WRTP54G and Bittorrents Slowdown

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 1

It happens with 1.00.52 as well.

Further, this is with NO p2p or bittorrent or the ilk running.

Experiencing many msn log in and log outs. Lot's of web site stalls or no page at all.

Point is examining packets appears to support the improper closing of connections causing the problem, which is the firmware on the router and not bandwidth, of which I have more than enough. Further, and if I put my non Vonage VoIP device up WRT54G and do the same thing I get no problems.

The logging wouldn't work properly, installed according to the help file, so I used ethereal to trap packets to see if the router was even trying to talk to the workstation and it is....

But what I get for packet information is ip_conntrack packet dropped messages, which the linksys logviewer never sees the data for. Nor does Wallwatcher in Syslog mode, but that could be a different issue.

This is a really poor implementation, definatly firmware and way below LinkSys standards, which I spec frequently to clients.

Vonage has had Linksys lock this thing down and they (Vonage) "update" it. Of course that only seems to work if the router private IP address is set to the shipped default, according to Vonage and 3 of their support staff, even a couple NOT in New Deli ?!?! Eventually, they got it updated after I left it on all night set to factory, which won't fly permanently in my network.

Whatever!!!

Even the web interface stalls on the load, takes way to long to read the current config information and is VERY sluggish moving between the config screens.

cef1000

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:33 am Post subject:

Also happening in 1.00.55

The WRTP54G router works wonderfully, provided you don't try to push the poor little darlin' too hard. As soon as you start to subject it to stress, it flakes out and needs a reboot.

I just read through this thread, and the connection timeout thing makes sense. I kept my BitTorrent client set to a maximum of 75 connections system-wide, 5K upload, 5K download, and the thing lasted a whole HOUR. Wink

In frustration, after work yesterday, I unplugged the router and bypassed my internet connection to just my desktop machine, then fired up BitTorrent and set it to 500 connections, no bandwidth limits. In the morning, it was still humming along happily.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject:

WRT54GS + RTP300 here (using the RTP300 strictly for voice) and never had any problem with multiple computers running Bittorrent for days at a time.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:58 pm Post subject:

VonageTPA wrote:

WRT54GS + RTP300 here (using the RTP300 strictly for voice) and never had any problem with multiple computers running Bittorrent for days at a time.

Can I ask a few questions about the WRT54GS?

I presume it's similar to the WRTP54G, I assume without the phone ports and with high-speed wireless (Super-G, I presume)?

Did you have to load any new firmware for the BitTorrent connections to work, or make any special settings other than (I presume) port forwarding?

What firmware version are you running?

My understanding is that most of the Linksys routers have a default setting (generally fixed in later firmware) that makes them hold onto lost connections for a long time, in many cases up to 5 days (!). Eventually, BitTorrent and other P2P, which involve MASSIVE numbers of connections, overloads that table and the router locks up. Is that a problem you had to deal with in yours?

How heavily do you load it? eg. How many connections do you have set, how many torrents do you run at a time, etc? Rough numbers are OK.

I ask primarily because I may end up putting a router in front of my WRTP54G, something that *I* control the firmware on and I can get Admin access to. Wanted to hear what it took to make a unit work well.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:21 pm Post subject:

NateHoy wrote:

VonageTPA wrote:

WRT54GS + RTP300 here (using the RTP300 strictly for voice) and never had any problem with multiple computers running Bittorrent for days at a time.

Can I ask a few questions about the WRT54GS?

I presume it's similar to the WRTP54G, I assume without the phone ports and with high-speed wireless (Super-G, I presume)?

It looks like the RT31P2 (typical Linksys blue face, black box, 2 antennas stick out the back... 4 lan ports, 1 WAN port). The S part of the GS is the SpeedBooster, which is Proxim's(?) AfterBurner technology. It's not a Pre-N router thankfully.

Quote:

Did you have to load any new firmware for the BitTorrent connections to work, or make any special settings other than (I presume) port forwarding?
What firmware version are you running?

I'm running Sveasoft's Alchemy firmware on my personal one, have a mixture of Alchemy and Talisman firmware on the 20 or so WRT54GS routers I have in the field. The only "special" settings I have are as follows:
1) gave the RTP300 its own dedicated IP via DHCP Reservation on the Sveasoft firmware. I could set the RTP to static, BUT, I travel a lot, so this works out better for me.

2) Gave the RTP300's IP Premium priority on the QoS of the WRT54GS. Getting QoS correct takes a bit of work, mainly in finding out what your true bandwidth is, then adjusting the levels accordingly.

3) That's it... no special port forwards nor anything else. It just works.

Quote:

My understanding is that most of the Linksys routers have a default setting (generally fixed in later firmware) that makes them hold onto lost connections for a long time, in many cases up to 5 days (!). Eventually, BitTorrent and other P2P, which involve MASSIVE numbers of connections, overloads that table and the router locks up. Is that a problem you had to deal with in yours?

How heavily do you load it? eg. How many connections do you have set, how many torrents do you run at a time, etc? Rough numbers are OK.

With 32MB RAM and a 200Mhz CPU, the WRT54GS is a very capable router. I've never ran out of either on it. Currently using 11348K RAM on the router (I love the linux telnet console), CPU usage is around 10%. The worst abuse I ever did to it was to let 2 computers run BT for a week straight, probably over 100 torrents on each and I let the computers run full throttle. There are the WRT54G routers, but they only have 16MB RAM, and I'm one for overkill, so I'll take all the RAM I can get. The extra peace of mind is worth it to me.

I also have one of these WRT54GS routers in place at a commercial facility where it's asked to handle 2 300k video streams, 2 128k audio streams, a couple of VoIP lines (including my Vonage box when I'm there), and about 50 users and it's not choked. QoS has been spectacular and I've not seen nor heard any reports of burps on the video streams nor VoIP lines.

If you do go this route, you can block port 69, the TFTP port, which is how firmware upgrades get pushed to the Vonage adapters.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:26 am Post subject:

VonageTPA -

Thank you so much. That's great information. Guess I have to get myself a router I can tweak with a lot more, and that one sounds great.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:11 pm Post subject:

Update:

In a last-ditch attempt to "salvage" this router, because I hate the idea of having two routers in line, one doing nothing, I called Vonage today and explained the problem, in detail, to Level 1.

He forwarded me to Level 2.

After a total of an hour on the line between the two techs, the level 2 tech was trying to blame it on my DOCSIS 1.0 modem, which I would have happily agreed with except:

1. When I bypass the router, my BitTorrent client is happy all day.
2. This was working fine until Vonage loaded up 1.00.52, and has gotten a little better under 1.00.55, but I've been using this router for BitTorrent for MONTHS with little problem until 1.00.52 "The Firmware Release from Hell".

Finally, after some polite, but firm insistence, he agreed to take the ticket and send it up to Engineering. They will likely reject it, I am warned, due to the fact that I have a DOCSIS 1.0 modem (which can be upgraded to 1.1, but my cable company would have to do it and I can't get them to, because I can't make my cable modem itself fail at all).

But it's worth a shot. If they say they won't even look at it, well... A new router is cheaper than a new cable modem anyway, and will resolve the problem once and for all, with no risk that a new firmware release will steamroll the problems back in.

However, I want this router to work. I hate wasting money. I'm cheap - what can I say? Smile

So, a call to arms, or at least phones... If anyone else out there is having the same problem with a WRTP54G, and you have a DOCSIS 1.1 or 2.0 modem, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE call this in ASAP. They'll be out of "external factor" excuses if someone calls it in with a modem they can't blame it on. Things were going great until he asked "one last question" - the model number of my cable modem.