Cisco → Slow PIX 501

I have firewalled my office network from our campus network with a PIX 501. I am getting extreemly slow throughput through the firewall. I max out at about 130KB/s with a more typical throughput of 40-50KB/s. Just for fun I installed a linksys firewall BEFSX41 and got 1.4MB/s. I am perplexed, I bought the cisco so I could get wire-speed. MY config follows.

: Saved
:
PIX Version 6.3(3)
interface ethernet0 10baset
interface ethernet1 100full
nameif ethernet0 outside security0
nameif ethernet1 inside security100
enable password xxx encrypted
passwd xxx encrypted
hostname mote
domain-name lindstrom.org
fixup protocol dns maximum-length 512
fixup protocol ftp 21
fixup protocol h323 h225 1720
fixup protocol h323 ras 1718-1719
fixup protocol http 80
fixup protocol ils 389
fixup protocol rsh 514
fixup protocol rtsp 554
fixup protocol sip 5060
fixup protocol sip udp 5060
fixup protocol skinny 2000
fixup protocol smtp 25
fixup protocol sqlnet 1521
fixup protocol tftp 69
names
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.242 eq www
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.243 eq www
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.242 eq smtp
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.242 eq pop3
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.242 eq imap4
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.242 eq 3389
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.242 eq domain
access-list outside_in permit udp any host x.y.z.242 eq domain
access-list outside_in permit gre any host x.y.z.242
access-list outside_in permit tcp any eq pptp host 128.187.147.242
access-list outside_in permit tcp any host x.y.z.242 eq https
pager lines 24
mtu outside 1500
mtu inside 1500
ip address outside dhcp
ip address inside 10.3.0.254 255.255.255.0
ip audit info action alarm
ip audit attack action alarm
pdm location 10.3.0.0 255.255.255.0 inside
pdm location 10.3.0.1 255.255.255.255 inside
pdm location 10.3.0.2 255.255.255.255 inside
pdm location 10.3.0.5 255.255.255.255 inside
pdm logging informational 100
pdm history enable
arp timeout 14400
global (outside) 1 interface
nat (inside) 1 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0 0
static (inside,outside) x.y.z.242 10.3.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.255 0 0
static (inside,outside) x.y.z.243 10.3.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.255 0 0
static (inside,outside) x.y.z.240 10.3.0.5 netmask 255.255.255.255 0 0
access-group outside_in in interface outside
route outside 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 128.187.147.129 1
timeout xlate 0:05:00
timeout conn 1:00:00 half-closed 0:10:00 udp 0:02:00 rpc 0:10:00 h225 1:00:00
timeout h323 0:05:00 mgcp 0:05:00 sip 0:30:00 sip_media 0:02:00
timeout uauth 0:05:00 absolute
aaa-server TACACS+ protocol tacacs+
aaa-server RADIUS protocol radius
aaa-server LOCAL protocol local
http server enable
http 10.3.0.0 255.255.255.0 inside
no snmp-server location
no snmp-server contact
snmp-server community public
no snmp-server enable traps
floodguard enable
sysopt connection permit-ipsec
sysopt connection permit-pptp
sysopt connection permit-l2tp
crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-DES-SHA esp-des esp-sha-hmac
isakmp enable outside
telnet 10.3.0.0 255.255.255.0 inside
telnet timeout 5
ssh 10.3.0.0 255.255.255.0 inside
ssh timeout 5
console timeout 0
dhcpd address 10.3.0.50-10.3.0.81 inside
dhcpd dns 10.3.0.1
dhcpd lease 3600
dhcpd ping_timeout 750
dhcpd domain lindy.local
dhcpd auto_config outside
dhcpd enable inside
username Craig password xxx encrypted privilege 15
terminal width 80
Cryptochecksum:xxx
: end
mote#

CPU is nearly idle and memory usage is 11meg of 16installed

Any help is really appreciated.
Thanks,
Craig

Exactly how did you get the number 130KBps, 40-50KBps, and 1.4MBps? You might not get the correct one though.

If you don't mind me asking, what is connected to each interface? A router, switch, PC?

I noticed you had set your speed and duplex settings manually on the PIX, always a good idea, but is the other device configured the same way? On the device interface, assuming a router or switch, are you seeing collisions or possibly FCS alignment errors? If so, this could indicate a duplex mismatch on the connection.

All devices in your network should be manually coded for the correct speed and duplex. Unfortunately auto-negotiation, even between two Cisco devices, is unreliable and not longterm stable.

I basically downloaded the oracle 8i client from oracle. And looked at the ie reported rate. Though it may not be exactly accurate, the difference is so dramatic that it is easily observable.

Both external interfaces (for pix and linksys) are connected to a dlink switch which connects to the campus net (2924s). The inside computers are connected directly to the pix or linksys built in switch respectively. The dlink switch seems to work fine. I have my ip phone, both firewalls and and external interface to a couple of servers on it. I want to put the servers behind the PIX but the PIX it to slow.

Set your External interface to "auto" see what happens. I agree with the others sounds like a duplex mis-match problem.

Ah, now I read the words "DStink" switch. I have a di-624 at home. DStink claims it has 10/100 4port switch. I tried forcing my workstation port to 100 full-duplex... connection dropped.

It isn't possible on the di-624 RevB I have to force the speed and duplex on the nic when connected to the di-624.

AFAIK you can't change e1 it is tied directly to the internal 4 port switch. When I force my desktop to full100 it has the same results. The dlink is on the e0 side and I don't think it is the problem since it behaved the same when I tried an IBM managed switch.

I was just looking at cisco's site and they say the PIX 501 has a 10/100 the WAN port. Its this true? Mine has a 10baseT, though it is quite old.

It looks like you are running code 6.3 and that is all you need to bump your interface to 100bt full duplex. Though all my pix's that I have upgraded with them being connected to Cisco 3550 switches I can't get them to reliably run at 100bt full duplex on the 501's.

said by cjlindstrom:

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AFAIK you can't change e1 it is tied directly to the internal 4 port switch. When I force my desktop to full100 it has the same results. The dlink is on the e0 side and I don't think it is the problem since it behaved the same when I tried an IBM managed switch.

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We are talking about the External interface of the Pix, correct? Set the External Pix ethernet interface to AUTO and see what happens?

Did the speed get worse, better or same?

Well imagine that, I had no idea that I could set it to 100full with just the software update. Silly me. That seemed to do the trick. At 10baseT I was still not getting nearly the speed I should have. Thanks for everyone's help!

We have a 501, and I have it set to full100.

so yes the new ios supports that. not sure if the h/w supports it if yours is older.