Use pfsense or m0n0wall to simulate packet loss and jitter

jitterpfsensewide-area-network

Can I use pfsense or m0n0wall to simulate WAN-like packet loss, jitter, duplication, and reordering?

I see questions looking for dedicated solutions like:
What tool(s) can I use to simulate a WAN for HTTP traffic?

But, I'd like to know if it can be done with a regular router distro too. Ideally as a transparent Ethernet bridge, not an actual router.

Thank you

Best Answer

It seems that both PFSense and m0n0wall support dummynet traffic shaper.

dummynet is a tool originally designed for testing networking protocols, and since then used for a variety of applications including bandwidth management. It simulates/enforces queue and bandwidth limitations, delays, packet losses, and multipath effects.

Related Solutions

Firewall – reason not use pfsense as transparent firewall

I don't think this is a bad idea, at least to try out for a day or two, but I'll give you a few reasons not to, since you asked.

One more point of failure
Misconfiguration can cause problems.
If you start adding firewall rules here, it can be harder to troubleshoot, especially for a junior sys admin. Is traffic being blocked here? Or at our normal firewall?
You still might want to add a 3rd NIC for out-of-band management; SSH, Syslog, etc.

Firewall – pfSense router on a LAN with two gateways

If you setup your whole setup something like this:

New WAN |  
         --> pfSense --> LAN
ADSL    |

so the pfSense gets 2 internet connections.

The above setup should work without too many problems, as the servers will now only have one gateway to use.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Firewall – reason not use pfsense as transparent firewall

Firewall – pfSense router on a LAN with two gateways

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