2008/8/6 OpenBSD Misc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Hi. I'm at my wits end. > > My original configuration: > I have a laptop (HP Pavillion dv9700). It comes with an integrated Intel > Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN adapter and is running Vista Home Premium. I > have a D-Link DWL-2200AP wireless access point. I have an old Gateway > computer with a P3 processor running at 650 MHz and five NICs that was > running FreeBSD 7. I have a Westell DSL modem with 3000/768 service through > Verizon. The Gateway is set up as a firewall with ipf. The notebook > connects wirelessly to the WAP, which is cabled into a NIC in the firewall, > which is cabled to the DSL modem through a different NIC. > > The problem: > I noticed that my wireless was running slowly. Verizon has a speed testing > website, so I test my speed with it. My upload speed nearly maxes out at >>700 Kbps no matter what my configuration is. My download speed doesn't > typically get above 90 Kbps. BUT, I have a PC running Windows XP Pro > connected to a third NIC in the firewall, and the speed test nearly maxes > out both upload and download speeds. > > What I did: > Okay, something's wrong with the wireless link. I connect the WAP directly > to the DSL modem and retest my speed. I'm running at FULL speed, so the > problem isn't with the wireless connection between the laptop and the WAP. > So I reconnect the WAP to the firewall with a different (new, prefab, > unopened) ethernet cable and retest. Download speed sucks again; it's not a > cabling issue. So I move to a different NIC and retest. Download speed > still sucks; it's not the NIC. So I move to the NIC to which my XP PC was > connected (which got fast download speeds) and retested. Download speed > STILL sucks. I buy a D-Link DAP-1522 wireless access point and replace the > DWL-2200AP. I retest and get sucky download speeds. I've been wanting to > move to OpenBSD and pf for some time now, so I install OpenBSD 4.3 on the > firewall, set up my DSL connection, DNS service, and DHCP service. I > configure pf with a minimal configuration that basically lets all outbound > traffic pass and blocks all inbound traffic from the internet. I test > connectivity, and my Vista laptop and XP PC both connect to the Internet and > can talk to each other. The firewall can talk to everything. I put all > cables back to their original configuration; everything's connected as it > was when I first noticed the problem except for the new WAP, the new OS, and > the new cable. I retest my speeds. I'm back where I started: XP PC gets > full speed internet service, laptop gets sucky download speeds through the > wireless link. So with OpenBSD on the Gateway I retry everything I just > described above with the new WAP and new cable and get the same results. I > put everything back to the original configuration again except the WAP, OS, > and cable. I test the speed over the wireless link again and get sucky > download speeds. I copy a large file from my XP PC to my laptop (which is > still connected to the firewall wirelessly all this time) and I get GREAT > transfer speeds. > > Conclusion: > So I can talk through my WAP and through my firewall to anything else on my > side of the internet connection at full speed, and everything that's not > wireless can talk through the firewall to the internet at full speed. But I > cannot talk through my WAP and through my firewall to the Internet at full > speed. I can talk through my WAP to the Internet (not through the firewall) > at full speed. > > Can anyone please offer some assistance? > > Thank you... > > > Additional information: > The three NICs in the firewall that I tried use the vr, xl, and ne drivers. > The vr has a VIA Rhine or RhineII chipset. The xl is a 3Com 3c905, and the > ne is a generic card using the Realtek 8029 chipset. >
<snip /> I'm clueless as to your actual problem, but I did have the following thoughts: The question is whether this problem is OS/software/configuration-specific. The fact that you've encountered the same problem with FreeBSD and OpenBSD seems to suggest that it's not OS/software-specific, but there are some commonalities between the various *BSDs, and there is more common code between Free- and OpenBSD than between Linux and OpenBSD. I don't know^W^W^WAccording to http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/firewalls-apps.html , FreeBSD uses IPF, IPFW and PF. Which did you use when you tried FreeBSD? If you used PF both on OpenBSD and FreeBSD, then it might be a PF problem. This may be a bit of work to even try, but are you encountering the same problems with the other firewalls under FreeBSD? If yes, then you could try to rule out problems because of common code in the OpenBSD and FreeBSD OSes by trying Linux/IPtables and checking whether you're having the same problems there. Obviously, what you also haven't changed is the mainboard (you only tried different NICs), though it would be really really really weird if such a problem turned out to be related to a specific mainboard. I'm not sure if things like MTU problems might come into play in your scenario, maybe someone more knowledgeable may be able to say if these can be ruled out. Just my two eurocents; sorry I can't be of more help. --ropers
