[Soekris] net4801 slow network speeds

[mail-lists]

> not sure what you're referring to.  What part is doing the compression? 
> iperf isn't compressed.  It just fills a TCP segment with 0-9 repeating 
> until it fills the segment, and shoves it over the pipe as fast as 
> possible.  There are options for UDP as well.
>   
No - I know iperf  isn't compressed. What I'm trying to say I guess is 
that these aren't 'real world' results.

> Can you clarify your configuration?  I'm assuming the following:
>
> PC1 --\
>         >--|Net4801|
> PC2 --/
>
> and you're running iperf on PC1 and PC2.  This should give you the best 
> results, since the Net4801 will be doing nothing but routing packets.
>
> If, instead, you're running iperf on the Net4801, you're taxing the 
> machine pretty heavily.  I'm assuming that most things on your network 
> won't be running off of your Net4801.  Things like tftp, DHCP, DNS(like 
> dnsmasq, not BIND), etc should be okay.  File sharing off the net4801 
> doesn't sound like a good idea. also if you're trying to test transfers 
> *to* the Net4801, then you'll run into limitations of CF write speeds 
> (Slow), and the fact that the Net4801 is a pentium class machine.  Dig up 
> an old Pentium 266 and see how well it fares ;)
>   
Ahh, yes - I was doing  PC1--> Net4801      - running iperf on the 4801. 
I'll try just routing packages later today. Just out of curiousity I ran 
iperf on our work network between our firewall (pIII 700) and one of our 
internal computers and I got 3Mbits!!!!!! There's certainly something 
wrong there - but that's another issue entirely.

I see your point however. I guess my main concern is that this is going 
to be a router for a medium size LAN (50-60) computers with 6Mbit up and 
down  bonded T1. I just want to  make sure that it won't have issues in 
this environment. Behind the router (on one LAN segment)  is going to be 
a VOIP switch and from what I understand VOIP sends/receives a lot of 
small packets.  I thought that this might be an issue. I guess my 
concern isn't so much with bandwidth as opposed to packets per second.

Sorry if this all sounds pretty naive  :)


> Well, it depends on what you're looking at.  the switch performance on the 
> Belkin should be >70Mbit/s, actually, that's kinda crappy, a good switch 
> should yeild you 90Mbit/s or more..  Your Net4801 
> OTOH isn't a switch, unless you configured it in bridge mode (I think). 
> It's actually doing routing.  Routing is more resource intensive.  Plus 
> the Belkin has an ASIC to do the switching in hardware vs. software.
>
> I bet if you plug PC1 into the WAN port on the Belkin and PC2 into a 
> switch port on the Belkin you'd see about 10Mbps max.  It's not so common 
> to put a 100BT PHY as a WAN port on those consumer grade routers.  So 
> there's your apples-to-apples comparison.
>   
I bet you're right. I had assumed that running iperf on the 4801 would 
result in no routing but I guess I didn't take into account the system load
I'll try just routing later on today and see where that gets me.

Again,  Thanks a lot for your advice and suggestions - Much appreciated.

Steve Glaus