I was wondering if anyone is running openvpn on 3040 with OpenWrt x86/64?
What speeds do you get (eg. AES-256-cbc cipher)?
I'm considering getting a 3040 because it is available for under £25 on ebay UK. Far cheaper than Raspberry Pi 4/5 and Nanopi R4S alternatives.
This would probably be a case of 'just try it'.
Cherry-trail Atom x5-z8350 was designed as a tablet SOC, so it's a bit weak on the I/O side, which doesn't imply that it would perform badly - but that also depends on your expectations.
If OpenWrt/OpenVPN can use AES-NI on the x5-z8350 atom cpu, I am hoping for 100+ mbps with OpenVPN with the 3040 wired to a managed switch (eg. retired HH5a running OpenWrt).
I currently use a TPlink VR2600 but the 1.4 GHz IPQ8064 seems to max out at 62 mbps over ethernet as a dedicated OpenVPN device .
I can't answer the core of your question, but regarding VPN bandwidth -- do you have the option to use Wireguard instead of OpenVPN? The former is much more performant when run on the same hardware, and it is really easy to set up.
Sadly wireguard is not a 'reliable' option with my current vpn provider. I found in the past I had to update the keys every few days/weeks to keep the wireguard connection working.
The LuCI gui for openvpn client is also more convenient to use if I need to occasionally switch between different servers.
Better option https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155953968785 ?
Or https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335171824995.
The listing for the Fujitsu s720 looked interesting until I discovered it doesn't actually have any expansion card slots! It seems only the s920 offers card slots.
I decided to just order a 3040 to try. I'd be happy with 100+ mbps openvpn speeds.
Apparently, I will need to build my own image, or use the prebuilt 22.03.2 image from:
https://github.com/pjobson/dell-wyse-3040-openwrt
Useful blog:
https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi/discussions/301
bootloader fix by @980 posted in 2021:
https://forum.openwrt.org/t/i-cannot-get-dell-wyse-3040-to-boot-with-the-correct-distro/109165
I've ordered the cheapest Wyse 3040 from ebay UK.
fwiw, this website quotes the non-standard barrel plug size as 4mm outer diameter.
https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/wyse/3040/
it got a mPCIE slot instead, use something like https://www.amazon.com//dp/B086PKCSFG
just need to remove the grub params, it seems ?
Brief update.
The Wyse 3040 turned up today for under £20 inc delivery.
The CR2032 coin battery was dead, so the unit kept losing its BIOS config every time mains power was removed. There is not enough space to fit a CR2032 plastic battery holder, so I have carefully pulled the spot welded tabs/wires off the old battery, and 'taped' it to a new generic CR2032 battery. There was also an insulating ring fitted to the old battery which I cut off and refitted to new battery. Then wrapped it with plenty of electrical pvc tape before refitting into the 3040. Seems to work for a bodge.
I tried prebuilt image booting from usb flash drive, which worked fine with other x86 computers. It failed to boot on the Wyse. Got stuck at the 'Starting Openwrt' message at top of screen.
I then built a simple image using menuconfig for 22.03.6 and 22.03.4, with LuCI, and omitting the default selected 'Serial output'. The image boots up ok in the Wyse.
Next hurdle to overcome is how to include the openvpn packages after discovering I can't 'download' the packages because of kernel mismatch error!
https://forum.openwrt.org/t/newbie-to-menuconfig-how-to-include-openvpn-packages/183320
Can you elaborate here? Why can't you download the packages? Is the networking hardware up and running on your Wyse device?
I got networking working. It can see the internet via VLAN trunk into a HH5a managed switch. I can update the opkg package list OK too. When I try to download openvpn-openssl package that's when it fails when I tried with 22.03.6, and 22.03.4
See the link I posted in the Developers section.
This is the apparent problem I discovered later?
https://openwrt.org/faq/cannot_satisfy_dependencies
ah... yes, that makes sense. you're compiling OpenWrt yourself, so the dependencies become an issue.
You should be able to enable OpenVPN and any other packages in the menuconfig for inclusion into your image. (you can also compile the packages yourself and install them after the fact from your own local copies).
Finally found openvpn-openssl package ! in Network > VPN section of MenuConfig.
Final test results:
Wyse 3040 as router via HH5a managed switch wired to LAN, through to UK FTTP ISP:
Speedtest.net (London) 516/72 mbps down/up
Through Wyse 3040 openvpn client router (AES-256-CBC cipher) to my VPN provider:
Speedtest.net (London) 135/65 mbps
fast.com 130 mbps
bt wholesale speed tester 135/61 mbps
thinkbroadband 136-146/68 mbps
I'll double check the results tomorrow, but it looks like the Wyse 3040 maxes out at around 135 mbps through the single ethernet port, whereas other x86 PCs and laptops I've tested previously can max out 500 mbps.
Update Jan 2025: I replaced the HH5a switch with a RTL8153 usb3 gigabit adapter for WAN interface. The OpenVPN speeds dropped to 60 mbps (940 mbps without openvpn). I've returned to using the HH5a switch.
Performance Bug found
Testing the Wyse 3040 with OpenWrt 22.03.4 this morning and was puzzled why speed tests with or without VPN were slower than last night's results.
It transpires the monitor (on or off) has to be detectable while openwrt is booting up, otherwise the four cores seem to be stuck at around 480 MHz clock speed..... non-VPN speed test maxes out at less than 180 mbps.
With monitor detected during boot up, the subsequent non-VPN speed test returns full fibre speed of 500+ mbps. Some of the cores also seen to run at 1900 MHz during the openvpn speed test.
Plugging in a monitor AFTER Openwrt has started, does NOT restore full performance. The screen console also remains blank.
I've also observed if I go into BIOS and Disable Speedstep, this also seems to force the cores to stick at 480 MHz. ie. opposite of what is expected.
Installing a dummy plug headless ghost display emulator into one of the Display Port video sockets may be one workaround.
I wonder whether monitor detection is linked to my current performance issue?
https://forum.openwrt.org/t/no-hdmi-output-unless-connected-at-boot-time/152586
If I plug the monitor cable in after OpenWrt has started, there is no output to the screen.
Perhaps convincing the Wyse there is a monitor when there isn't one, may solve the speed issues....
Now to work out how to implement 'force_probe'....
I found technical docs on both model and yes, only the 920 has a PCIe x4 slot.
Still you can use the miniPCIe as @frollic wrote.
are you sure it failed to boot, not only the console gone dead ?
sometimes, adding the kernel param nomodeset in grub solves this issue.
as explained in the thread you linked to earlier, the param sits in the grub conf file, simply remove it.
I just rechecked. Definitely seems to be dead. I can't even ping the Wyse after allowing more than normal time for it to boot.
Update:
I just compared the contents of the grub.cfg files for the prebuilt and my self compiled images written to the USB flash drives. (eg. openwrt-22.03.x-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined-efi.img)
I removed the serial related parameters from the prebuilt grub.cfg. The resulting flash drive now boots on the Wyse 3040. Thank you to @frollic
Pre-built example grub.cfg found in image created by Owrt Firmware Selector.
serial --unit=0 --speed=115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1 --rtscts=off
terminal_input console serial; terminal_output console serial
set default="0"
set timeout="5"
search -l kernel -s root
menuentry "OpenWrt" {
linux /boot/vmlinuz root=PARTUUID=93ffdd41-3e4a-2ac5-91b9-53e979fb5902 rootwait console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 noinitrd
}
menuentry "OpenWrt (failsafe)" {
linux /boot/vmlinuz failsafe=true root=PARTUUID=93ffdd41-3e4a-2ac5-91b9-53e979fb5902 rootwait console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 noinitrd
}
Example of grub.cfg which successfully boots on Wyse 3040
set default="0"
set timeout="5"
search -l kernel -s root
menuentry "OpenWrt" {
linux /boot/vmlinuz root=PARTUUID=44d48e54-dcfb-b5b0-4fd1-e35f0fb71102 rootwait noinitrd
}
menuentry "OpenWrt (failsafe)" {
linux /boot/vmlinuz failsafe=true root=PARTUUID=44d48e54-dcfb-b5b0-4fd1-e35f0fb71102 rootwait noinitrd
}
ie. removing these parameters fixes the boot issue as mentioned by @980 in an old post.
console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
Update 2:
No improvement to the degraded speed issue when no monitor is connected, using prebuilt image.
I can confirm a cheap 4k HDMI dummy plug in conjunction with an existing 15cm long DP (male) to HDMI (female) pigtail adapter cable fixes the performance issue.
(I purchased another cheap 4k DP to HDMI pigtail adapter but it did not work with the Wyse despite looking almost identical to the adapter I have been using. The new adapter works perfectly with my old Dell Optiplex PC)
Update 3:
The cheap DisplayPort dummy plug finally turned up, from China. It works.
Dropbox link to my Wyse 3040 information resource
Update 4:
Scaling governor tweak and Realtek R8152 USB3 2.5GB nic by 'boerni667'.
I think that You have configured it wrong , that's all. I don't had aby problems on every vpn's for remote access on industry field.
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