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Date:      Sat, 4 Feb 2023 13:11:57 -0500
From:      Paul Mather <paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu>
To:        David <2yt@gmx.com>
Cc:        FreeBSD-STABLE Mailing List <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: Slow WAN traffic to FreeBSD hosts but not to Linux hosts---how to debug/fix?
Message-ID:  <ED3BEF11-4C72-441A-9216-9D84D4E73ACD@gromit.dlib.vt.edu>
In-Reply-To: <cebab4bd-ff1e-fb8d-cdc2-8720da9fd31a@gmx.com>
References:  <95EDCFCA-7E3F-458F-85A6-856D606B9D98@gromit.dlib.vt.edu> <4ed8b724-041f-f561-ae60-ab966aefbb68@plan-b.pwste.edu.pl> <282AF730-E5E0-4A50-9F47-E7301B36E5C8@gromit.dlib.vt.edu> <2ed582b9-b544-74bb-2047-99d04924b46b@plan-b.pwste.edu.pl> <8AE3B49C-6C7F-4A20-B2DC-0D4B1343FB59@gromit.dlib.vt.edu> <83E43236-60F8-4949-8840-54E66D327EE9@gromit.dlib.vt.edu> <d890e3c5-9570-80ed-15b4-207e47ecc614@plan-b.pwste.edu.pl> <BE435158-34CD-4A54-870E-481A6646D4DE@gromit.dlib.vt.edu> <cebab4bd-ff1e-fb8d-cdc2-8720da9fd31a@gmx.com>

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On Feb 1, 2023, at 5:54 PM, David <2yt@gmx.com> wrote:

> On 2/1/23 14:07, Paul Mather wrote:
>> On Feb 1, 2023, at 3:14 PM, Marek Zarychta =
<zarychtam@plan-b.pwste.edu.pl> wrote:
>>> W dniu 1.02.2023 o 20:33, Paul Mather pisze:
>>>> It looks like we may have a winner, folks.  I built and enabled the =
extra TCP stacks and for the first time was able to max out my =
connection to the remote FreeBSD system.  I get consistently higher =
throughput over the 15-hop WAN path to the remote FreeBSD system when =
using the RACK TCP stack than when using the default "freebsd" stack.
>>>>=20
>>>> Although the speeds are consistently higher when using the setting =
"net.inet.tcp.functions_default=3Drack", they are still variable.  =
However, rather than the 3--4 MB/s I saw that kicked off this thread, I =
now average over 10 MB/s.
>>>>=20
>>>> I actually get the best results with =
"net.inet.tcp.functions_default=3Dbbr" (having loaded tcp_bbr).  That =
behaves very much like the Linux hosts in that speeds climb very quickly =
until it saturates the WAN connection.  I get the same high speeds from =
the remote FreeBSD system using tcp_bbr as I do to the Linux hosts.  I =
will stick with tcp_bbr for now as the default on my remote FreeBSD =
servers.  It appears to put them on a par with Linux for this WAN link.
>>>=20
>>> Thanks for the feedback Paul. Please bear in mind that BBR 1 which =
is implemented in FreeBSD is not a fair[1] congestion control algorithm. =
Maybe in the future, we will have BBR v2 in the stack, but for now, I =
don't recommend using BBR, unless you want to act slightly as a hm.... =
network leecher. Maybe Linux hosts behave this way, maybe they have =
implemented BBR v2, I am not familiar with Linux TCP stack enhancements. =
On the other hand, tcp_rack(4) is performant, well-tested in the FreeBSD =
stack, considered fair and more acceptable for a fileserver, though not =
ideal, ie. probably more computationally expensive and still missing =
some features like TCP-MD5.
>>>=20
>>> [1] https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/12/4128
>>>=20
>> That is a fair and astute observation, Marek.  I am also not familiar =
with Linux TCP stack implementations but it had occurred to me that =
maybe Linux was not being an entirely good netizen whereas FreeBSD was =
behaving with impeccable net manners when it came to congestion control =
and being fair to others, and that is why Linux was getting faster =
speeds for me.  Then again, perhaps not. :-)
>> In the case of the remote FreeBSD hosts I use at $JOB, they have low =
numbers of users and so are more akin to endpoints than servers, so I'm =
not worried about "leeching" from them.  Also, my ISP download bandwidth =
is 1/5th of each FreeBSD system, so hopefully there is still plenty to =
go around after I max out my bulk downloads.  (Plus, I believe $JOB =
prefers my downloads to take half [or less] the time.) :-)
>> Hopefully we will get BBR v2 (or something even fairer) at some =
point.   IIRC, the FreeBSD Foundation has been highlighting some of this =
network stack work.  It would be a pity for it not to be enabled by =
default so more people could use it on -RELEASE without building a =
custom kernel.  I'm just glad right now I'm not stuck with 3--4 MB/s =
downloads any more.
>> Cheers,
>> Paul.
>=20
> Word of caution:
>=20
> It would appear not all FreeBSD applications like BBR or RACK. I run a =
Magento (e-commerce) VM and was getting weird pauses (hang for a bit =
then resume) on the website. Running Magneto requires several other TCP =
services and something wasn't happy. Not going to debug the problem, =
just wanted to give a heads up.


Thanks for the heads-up.  Since posting the above I have also noticed =
that BBR and RACK aren't unalloyed successes for me.  In my experience, =
I would also notice pauses and lockups/disconnections to FreeBSD systems =
with BBR enabled.  I only noticed pauses with RACK on some systems in my =
testing, so that was much more usable.

The problems I experienced were worst on 13.1-RELEASE.  A 13.1-RELEASE =
system I built and enabled BBR on was almost unusable to me.  RACK was =
better but also had issues.  Much better in my tests is BBR and RACK on =
13-STABLE and -CURRENT.  I had no issues with RACK (other with more =
speed variability vs BBR), whereas BBR did lock up one of my FreeBSD =
clients in testing.  (That client uses a RealTek re NIC, so maybe BBR =
tickles more bugs in that.)  RACK caused no lockups and yielded good =
enough speeds for it to be my go-to combo now over BBR.

I figure the better results with enabling BBR and RACK on -STABLE and =
-CURRENT vs -RELEASE servers reflects potential improvements/bug fixes =
in the implementation since -RELEASE landed.  (Disclaimer: the -RELEASE =
test system uses em NICs whereas the -STABLE and -CURRENT systems I used =
in testing use igb NICs, so maybe that is a factor?)

Cheers,

Paul.




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