OpenBSD PF - Performance [Contents]


"How much bandwidth can PF handle?"
"How much computing power do I need to handle my internet connection?"

There are no easy answers to those questions. For a simple home connection, most hardware should be more than enough. Other applications may require a faster machine with high-end NICs. PF is used in some very large, high-traffic applications, and the developers are power users of PF. Odds are it will do very well for most people.

PF performance is determined by several variables:

Will multiple processors help?

PF will only use one processor, so multiple processors (or multiple cores) will not improve PF performance. However, under some circumstances, running the SMP version of OpenBSD (bsd.mp) instead of bsd will give better performance due to differences in how interrupt handling is done. Most users will never hit any limits to worry about it.