Hardware Limitations

One mechanism pfSense® software can use for traffic shaping is ALTQ. Unfortunately, only a subset of all network cards are compatible with ALTQ traffic shaping because it must be implemented in the hardware drivers.

The following network cards are compatible with ALTQ 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), bxe(4), cas(4), cpsw(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), ixv(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 drivers compatible with ALTQ.

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.