The APU2/3/4 devices are predestined for use as routers under OPNsense: Inexpensive reliable hardware with open source BIOS. Accordingly, it is often used by users here in the forum.
The performance of the used SOC AMD GX412TC is certainly much lower compared to i3 or i5 systems. However, I can say from experience that they are more than sufficient in many cases and more performance is simply not necessary. And that's why I prefer such a cost-effective and power-saving device whenever possible.
However, questions have been piling up here and in other forums over the past few months as to why APU-based firewall performance dips and doesn't seem to be enough for some, while it's fast enough for others in a similar context.
Of course, this always depends on the individual case: What services are enabled on the firewall? Does WAN have to be connected via PPPoE? How large is the MTU? Are the correct tunables set? Etc.
Meanwhile I am not sure if there is not one more aspect: I have two APU2 in use (APU2C4 and APU2E4). I noticed that they are really responsive and powerful after a reboot. After some time (several hours), they become noticeably sluggish and the CPU utilization suddenly seems higher.
I then noticed that after a reboot, the APU can scale up the frequency to the nominal maximum, which is 1GHZ. After a while, however, the maximum achievable frequency seems to be reduced to 600MHz. This then remains the same until a reboot. After the reboot, the 1GHz can be reached again for a certain time. Until suddenly the 600MHz limit applies again.
I would be interested to know how the situation looks like with your APU. If you want to participate, you can post your observations here. In the following I describe how you can determine the maximum busy clock.
You need console or SSH access to your OPNsense:All the measurements are done on the console or in an SSH shell on the OPNsense. If you do not have access to the console, you can set up SSH access as follows:
- System: Settings: Administration
- Secure Shell Server: Enable Secure Shell
- Root Login: Permit root user login
- Authentication Method: Permit password login
- Now you should be able to access with ssh YOUR_USER@YOUR_FIREWALL_IP
- If you do not access with root, you may have to become super user: su
Note: After taking the measurements, the access can be deactivated again for security reasons.
You need to install and use the tool turbostat:The measurements are done with the tool turbostat, which can be installed as follows:
pkg add http://pkg0.isc.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/turbostat-4.17_2.txz
rehashBefore using turbostat you have to load the kernel module cpuctl once before doing measurements:
kldload cpuctlA measurement series is started as follows:
turbostat --interval 3After that the tool prints the CPU statistics every 3 seconds.
After a reboot everything runs normally and the output shows that the Bzy_MHz is near 1GHz:
root@router:~ # turbostat --interval 3
turbostat version 17.06.23 - Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
turbostat: /dev/cpuctl0 missing, kldload cpuctl: No such file or directory
root@router:~ # kldload cpuctl
root@router:~ # turbostat --interval 3
turbostat version 17.06.23 - Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
CPUID(0): AuthenticAMD 13 CPUID levels; family:model:stepping 0xf:30:1 (15:48:1)
CPUID(1): SSE3 MONITOR - - - TSC MSR - -
CPUID(6): APERF, No-TURBO, No-DTS, No-PTM, No-HWP, No-HWPnotify, No-HWPwindow, No-HWPepp, No-HWPpkg, No-EPB
CPUID(7): No-SGX
NSFOD /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_driver
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 355 38.76 915 998 170
0 0 247 28.12 880 998 32
1 1 222 25.44 871 998 69
2 2 414 44.66 928 998 43
3 3 536 56.82 943 998 26
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 313 34.39 910 998 334
0 0 410 44.19 928 998 184
1 1 336 36.68 915 998 80
2 2 236 26.66 885 998 49
3 3 269 30.02 898 998 21
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 267 29.60 904 998 247
0 0 520 54.88 947 998 68
1 1 289 31.59 914 998 82
2 2 127 15.56 813 998 42
3 3 135 16.36 825 998 55
^C
When the OPNsense has been running for a few hours, the output shows that the Bzy_MHz is below 600MHz (even under maximum load):
root@router:~ # turbostat --interval 3
turbostat version 17.06.23 - Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
CPUID(0): AuthenticAMD 13 CPUID levels; family:model:stepping 0xf:30:1 (15:48:1)
CPUID(1): SSE3 MONITOR - - - TSC MSR - -
CPUID(6): APERF, No-TURBO, No-DTS, No-PTM, No-HWP, No-HWPnotify, No-HWPwindow, No-HWPepp, No-HWPpkg, No-EPB
CPUID(7): No-SGX
NSFOD /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_driver
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 52 8.61 599 998 162
0 0 78 13.01 599 998 37
1 1 37 6.21 599 998 69
2 2 44 7.40 599 998 35
3 3 47 7.82 599 998 21
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 57 9.56 598 997 208
0 0 87 14.48 598 996 51
1 1 45 7.53 598 996 79
2 2 55 9.15 599 998 62
3 3 42 7.09 599 998 16
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 59 9.81 599 999 297
0 0 94 15.67 600 1000 67
1 1 45 7.56 600 1000 104
2 2 60 9.97 599 998 68
3 3 36 6.01 599 998 58
^C
I've got an APU2E4 running firmware v4.13.0.2 and the core performance boost feature is enabled - OPNsense 21.1-amd64
root@hush:/ # turbostat --interval 3
turbostat version 17.06.23 - Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
CPUID(0): AuthenticAMD 13 CPUID levels; family:model:stepping 0xf:30:1 (15:48:1)
CPUID(1): SSE3 MONITOR - - - TSC MSR - -
CPUID(6): APERF, No-TURBO, No-DTS, No-PTM, No-HWP, No-HWPnotify, No-HWPwindow, No-HWPepp, No-HWPpkg, No-EPB
CPUID(7): No-SGX
NSFOD /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu2/cpufreq/scaling_driver
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 436 46.23 944 998 2631
0 0 397 42.67 929 998 153
1 1 432 45.78 944 998 2270
2 2 404 42.63 947 998 99
3 3 513 53.83 953 998 109
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 431 45.38 951 998 671
0 0 351 37.51 936 998 48
1 1 527 55.12 957 998 454
2 2 375 39.53 950 998 65
3 3 472 49.38 955 998 104
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 314 32.95 954 998 1267
0 0 204 22.01 925 998 171
1 1 358 37.30 959 998 701
2 2 264 27.91 947 998 195
3 3 431 44.56 967 998 200
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 301 31.59 953 998 1600
0 0 219 23.64 928 998 67
1 1 306 31.95 957 998 1278
2 2 170 18.10 937 998 132
3 3 510 52.68 967 998 123
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 269 27.81 966 998 783
0 0 279 29.08 960 998 145
1 1 350 36.08 969 998 374
2 2 235 24.30 966 998 135
3 3 211 21.78 969 998 129
^C
Looks like this on my apu4d4:
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 87 14.47 599 998 7731
0 0 28 4.71 599 998 1023
1 1 42 6.95 599 998 2394
2 2 147 24.60 599 998 543
3 3 129 21.62 599 998 3771
BIOS is coreboot v4.13.0.2.
Thanks! Interesting!
@hushcoden: Your CPU seems to run normal - up to 1GHz. How long has it been running, when you run turbostat?
@pmhausen: Your CPU seems to be stuck at 600 MHz. As are mine after some time after a reboot.
The question is: What are the differences between the setups?
- Are all your NIC ports connected (under some load) and thus producing IRQs?
- What are your custom tunables?
What I can say: I have tried multiple BIOS versions without any difference. And even disabling Core Power Boost in BIOS didn't help. CPU is still stuck a 600MHz after one or two hours.
Maybe we will find the root cause.
root@opnsense:~ # uptime
9:14PM up 5:34, 1 user, load averages: 0.34, 0.42, 0.36
root@opnsense:~ # turbostat --interval 2
turbostat version 17.06.23 - Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
CPUID(0): AuthenticAMD 13 CPUID levels; family:model:stepping 0xf:30:1 (15:48:1)
CPUID(1): SSE3 MONITOR - - - TSC MSR - -
CPUID(6): APERF, No-TURBO, No-DTS, No-PTM, No-HWP, No-HWPnotify, No-HWPwindow, No-HWPepp, No-HWPpkg, No-EPB
CPUID(7): No-SGX
NSFOD /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_driver
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 409 43.61 938 998 7590
0 0 143 15.96 896 998 564
1 1 528 55.93 944 998 2895
2 2 494 52.45 942 998 822
3 3 472 50.11 941 998 3309
^C
What I changed was: configure powerd to use "Maximum" instead of "Hiadaptive".
I'll check again tomorrow in the morning.
That is interesting! Thanks.
I've attached my power savings settings and my tunables.
root@hush:/ # uptime
9:02PM up 2 days, 2:11, 1 user, load averages: 1.01, 0.91, 0.85
root@hush:/ # turbostat --interval 3
turbostat version 17.06.23 - Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
CPUID(0): AuthenticAMD 13 CPUID levels; family:model:stepping 0xf:30:1 (15:48:1)
CPUID(1): SSE3 MONITOR - - - TSC MSR - -
CPUID(6): APERF, No-TURBO, No-DTS, No-PTM, No-HWP, No-HWPnotify, No-HWPwindow, No-HWPepp, No-HWPpkg, No-EPB
CPUID(7): No-SGX
NSFOD /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_driver
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 323 34.65 932 998 4694
0 0 368 39.41 935 998 89
1 1 394 42.28 932 998 4448
2 2 331 35.47 934 998 89
3 3 197 21.45 921 998 68
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 178 19.21 926 998 1916
0 0 236 25.55 926 998 6
1 1 162 17.25 940 998 1742
2 2 190 20.53 924 998 154
3 3 124 13.52 914 998 14
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 219 23.63 927 998 3277
0 0 295 31.81 927 998 87
1 1 258 27.77 929 998 3176
2 2 120 12.70 941 998 13
3 3 204 22.25 916 998 1
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 138 14.68 938 998 4244
0 0 146 15.74 930 998 100
1 1 115 12.15 944 998 3978
2 2 163 17.21 945 998 166
3 3 128 13.63 936 998 0
^C
@thowe: update as promised.
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 418 44.10 947 998 7750
0 0 236 25.09 940 998 534
1 1 238 26.08 911 998 1829
2 2 554 58.06 954 998 2052
3 3 643 67.16 958 998 3335
I immediately suspected powerd when I read your post, but changing the settings did not have an immediate effect without a reboot, so it took me some time to have an opportunity for that.
@hushcoden is not running powerd at all ... which would fit the picture.
This would mean that the problem occurs in connection with powerd.
Short-term recommendation for maximum performance would be to switch off powerd or set it to profile Maximum. However, with the effect that unnecessarily much energy is consumed.
I have a ticket open with the BIOS developers and will provide the information there. Because the goal should be that we can use the power dynamically without burning energy senselessly.
I have now also set my powerd to maximum and restarted. Can confirm that the problem does not occur.
Core CPU Avg_MHz Busy% Bzy_MHz TSC_MHz IRQ
- - 523 55.64 940 998 536
0 0 431 46.42 927 999 194
1 1 486 52.01 935 998 123
2 2 619 65.20 950 998 92
3 3 557 58.92 945 998 127
This damn AMD jaguar SoC still has lot of problems even after so many years of maturity (this exact 600Mhz stuck problem seems recurring every single year, even if it was "solved" in coreboot multiple times).
I think it is not so clear what is the cause this time. Powerd? SOC? BIOS? Something else?
If it works as expected without powerd then my personal solution is "don't run it, then". I mean, the APU series of devices are such low power platforms anyway, there's probably not much to gain.
A ~12 watt device left running 24/7 is gonna cost you ~£10/year... so....
Thing I'd like to know is why, inspite of the newer BIOS's, the CPU still does boost to 1.4Ghz....?
QuoteThing I'd like to know is why, inspite of the newer BIOS's, the CPU still does boost to 1.4Ghz....?
Yes, this should be the case if it is enabled in the BIOS. However, it is not easy to verify since the boost is CPU-internal and can hardly be observed from the outside. The easiest way to find out is with benchmarks, e.g. with stress-ng. There are typical bogo ops values for CPB on and off.
Update:
Since BIOS version v4.14.0.1 (June 2021) the problem seems to be fixed:Quotewith the recent v4.14.0.1 we have fixed some issues related to CPU boost and C-states which may help with the problem of idling CPUs and stuck frequencies. It should also improve the stability of the BSD systems.
coreboot didn't include the core C6 (CC6) save state memory in the memory map. OS could accidentally access this memory and overwrite core states. CC6 is required for CPU boost to work and is a lower power state for a core.
I can confirm that with the current version v4.14.0.6 I don't see the problem anymore. I.e. with the current BIOS you can turn on the powerd under OPNsense on an APU2 and leave it on highadaptive. The CPU adapts well to the load and always goes back to maximum frequency if necessary.
If you don't need gigabit internet, the APU2 is still an extremely proven and stable base for OPNsense. I have two of them.
Originally it effectively looked like the problem was solved for quite some time.
To be sure, I just logged into the firewall again and looked.
Unfortunately, I find that despite new firmware, the problem is still there.
The BIOS developers have been informed. In the meantime better turn off Powerd or set it to maximum.
I don't think I'm necro'ing this thread since I'm using identical hardware (APU2E4,) just on a later version of OPNsense which may have broken something.
My system:
root@myopnsenserouter:~ # uname -a
FreeBSD myopnsenserouter.mydomain.com 13.2-RELEASE-p10 FreeBSD 13.2-RELEASE-p10 stable/24.1-n254984-f7b006edfa8 SMP amd64
I installed turbostat, and after successfully loading the kernel module:
kldload cpuctl
when running turbostat it executes and appears to start OK, but after 5 seconds it core-dumps:
root@myopnsenserouter:~ # turbostat
turbostat version 17.06.23 - Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>
CPUID(0): AuthenticAMD 13 CPUID levels; family:model:stepping 0xf:30:1 (15:48:1)
CPUID(1): SSE3 MONITOR - - - TSC MSR - -
CPUID(6): APERF, No-TURBO, No-DTS, No-PTM, No-HWP, No-HWPnotify, No-HWPwindow, No-HWPepp, No-HWPpkg, No-EPB
CPUID(7): No-SGX
NSFOD /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu3/cpufreq/scaling_driver
Floating exception (core dumped)
Here is the dmesg output:
pid 65735 (turbostat), jid 0, uid 0: exited on signal 8 (core dumped)
My intuition is that the device tree or device names have moved & turbostat is simply crashing because it can't find the device to sample?
Any further hints or comments as to how to fix this, or if turbostat's functionality is broken by changes in OPNsense over the past couple years?
Replying further, as I found another relevant thread on this turbostat core-dump issue:
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=30148.msg145554#msg145554 (https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=30148.msg145554#msg145554)
In my case, I think I did install the most-recent version of turbostat, but it's still crashing. Oh well, I guess no resolution at this time:
root@myopnsenserouter:~ # file /usr/local/sbin/turbostat
/usr/local/sbin/turbostat: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (FreeBSD), dynamically linked, interpreter /libexec/ld-elf.so.1, for FreeBSD 13.2, FreeBSD-style, stripped
root@myopnsenserouter:~ # uname -a
FreeBSD myopnsenserouter.mydomain.com 13.2-RELEASE-p10 FreeBSD 13.2-RELEASE-p10 stable/24.1-n254984-f7b006edfa8 SMP amd64