upload/download speed slow only over WAN? Help Please
SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
upload/download speed slow only over WAN? Help Please
Hello, I have a problem that has puzzled me. I am runing Slackware 10.0 with the majority of the patches applied from it's patches tree. The machine is as follows:
1.3GHZ Athlon Processor
250MB SDRAM PC133 (Now 756MB SDRAM PC133 still with problem)
10/100MB RealTek ethernet card (connected by eth cable to router)
Internet connection is Cable
40GB EIDE with ext3 filesystem
My problem is when uploading/downloading from the server from outside locations, all on Cable and/or T3 connected Pc's, the connection rate does not go over 30kb/sec. When uploading/downloading from the server from within my network from another PC, my connection rate is a nice 400+kb/sec.
When logged onto the server directly, uploading/downloading from sources outside of my network, my connection rate is also a nice 400+kb/sec. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get the connection speed to go over 30kb/sec. I have even tried using a re-built proftpd with the following additional configuration parameters, with
still no luck:
I've also attempted to use only the --enable-buffer-size with 8K, 64K, etc...,
all with no success.
All of the uploading/downloading to and from the server was done with only 1 user connected to the server, and connected only by means of a ftp connection.
I have tried several different proftpd configuration combinations, but even the base one that comes with the slack10 distrubition has this problem. I have also tried connecting the server directly to the cable modem, but still have the same problem. I have also tried using a different ftp deamon, and the problem still exists.
I just get this feeling that something is limiting the bandwidth during the ftp session. This is really eating at me, and really need some help.
Sorry for the long post.
Please let me know what other system information you need.
your isp will limit your upload speed to about a tenth of your download speed. Most people use their computers to surf and download stuff so naturally their systems are geared towards delivery of bytes not upload speed.
It is possible to alter the percentage of your bandwidth and dedicate more 50 50 performance, though it does involve hacking your modem. Best to ask you isps' admin though.
Originally posted by Tuttle your isp will limit your upload speed to about a tenth of your download speed. Most people use their computers to surf and download stuff so naturally their systems are geared towards delivery of bytes not upload speed.
It is possible to alter the percentage of your bandwidth and dedicate more 50 50 performance, though it does involve hacking your modem. Best to ask you isps' admin though.
I'm a little confused. I don't see how my isp can limit my speed only on incomming connections? Does this mean that when I'm at home, I can upload/download at full speed, but if I'm remote, I cannot upload/download to my boxes at the same/close to speed? This doesn't make sense, can you explain further?
The only way I can elaborate: When getting webpages from a website - You type a url in your browser then press enter; a request (a few bytes) gets sent to the sites server. Then bytes flow from the server to your home computer, quite a few for a flash site or a complicated webpage (500kb maybe) and get translated into a webpage on your computer.
If you were to serve pages on the net you would need to receive small amounts of bytes (requests) and deliver loads (webpages).
Naturally your ISP wants to be as economic as possible (byte flow costs money!) therefore limit your upload speed otherwise there would be wasted bandwidth (upload bandwidth) for 99% of their clients.
My friend just told me he has a "Business Connection" which allows him double the upload speed (from 15Kb/s to 30Kb/s); so I suppose if you want it, you have to pay for it!!
i have a question for you, in your post you say cable or t3. if your on the cable side and you are pulling from the t3 server are you getting 3-400k? just asking because the post wasnt clear. if you are, and then you test from the other side and its slow, then its like the others said, your cable modem is bottlenect on the up load.
on the other hand if you dont get 3-400k from the t3 server then you may have a windowing issue. are the machines all running linux or do you have windows mixed in?
i may be leading you down the wrong path, but maybe some of this will trigger a light
Originally posted by pitt30 i have a question for you, in your post you say cable or t3. if your on the cable side and you are pulling from the t3 server are you getting 3-400k? just asking because the post wasnt clear. if you are, and then you test from the other side and its slow, then its like the others said, your cable modem is bottlenect on the up load.
on the other hand if you dont get 3-400k from the t3 server then you may have a windowing issue. are the machines all running linux or do you have windows mixed in?
i may be leading you down the wrong path, but maybe some of this will trigger a light
sorry for the misleading post. Here is a breakdown of the situation:
Comming over the WAN -> Modem -> router:
PC A (work T3) to Slack box => 30kb/sec
PC B (Friend's Cable) to Slack box => 30kb/sec
Comming from another PC -> router:
PC C (Laptop on network) to Slack box => 400+kb/sec
does the above seem like a windowning issue? I would expect to get at least 60+kb/sec comming
through outside locations, possibly a great deal more, since in the first portion of the connections
the speed spikes to about 70+kb/sec then flatlines off to around 30kb/sec or less.
Also, Tuttle, I called my ISP and the tech said that they do not limit the bandwidth to and
from my modem in any way. I don't also think that my modem could be the bottelneck because
then downloading from other sources on the net would have the same problem correct?
Thanks all for the help so far. This is really getting to me.
a good way to test is to try to saturate the line. meaning open up 2 or 3 (or more if you see the throughput go up) ftp sessions. you should see the through put go up and stay there. if this happens you probably have a windowing issue.
if that doesn't work or help i should say, then maybe there some sort of policy-map or traffic shaping turned on in one of the routers. remember if your running over a t3, your work may be using pvc's which they usually set up to the smaller side port.
also one more thing, what are you using to get the speed of your connection, mrtg or similar tool? is it a 5 min average.
i work on t1, ima, t3, oc3+. i deal with customers all day on these issues. more times than not its the customer stuff. hang in there, now that you know it happens all over, concentrate on 1 segment. ex:
pc1 ---wan------------modem-------router-----slack (also, note that the above may not 100% correct. it may actually look like)
Originally posted by pitt30 a good way to test is to try to saturate the line. meaning open up 2 or 3 (or more if you see the throughput go up) ftp sessions. you should see the through put go up and stay there. if this happens you probably have a windowing issue.
if that doesn't work or help i should say, then maybe there some sort of policy-map or traffic shaping turned on in one of the routers. remember if your running over a t3, your work may be using pvc's which they usually set up to the smaller side port.
also one more thing, what are you using to get the speed of your connection, mrtg or similar tool? is it a 5 min average.
i work on t1, ima, t3, oc3+. i deal with customers all day on these issues. more times than not its the customer stuff. hang in there, now that you know it happens all over, concentrate on 1 segment. ex:
pc1 ---wan------------modem-------router-----slack (also, note that the above may not 100% correct. it may actually look like)
when you get that worked out move on to the next site. anyway ill help you the best i can, if i can
Ok, I had a friend (cable connection) open up 5 connections to the slack box, and observed through ftpwho -v, showed that the connection sort of hovered around <10kb/sec.
3374 <removed> [ 7m26s] ( 40%) RETR /mp3z/tyrese ft. g - dep (what am i gonna do re
mix).mp3
KB/s: 7.12
client: <removed> [<removed>]
server: 192.168.1.105:21 (ProFTPD Default Installation)
location: /mp3z
3398 <removed> [ 7m5s] ( 51%) RETR /mp3z/430-Erykah Badu-Love Of My Life(An Ode To
Hip Hop).MP3
KB/s: 5.18
client: <removed> [<removed>]
server: 192.168.1.105:21 (ProFTPD Default Installation)
location: /mp3z
The same speed was also observed throught the client GUI ftp status window. I do know that there is still connections being made behind the seens, like
but what I don't understand is why the bottelneck is occurring. Are there some configuration things I can check on the slack box just as some sort of sanity check?
well your main problem is the files you are testing with. heck a 5meg file will not show you any definitive results. get an cd iso or better yet a dvd iso. basically something big. there are rate up/down features that come into play which you will not see with a 5meg file.
Ok, here is data using 4 ftp connections from work (t3 connection) to the slack box, all downloading separate copies of the slackware-8.0 iso, renamed to test.iso, test1.iso, etc.,. The connection speed spikes in the begining and then levels off to around 7-8kb/sec. I one by one, quit a connection (4, 3, 2, 1) and observed the speed slowly moving back up towards 20kb/sec. This does not make sense to me, how about you. The data was collected by way of ftpwho -v every 4 seconds, I chose 4 seconds just because
1 last question (i hope), who is your cable provider? what are you upload download speeds? from your results, it appears as if your getting close to a 256k upload speed. you will probably never get that exactly due to overhead but you should be pretty close. the 30KB +/- is close to 256Kb so this may be your bottle neck.
Originally posted by pitt30 1 last question (i hope), who is your cable provider? what are you upload download speeds? from your results, it appears as if your getting close to a 256k upload speed. you will probably never get that exactly due to overhead but you should be pretty close. the 30KB +/- is close to 256Kb so this may be your bottle neck.
had to edit, the b's got me again, lol
keep the questions comming
My provider is Comcast, and the transfers were downloads from the slack box. Does that still constitue as an upload? Also, why would downloads from other locations on the net be much faster?
I think that you are getting confused between the speeds of your Internet and your Intranet. The easiest way I can think of, at the moment, to explain this is that the Internet is the WAN part of your network (your ISP) and the Intranet is the LAN part of your network (your computers/router). There are many variables that affect your WAN connection, way too many to list them all, that make your connection to the NET seem slow. On the WAN side, one of the biggest factors for speed, especially on a shared bandwidth connection such as cable, is how many people are connected at the time you are using it. The more people using it, the slower it will seem. Another would be the distance a packet of information has to travel to reach your network, usually a great distance. Now on your LAN side, the variables are usually fixed. You know that you have the same amount of computers/router on your LAN and that your packets travel the same distance every time, usually feet. This makes for a much faster connection. These are just a few simple points as to why your connection to your WAN seems slower than when you just access a computer on your LAN.
MagicMan
Edit: For those that do not know:
WAN = Wide Area Network, LAN = Local Area Network
Last edited by fcaraballo; 12-06-2004 at 03:14 PM.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
