CakeQOS CakeQOS-Merlin

[Yooshaw]

I've been doing some more testing and I think I have made some progress. My config is as follows:

• Ring Doorbell Pro
• RT-AX88U main router with wired connection to downstream RT-AC68U providing dedicated network for the Ring
• RT-AC68U set up in routing mode with NAT DISABLED, 5Ghz WiFi only on a clear channel group, IGMP Snooping enabled
• Upstream ISP Router from Sky in the UK resulting in Double NAT (nothing I can do about this) but RT-AX88U is in DMZ
• RT-AX88U in Symetric NAT mode, SIP Helper Disabled, Multicast Routing enabled in IPTV settings
• Cake configured - 50/10, triple-isolate, Diffserv4 (don't think this is important), nowash (don't think this is important), Regional (don't think this is important)
• Cake nat is on for me and doesn't seem to affect the results
• Cake no-ack-filter is set on both upload and download - this seems to improve things

Before today I could intermittently use Live View with poor reliability and better performance from 4G than on my home wifi. When motion was detected Live View wouldn't start while the doorbell was capturing the motion clip.

Today I tried the 'nonat' option which doesn't seem to affect me, but what does seem to have made a difference is turning off ack-filtering which I previously had active on my upload only. Live View now seems to start quickly and I can view the doorbell when I receive a motion alert.

At the moment (and it's too early to be sure) it seems that my Ring Doorbell Pro is now behaving properly with cake-qos. I plan to leave this configuration in place for a few days and if everything remains as good as it is now I will start to reverse some of the settings I don't think are having an influence. The Nat Passthrough SIP Helper setting will be one of the last as I know Ring use SIP and I think this helped me get some form of functionality in the first instance.

I couldn't get my Ring Floodlight Cams to play nice with Cake - no settings seemed to change my ability to view live streams. My Ring Doorbell2 had no problems though, and I don't understand why the doorbell worked perfectly, and the Floodlight Cams struggled.

Uninstalled Cake and went with Flex. Ring cameras are snappy and bring up live streams within 2-3 seconds.

 

[BenK_Oz]

Would have to look at some of your stats (especially under load), tied to your configuration. I've been absent due to work/fam commitments over the last month, so venturing back into the waters a bit. Glad to see the team keeping this going!

For now:
1. Your ISP/connection(s) details as advertised
2. Your Cake configuration

Hi Thanks for you work and response here!
I have an australian FTTC (fibre to the curb) VDSL conection , 50/20
With cake turned off, i am running speed tests while running a ping to google at the same time
this morning my connection is not so great, i am getting 37.7Mbps / 18.5 Mbps (on a good day i get 45/19) on speedtest.net and 37.2/17.88 on dslreports with a+/a+/a+

When i run the speed tests i get dropouts on the ping

With cake turned on I reduced the download/upload speed until i could run the speed tests without a dropout on the pings and i got these settings:

[1] --> Download Speed | [39 Mbit]
[2] --> Upload Speed | [18 Mbit]
[3] --> Queue Priority | [besteffort]
[4] --> Extra Download Options | [Unset]
[5] --> Extra Upload Options | [Unset]

I now get 33.41/16.34 on speedtest.net and / 35.6/17 on dslreports heres a history of runs:
Ive got video conf's all day today so ill test it out this config,open to any suggestions

USA (EST)	Down	Up	Ping	B	Q	S	=	Link	ISP	Streams	Button Tags Comment
2020-08-31 19:11:10	35.6	17.24	17	A+	A+		A+	DSL	AS135887	8 / 4
2020-08-31 19:00:28	37.2	17.88	18	A+	A+		A+	DSL	AS135887	8 / 4
2020-08-31 07:04:35	24.98	18.41	18	A+	A+		A+	DSL	AS135887	8 / 4
2020-08-16 09:27:42	44.1	18.3	18	A+	A+		A+	DSL	AS135887	8 / 4
2020-08-16 09:25:56	43.2	18.7	18	A+	A		A+	Fiber	AS135887	30 / 4
2020-08-16 09:17:09	41.2	18.34	18	A+	A		A+	Fiber	AS135887	30 / 4
2020-08-16 09:00:25	26.8	18.27	18	A+	A+		A+	DSL	AS135887	8 / 4
2020-08-16 07:30:37	24.01	19.67	19	A	D		B	Fiber	AS135887	30 / 4

 

[Audionut]

I have an australian FTTC (fibre to the curb) VDSL conection , 50/20

What RSP? And what is your stance on changing RSP's? Because those speeds are atrocious.

I'm on a 100/40 FTTC connection here and can run those speeds in the settings with extra download options "ptm overhead 22". Which is VDSL2 bridged-ptm overhead settings here: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/tc-cake.8.html#OVERHEAD_COMPENSATION_PARAMETERS

A random screenshot with some download/uploads that push the connection. Torrents kicking along in the background also which is impacting on the file upload speed. Cake just works.

 

[BenK_Oz]

What RSP? And what is your stance on changing RSP's? Because those speeds are atrocious.

I'm on a 100/40 FTTC connection here and can run those speeds in the settings with extra download options "ptm overhead 22". Which is VDSL2 bridged-ptm overhead settings here: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/tc-cake.8.html#OVERHEAD_COMPENSATION_PARAMETERS

My RSP is embarrassing i'm with belong but will change to superloop at the end of this month. Most likely it is my rsp going up and down, and needing to adjust the cake settings accordingly.

my connection has improved slightly at midday: without cake i am getting 44/18.49 , but when i run the speedtest it kills my video conference.

I've adjusted my cake settings with your the extra download settings (thanks for that - my brain doesnt process linux man pages):
[1] --> Download Speed | [44 Mbit]
[2] --> Upload Speed | [18 Mbit]
[3] --> Queue Priority | [besteffort]
[4] --> Extra Download Options | [ptm overhead 22]
[5] --> Extra Upload Options | [Unset]

speedtest: 39/16.5
Dsl reports: 40.1/17.11 Mbps

 

[Audionut]

Those slow speeds at this time of the day when there should be no congestion in the CVC is crazy.

I never had any luck with unlimted or autorate settings, which would initially seem best if your connection speeds are changing. I think until you change RSP's, it's probably best to run 38/18 speeds in cake while you're video conferencing to ensure that remains smooth (with the impact to total throughput), and then maybe play with some things outside of video conferencing hours to bump the throughput up a little.

edit: Even with cake set at 48/18, is it still dropping out on the video conferencing?

 

[BenK_Oz]

Those slow speeds at this time of the day when there should be no congestion in the CVC is crazy.

I never had any luck with unlimted or autorate settings, which would initially seem best if your connection speeds are changing. I think until you change RSP's, it's probably best to run 38/18 speeds in cake while you're video conferencing to ensure that remains smooth (with the impact to total throughput), and then maybe play with some things outside of video conferencing hours to bump the throughput up a little.

edit: Even with cake set at 48/18, is it still dropping out on the video conferencing?

with 44/18 videoconferencing is only barely affected during speedtests, i'll test tonight at 8-9pm when cvc is contended

 

[ttgapers]

My RSP is embarrassing i'm with belong but will change to superloop at the end of this month. Most likely it is my rsp going up and down, and needing to adjust the cake settings accordingly.

my connection has improved slightly at midday: without cake i am getting 44/18.49 , but when i run the speedtest it kills my video conference.

I've adjusted my cake settings with your the extra download settings (thanks for that - my brain doesnt process linux man pages):
[1] --> Download Speed | [44 Mbit]
[2] --> Upload Speed | [18 Mbit]
[3] --> Queue Priority | [besteffort]
[4] --> Extra Download Options | [ptm overhead 22]
[5] --> Extra Upload Options | [Unset]

speedtest: 39/16.5
Dsl reports: 40.1/17.11 Mbps

Note you can use:

bridged-ptm

in your extra download/upload as it is equivalent to overhead 22 ptm

The other option for VDSL2 is

pppoe-ptm

which is equivalent to overhead 30 ptm

 

[BenK_Oz]

thanks for your assistance, i ranmg the rsp to complain today. they said there was maintenance or something happening.
For whatever reason connection is better tonight

bottom is no cake


top is with following cake settings
[1] --> Download Speed | [48 Mbit]
[2] --> Upload Speed | [18 Mbit]
[3] --> Queue Priority | [besteffort]
[4] --> Extra Download Options | [bridged-ptm]
[5] --> Extra Upload Options | [bridged-ptm]



�

DATE /TIME	PING ms	DOWNLOAD Mbps	UPLOAD Mbps	DISTANCE mi	LOCATION /SERVER	PROVIDER
09/01/2020 9:34 PM	6	42.85	16.55	< 50	Melbourne Telstra + 3 more	Telstra
09/01/2020 9:33 PM	5	44.00	17.59	< 50	Melbourne Telstra + 3 more

 

[heysoundude]

OK, while I'm not on fibre, I pay for 50/10 vDSL from my provider here in Canada.
I've found cake to work best when not specifying speeds when our providers are already controlling them - I've set mine to naughts.
I've also set my rtt value at "metro" to more closely reflect my pings (a bit longer than yours at just under 8ms), and that was surprising how it changed things.
also using besteffort (default), dual-xxxhost, ack-filter-aggressive.
The key to cake is making it aware of the MTU size - packet loss/latency occur when something is trying to overfill the buckets the ISP is letting you move data in and processors have to stop and think/redistribute. I think earlier in this thread we got into that a bit more deeply.

Just some things for you to look at and consider...

 

[BenK_Oz]

sorry guys, my setup messed up need some help:
i started getting errors like this:
Sep 6 00:45:33 dnsmasq-dhcp[6589]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
Sep 6 00:46:33 dnsmasq-dhcp[6589]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
Sep 6 00:47:00 dnsmasq-dhcp[6589]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
cake was saying couldnt fork no memory

so i rebooted the router,
but cake would restart
ive uninstalled and reinstalled and get this error

CakeQOS-Merlin: Cake binaries missing - Exiting

any tips?

====
edit:
I am suspecting my drive changed from sda or sdb to sdc or something so /opt was not linked correctly

edit2:
yes that was it, i manuall reinstalled entware using the script and formatting the drive and the /opt directory looks better now.

 

[Adamm]

sorry guys, my setup messed up need some help:
i started getting errors like this:
Sep 6 00:45:33 dnsmasq-dhcp[6589]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
Sep 6 00:46:33 dnsmasq-dhcp[6589]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
Sep 6 00:47:00 dnsmasq-dhcp[6589]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
cake was saying couldnt fork no memory

so i rebooted the router,
but cake would restart
ive uninstalled and reinstalled and get this error

CakeQOS-Merlin: Cake binaries missing - Exiting

any tips?

====
edit:
I am suspecting my drive changed from sda or sdb to sdc or something so /opt was not linked correctly

edit2:
yes that was it, i manuall reinstalled entware using the script and formatting the drive and the /opt directory looks better now.

I highly suggest formatting with amtm and using device labels so the mount point is irrelevant.

 

[L&LD]

@BenK_Oz you may want to follow the steps in the amtm Step-by-Step Guide to get your USB drive properly set up. Just keep in mind that amtm does not need installing if you're using RMerlin firmware 384.15_0 release final or later.

 

[BenK_Oz]

@BenK_Oz you may want to follow the steps in the amtm Step-by-Step Guide to get your USB drive properly set up. Just keep in mind that amtm does not need installing if you're using RMerlin firmware 384.15_0 release final or later.

Thanks guys, initial install was with Amtm and I tried repairing with amtm but it wouldn’t detect any problems
Amtm showed entware packages as installed and diversion as installed, I tried updating the packages through amtm and it showed no problems I could disable/enable diversion

I think the problem started when I plugged a second hdd into the usb3 port

 

[Wade Coxon]

I had gotten a few of the same DHCP lease messages, but haven't yet seen any cake errors like those.

I ended up deleting a few of my DCHP reservations since I knew I was pushing the limits on those anyway. I didn't encounter and of those cake errors though.

 

[JGrana]

I had gotten a few of the same DHCP lease messages, but haven't yet seen any cake errors like those.

I ended up deleting a few of my DCHP reservations since I knew I was pushing the limits on those anyway. I didn't encounter and of those cake errors though.

For anyone wanting many DHCP reservations, you should consider moving to utilizing the dnsmasq.conf.add method. The WebUI method stores the reservations in the tiny nvram device. Using the dnsmasq.conf.add method moves them the the larger /jffs partition.

I have been using this method for a few years now. Works great and is easy to manage and is portable.

@Xentrk even created a script to help you move them from nvram into a file needed by Merlin fw magic:

dhcp_staticlist and dhcp_hostnames utility

dhcpstaticlist.sh is a helpful utility script to manage DHCP static leases. The script is only compatible with 384.13 release. The script displays a menu with the following functions: Save nvram dhcp_staticlist and dhcp_hostnames to /opt/tmp. This will allow you to restore the values after...

www.snbforums.com

 

[XIII]

Is "The script is only compatible with 384.13 release" still true?

 

[heysoundude]

Is "The script is only compatible with 384.13 release" still true?

have you read the thread? It might have been written in a forward-thinking way, or nothing has changed that pertains to its operation since then. Do your research! Trust but Verify!

 

[XIII]

have you read the thread? It might have been written in a forward-thinking way, or nothing has changed that pertains to its operation since then. Do your research! Trust but Verify!

The thread only mentions a "Beta 3" and 384.14 I believe.

And this is what I see on GitHub:

# Last Updated Date: 4-January-2019 
# Compatible with 384.14

To be more explicit: is it also compatible with 384.19?

 

[dave14305]

The thread only mentions a "Beta 3" and 384.14 I believe.

And this is what I see on GitHub:

# Last Updated Date: 4-January-2019
# Compatible with 384.14

To be more explicit: is it also compatible with 384.19?

You're in the wrong thread for the dhcp static list utility.

 

[XIII]

You're in the wrong thread for the dhcp static list utility.

You’re right. Should have posted it there. Sorry!