Hardware Limitations

One mechanism pfSense® software can use for traffic shaping is ALTQ. Unfortunately, only a subset of all supported network cards are capable of using these features because the drivers must be altered to support ALTQ shaping. The following network cards are capable of using traffic shaping:

ae(4), age(4), alc(4), ale(4), an(4), aue(4), axe(4), bce(4), bfe(4), bge(4), bnxt(4), bridge(4), cas(4), cc(4), cpsw(4), cxl(4), dc(4), de(4), ed(4), em(4), ep(4), epair(4), et(4), fxp(4), gem(4), hme(4), hn(4), igb(4), igc(4), ix(4), jme(4), l2tp(4), le(4), lem(4), msk(4), mxge(4), my(4), ndis(4), nfe(4), ng(4), nge(4), npe(4), nve(4), ql(4), ovpnc(4), ovpns(4), ppp(4), pppoe(4), pptp(4), re(4), rl(4), sf(4), sge(4), sis(4), sk(4), ste(4), stge(4), ti(4), tun(4), txp(4), udav(4), ural(4), vge(4), vlan(4), vmx(4), vr(4), vte(4), vtnet(4), wlan(4), xl(4)

Note

This list is based on the contents of the is_altq_capable() function in interfaces.inc. If a driver is not in the list above, it is possible that it was added to the source in a later version. Check the source on Github for the most accurate and up-to-date list of ALTQ-capable drivers.

Another type of traffic shaping on pfSense software is Limiters. Limiters use a different backend, operating through dummynet pipes and not ALTQ. Limiters do not have the same limitation as ALTQ, any network card is capable of using Limiters.