[ale] need help allocating / limiting broadband bandwidth between users
Ron Frazier (ALE)
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
Fri Jan 25 03:47:17 EST 2013
Hi all,
I've just finished configuring some equipment that I hope will solve the
problem. I want to share the solution, in case anyone else has similar
needs. My master router is too old and limited to do any firmware
upgrades on it. However, I found a neat solution which should
prioritize her upload traffic for me. It turns out lots of switches
have qos functions now. I found this one at Fry's:
Western Digital My Net 8 port gigabit switch.
http://www.wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=750
It has ports that are prioritized by port number. There are two high
priority, four medium, and two low. There is nothing to set up. Just
plug in your devices. I just put this next in line behind my master
router. I plug my wife's router into one of the high priority ports.
According to the instructions, the internet router attaches to one of
the low priority ports. My printer plugs into a low priority port. My
router and anything else plugs into the medium priority ports. Bingo.
I instantly have her upload traffic prioritized above anything else.
Pretty cool for what I'm trying to do. My wife is still attached to the
NetGear wifi router that I was originally on. Hopefully, that won't
have any overheating or stability problems.
Next, I wanted to make sure my PC equipment wasn't hogging the download
bandwidth. I got the ASUS RT-N16 gigabit wifi N 300 router, which I
will have all my equipment log into. If you get this router, you HAVE
to upgrade or replace the default firmware. The original firmware is
terribly slow, to the point of being almost unusable. I upgraded to
ASUS's latest, which I think they call AsusWRT. I don't know if it's in
any way related to DD-WRT or not. In any case, it has features which
can be used to control both upload and download bandwidth. This is the
first off the shelf router I've found which has downstream bandwidth
control. I ignored the upload settings, since my switch will handle
that. Here's how I set it up to limit the download bandwidth of
everything coming through my router. Doing this makes sure that her
system will have a few Mbps of download bandwidth no matter what I'm doing.
I go to the qos screen of the router admin system. On the automatic
mode page, I turn qos on and tell the system that I have 6 Mbps of
upload and 20 Mbps of download bandwidth. I then go to the user defined
priority page. I ignore the upload bandwidth settings. On the download
bandwidth settings, I set all packet priorities to use no more than 68%
of my available download bandwidth. This leaves at least 32% of my
download bandwidth for my wife's use, no matter what my stuff is doing.
I then go to the user defined qos rules page. I delete the rules that
they have there. I create a new rule to apply to all traffic as follows:
Name: All Traffic
Source IP / MAC: blank
Destination Port: 1:65535
Protocol: any
Transferred: 0~ (If used, this field allows certain rules to kick in
only when a certain amount of data is transferred.)
Priority: Medium
This sets every packet going through my router to Medium priority.
Based on the priority rules set on the other screen, all these packets
can use up to 100% of my upstream bandwidth. However, the prioritizing
switch won't let that happen. For upstream data, my wife's packets will
always take priority. These rules will not let my downstream packets
take up any more than 68% of my downstream bandwidth.
For times when she's not working here. I have a second router attached
to the switch for myself which has no bandwidth restrictions. I can use
that when I want to do large downloads, etc. All my equipment will be
set to automatically log into the bandwidth restricted router unless I
manually do otherwise.
Hopefully, all these things will keep her system humming along quickly
and her employer happy. They wouldn't like too much downtime.
Thanks to all who responded for their suggestions.
Sincerely,
Ron
On 1/24/2013 10:57 PM, Boris Borisov wrote:
> If your master router would allow reflashing with opensource firmware
> and has enough RAM just do it. You can check on dd-wrt, tomato
> openwrt sites first. Some needs to be flashed over ftp session some
> over http and etc. But RAM is must. I reflashed one of mine with
> dd-wrt to find out that starts to choke when you have too many
> connections going it has only 16 MB i think so i reverted in back to
> factory.
>
> On Thursday, January 24, 2013, Ron Frazier (ALE)
> <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
> <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com>> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Thanks for the input. I've seen the name ASUS come up in this
> thread and also in one previously and people seem to like them. I
> think Scott Castaline got one if memory serves. These can also run a
> version of WRT so I can get some advanced features. I'm thinking that
> I'm going to replace the master / central roter with an ASUS of one
> type or another, flash it with WRT, and tinker with the QOS settings
> to give priority to my wife's traffic. Also, I'm going to leave her
> attached wirelessly to the NetGear that used to be mine. Hopefully,
> if the one she originally had did have overheating issues, the one I
> was on, which is newer, will not. I'm going to be wirelessly attached
> to her old one, and if it turns out to be too flaky to use, I'll
> replace it too.
> >
> > I appreciate all the suggestions.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Ron
> >
> >
> > Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com <mailto:jim.kinney at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> >>make sure both wi-fi's are on seperate channels. setup QoS on the wired
> >>to
> >>give priority to her MAC address. Set both wifi's in different areas of
> >>the
> >>house for best coverage and make them slaves of the wired router in
> >>infrastructure mode so she can move anyywhere and get good signal.
> >>
> >>Or setup a wire at her desk.
> >>
> >>On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
> >>atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
> <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi all,
> >>>
> >>> I've got an interesting and frustrating problem here at home that I
> >>need
> >>> help with. My wife works at home using a Citrix connection.
> >>Everything
> >>> she does comes from a remote system. I have several computers that I
> >>use
> >>> here as well, some of which are periodically doing automated data
> >>transfers
> >>> and backups, etc. Periodically, she complains that her system is
> >>running
> >>> so slow that it's unusable. This is an intermittent problem.
> >>Immediately
> >>> after she mentioned it today, I connected to her wifi router and did
> >>a
> >>> speed test. I got .6 Mbps. Typically, I get around 28 Mbps for
> >>downloads.
> >>> I switched her to my router and the problem went away. Now, her
> >>system is
> >>> blazing fast again.
> >>>
> >>> The routers are configured as follows. This may or may not work as a
> >>text
> >>> diagram.
> >>>
> >>> Old Setup
> >>>
> >>> Ron's wifi router (a) --->\
> >>> Master wired router (c) ---> cable modem
> >>> Wife's wifi router (b) -->/
> >>>
> >>> New Setup
> >>>
> >>> Wife's wifi router (a) -->\
> >>> Master wired router (c) ---> cable modem
> >>> Ron's wifi router (b) --->/
> >>>
> >>> Hopefully, if that diagram survives the email, you can see that she
> >>has a
> >>> wifi router and I have one. Both of those are connected to a master
> >>wired
> >>> router that is connected to the cable modem which is connected to the
> >>> internet. Normally this works very well. I like to keep her stuff
> >>and my
> >>> stuff on separate networks. You might think, from this description,
> >>that
> >>> router (b) is failing. And that is a possibility. I'm prepared to
> >>replace
> >>> router (b) if I have to. However, I'm not convinced. I rebooted
> >>router
> >>> (b) and did a speed test and it's back up in the 28 Mbps range again.
> >>>
> >>> I'm wondering if router (c) is getting confused during times when
> >>both (a)
> >>> and (b) are putting heavy demands on the link and trying to send /
> >>receive
> >>> more data in aggregate than the link is capable of. If it's a
> >>problem of
> >>> bandwidth hogging by my stuff, I'd rather just curtail that and make
> >>sure
> >>> that her stuff has at least, for example, 3 Mbps up / 6 Mbps down at
> >>all
> >>> times. All the routers are NetGear equipment. The wifi routers have
> >>QOS
> >>> settings that I've tried to tweak in the past to address this type of
> >>> problem. I haven't had much success with that. The wired master
> >>router
> >>> does not have QOS settings. I have set up a 3 Mbps upstream
> >>bandwidth
> >>> limit on my router, but I don't have any option to limit downstream
> >>> bandwidth. My total upstream capacity is about 6 Mbps.
> >>>
> >>> I need to stick with off the shelf equipment here. I could replace
> >>the
> >>> master router (c) if needed, or stick something in between my router
> >>and
> >>> the master router to limit my maximum bandwidth if necessary. I
> >>would be
> >>> willing to reflash a router's firmware if necessary, but I have to
> >>have
> >>> something that resets automatically in case of a power failure. I
> >>don't
> >>> really want to be running another pc just for this purpose.
> >>>
> >>> Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
> >>>
--
(To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)
Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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