Cryptograpic Accelerator Card

[joker72]

Will a Intel QuickAssist 8970 cryptographic accelerator Card help speed up VPN speed with and Intel I7 7700 CPU? My concern is is the Intel QuickAssist 8970 needed if the processor supports AES-NI?

I am looking to convert a Dell Optiplex SFF into a router/VPN end point.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SirDice]

It begs the question, how many VPN connections do you plan on running concurrently?

I am looking to convert a Dell Optiplex SFF into a router/VPN end point.

For the money you're willing to spend on the crypto accelerator card, why not buy a proper VPN box?

 

[cracauer@]

I don't think there are even drivers for it.

You didn't specify which generation CPU you have, but chances are it has AES instructions.

 

[joker72]

Intel I7 7700 Pretty sure it's a gen 7.

 

[astyle]

You didn't specify which generation CPU you have, but chances are it has AES instructions.

huh??? re-read the opening post...

Intel I7 7700 CPU

 

[joker72]

It's kind of a lab project.

 

[joker72]

It begs the question, how many VPN connections do you plan on running concurrently?


For the money you're willing to spend on the crypto accelerator card, why not buy a proper VPN box?

Just two but would like to be able to use remote desktop efficiently for elderly support. But also to explore the capabilities of PFSense, etc.

 

[Phishfry]

My concern is is the Intel QuickAssist 8970 needed if the processor supports AES-NI?

I would suspect a Xeon would be needed for QAT not i7700.
The accelerator card offloads the encryption from the CPU.
So in theory it shouldn't matter what CPU but I do wonder....

Intel® QuickAssist Technology Driver for FreeBSD* - HW Version 1.X

Intel® QuickAssist Technology (Intel® QAT) provides cryptographic and compression acceleration capabilities used to improve performance and efficiency across the data center. This package contains the Intel® QuickAssist Technology Driver for FreeBSD* for the Hardware Version 1.X.

www.intel.com

 

[joker72]

I would suspect a Xeon would be needed for QAT not i7700.
The accelerator card offloads the encryption from the CPU.
So in theory it shouldn't matter what CPU but I do wonder....

Intel® QuickAssist Technology Driver for FreeBSD* - HW Version 1.X

Intel® QuickAssist Technology (Intel® QAT) provides cryptographic and compression acceleration capabilities used to improve performance and efficiency across the data center. This package contains the Intel® QuickAssist Technology Driver for FreeBSD* for the Hardware Version 1.X.

www.intel.com

So the accelorator should improve the I7 throughput per your post?

 

[diizzy]

Wireguard for example will do gbit linespeed without issues so you don't need a crypto accelerator. I would however highly recommend that you run the latest BIOS etc due to hw vulns.

 

[VladiBG]

OpenVPN

Intel Core i7-7700
AES-256-CBC 477 Mbps
AES-256-GCM 519 Mbps
AES-128-CBC 479 Mbps
AES-128-GCM 522 Mbps

pfSense and OpenVPN speeds

@Rico said in pfSense and OpenVPN speeds: Some OpenVPN numbers I had in my testings. Intel Xeon Gold 6136 AES-256-CBC 441,4 Mbps AES-256-GCM 463,8 Mbps AES-...

forum.netgate.com

GhostBSD, pfSense, TrueNAS, and all other FreeBSD Derivatives

Questions about 'derivative FreeBSDs', like GhostBSD DesktopBSD TrueNAS XigmaNAS OPNsense pfSense PacBSD BSD Router Project NomadBSD helloSystem should be asked on the forums and/or mailing lists for these specific products. See below for links. If you still think your questions should be...

forums.freebsd.org

 

[cracauer@]

i7-7700 has AES instructions.

Intel® Core™ i7-7700 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i7-7700 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

 

[joker72]

i7-7700 has AES instructions.

Intel® Core™ i7-7700 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i7-7700 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

So according to vlads post the Intel I7 boasts aes in the Mb's where the card boasts up to 50 Gbs. Am I not understanding this correctly?

 

[astyle]

So according to vlads post the Intel I7 boasts aes in the Mb's where the card boasts up to 50 Gbs. Am I not understanding this correctly?

Even if you have capable hardware, you'll still have a bottleneck at Internet connection - a cheaper plan will result in less data than your hardware can process.

 

[joker72]

OpenVPN

pfSense and OpenVPN speeds

@Rico said in pfSense and OpenVPN speeds: Some OpenVPN numbers I had in my testings. Intel Xeon Gold 6136 AES-256-CBC 441,4 Mbps AES-256-GCM 463,8 Mbps AES-...

forum.netgate.com

GhostBSD, pfSense, TrueNAS, and all other FreeBSD Derivatives

Questions about 'derivative FreeBSDs', like GhostBSD DesktopBSD TrueNAS XigmaNAS OPNsense pfSense PacBSD BSD Router Project NomadBSD helloSystem should be asked on the forums and/or mailing lists for these specific products. See below for links. If you still think your questions should be...

forums.freebsd.org

Will regular processing be impeded by the encryption processing on the I7? Or is that the same concept of having a cryto accelerator card?

 

[SirDice]

Two VPN connections are barely going to have an impact.