure
On a restored configuration
- Old limiter setting
- Historical configuration incompatabiltiy
- Corrupted configuration
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@Patch said in Realistic Lifespan on Netgate Hardware 5100:
@mike123 said in Realistic Lifespan on Netgate Hardware 5100:
WAN (IGB0) compared to IGB1 to IGB0 (WAN)
On a clean install with default configuration / minimal changes
- Cable / Dry joint
- NIC / hardware failure
Fresh install, new cables that are tested, and the same cables used in all the tests. System shows 1000baseT <full-duplex> and no errors or faults or anything weird in the logs. On a bare clean install the CPU temps seem to be hovering between 39-43oC.
The problem I see is that the network stats are inconsistent. Sometimes low ping/latency/jitter, sometimes high. Seems to be more variability depending on which ports I use. That's why I am leaning towards the 5100 is either degrading or pre-failure.
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I've not seen a 5100 fail like that. Usually if I saw symptoms like that I would look for unexpected CPU loading.
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@stephenw10 said in Realistic Lifespan on Netgate Hardware 5100:
I've not seen a 5100 fail like that. Usually if I saw symptoms like that I would look for unexpected CPU loading.
I've been experiencing long delays and hangs using the web interface. Even after the clean re-install the UI has occasional delays. Would you consider that unexpected CPU loading?
