CakeQOS CakeQOS-Merlin

[Treadler]

I have a few questions about this, I did read some of it, but not all, so my apologies if these are redundant or repetitive.

1. I have an AC68U on cable 100/10, is it a good match for this, or just use none or the QoS that comes with the Merlin xxx.19 F/w?
2. I heard DSLreports test is unreliable, and netflix has fast.com - so is there any sites that can test internet quality changes (done in router) reliably?
3. Does DNS matter at all? I have it set to openDNS currently.
4. anything else?

Thanks

1. Yes, Flexqos is also worth a look.
2. I use both, I don’t think either are foolproof. They give an indication though.
3. Only for DNS lookup latency, which is not the target with QoS.

 

[anotherengineer]

1. Yes, Flexqos is also worth a look.
2. I use both, I don’t think either are foolproof. They give an indication though.
3. Only for DNS lookup latency, which is not the target with QoS.

For #2 I believe i seen someone mention putty??

 

[cristake]

Is there a reason you are running the “old” FreshJR QoS and not the “new” FlexQoS?

My mistake ....sorry ... I run Flex .. the new one. Works very well for me. Yes I know ... need to play to see if CAKE could be a solution. But from start I will know the speed could be half ... it's not an option for me.

I'm open also to solutions

 

[Treadler]

For #2 I believe i seen someone mention putty??

Download PuTTY - a free SSH and telnet client for Windows

 

[Audionut]

2. I heard DSLreports test is unreliable, and netflix has fast.com - so is there any sites that can test internet quality changes (done in router) reliably?

These sites are effectively automated speed/ping tests in one. The same can be accomplished with more control.

In a windows cmd line, the -t parameter will continuously ping a server.

ping -t 1.1.1.1

Or you can use the "Network Tools - Network Analysis" in the router webgui to do the same thing, but give the results with a pretty graph. With the continuous ping running, you then run download/upload and observe the fluctuations in the ping results. Large variances (jitter) in the ping results indicate bufferbloat and the need for effective QOS.

The download/upload needs to be from a good reliable server. In my experience, google servers (google drive etc) give good consistent speed.

I can see pages loading faster but that's quantifiable and I've not done the legwork to measure it just yet so take it with much sodium chloride. I'd like to see if others notice it too or could quantify it before I get round to it.

Hrm, I wonder if anf of the many browser tests may be able to reliably test this.

Having cake-qos is making a great impact to internet usage, I'm grateful it's been integrated for consumption.

Agreed.

 

[heysoundude]

Hello ...

I'm here with a important question and NEED BIG advice from you guys ....
I'm in a bad scenario where my router ASUS RT-86U with 384.19 are rebooting at 1-4 days over and over again ...On this link I explain in more detail how stuff affected me ....

RT-AC86U Rebooting over and over

OK. It was just a thought. I don't have a Xbox. I thought it might be flip-flopping between the wired and wireless connections. I seen reports from people that say they've had issues with the Xbox's network once it's gone into standby. I don't know the details. Thank you for the suggestion...

www.snbforums.com

I receive the advice to uninstall AIProtection ( because he is the bad guy ) and stay without but I lose Adaptive QOS with FreshQOS who work for me very well right now ....and to install CAKE instead. I read some posts here and what I understood is CAKE works very well with slow connections top recommended is 250.

Question ARE:

1. I lose serious speed with CAKE ?
Now I have 450-470 / 25 - 23 without QOS and 370 / 20 with FreshQOS active and other stuff on.
I need badly some QOS very well organized because I have a crowded network and almost all devices are online on most of the time.

2. Is this CAKE a solution ? work with Skynet and Diversion .... and so on ...devices etc ?

Look in attach about my network structure and on top of that put 6-10 wifi devices ....

Thank you in advance for your advice.
Also Big Thx to DAVID and other guys to guide me into FreshQOS
Cheers

well, the router can definitely run cake. and it works well without needing much configuration BUT
What causes the router reboots? Is it bad enough for you to consider a factory reset and rebuilding your network? what happens if you disconnect everything from the router except your computer?
Have you installed diversion through amtm, and added a swap file?

 

[cristake]

Have you installed diversion through amtm, and added a swap file?

YES ... I have ... installed... The idea is ... I have this router from 1 month. I installed Merlin 384.18 only one day because next day 384.19 was available. I create my settings from scratch with new installed FW .... no need factory reboot because I have NEW router configuration. After I installed layers FlexQOS ... Amtm ... Diversion,... Entware ...AI protection and adaptive QOS ... I saw CPU much active and RAM almost full.

Few days ago I installed SKynet with the idea to disable AIProtection and to have something to replace and also to prepare ground for CAKE. With Skynet installed - RAM was almost full and in EVERY DAY the router reboot... instead of 4 days without Skynet. Skynet stress CPU more and added a new layer of RAM Memory occupied to full. I suppose when memory is full in some instances with heavy download and a lot of devices are push the network to the limit ( VOIP / Netflix/ Gaming / and 6 wifi devices all ON ) memory FULL and router reboot himself. Now I uninstalled SKynet and memory is down a little bit and I saw WHEN I disable I protection , memory is settle down to 60% and CPU 1-2 % ... and everything was OK.

Now my configuration is without Skynet but FLEX and Diversion - ON and also AIProtection - ON.

Yes is easy somehow to erase everything and to start from scratch with all config but I have a feeling is not from my config - could be a router fault / or other told me here - AIprotection update something and some specific router revision or other reboot some how ... others NO. I'll wait to see if he return to the old habit to reboot at 4 days ... and then my idea with FULL Memory could be real. That why I put those questions if CAKE slow down my connection ... I dont want to lose half of it because I'm happy with download speed and I pay for 500 and I want 500 / 450 ... not to limit myself to 250 ...

 

[cristake]

what happens if you disconnect everything from the router except your computer?

And this NOW it's impossible .... All in house work from home and kids have online school ( 8.00 - 20.00 ) and me and my wife work hard around the clock all day long ... and weekends also ...a little bit slow down but still online ... Kids meantime play all day long online gaming !!!! So don't tell me how hast I was moving to configure over 30 devices with static IP and other limitations and so on when all people in the house sleep ... Not to tell .. I'm not IT man at all .. I'm on the graphics / advertising area with no clue in this ... I learn from internet / forum like this and from mistakes ...Maybe my questions are somehow stupid from BIG BOYS but I have no preparation at all .. I ask and I need assistance .. perfect user interface for me need to be GUI because ... you know I need to see what to enable or disable

 

[archiel]

Did the bufferbloat test through putty recently break?

Which bufferbloat test did you mean? putty is a way to connect to your router (or other devices) but not a test in its own right.

 

[bluzfanmr1]

I have a few questions about this, I did read some of it, but not all, so my apologies if these are redundant or repetitive.

1. I have an AC68U on cable 100/10, is it a good match for this, or just use none or the QoS that comes with the Merlin xxx.19 F/w?

From the 1st post of this thread: Current Supported Routers: RT-AC86U & RT-AX88U

Cakeqos will not work on the AC68U due to the older kernel.

 

[randomName]

Which bufferbloat test did you mean? putty is a way to connect to your router (or other devices) but not a test in its own right.

Via putty, I use to be able to run this

/jffs/addons/util/betterspeedtest.sh -t 60 -H netperf-west.bufferbloat.net -p 8.8.8.8

and it would run a buffer bloat test like the one at dslreports

The install code

mkdir -p /jffs/addons/util
 /usr/sbin/curl -s "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/richb-hanover/OpenWrtScripts/master/betterspeedtest.sh" -o "/jffs/addons/util/betterspeedtest.sh"
 chmod +x /jffs/addons/util/betterspeedtest.sh
 opkg install coreutils-mktemp
 opkg install coreutils-seq
 opkg install netperf
 opkg install procps-ng-pgrep
 /jffs/addons/util/betterspeedtest.sh -t 60 -H netperf-west.bufferbloat.net -p 8.8.8.8

I think AMTM recently had some packages updated, so that might be it, but I'm not sure.

 

[archiel]

Looking at this pages for this there are (were) 3 servers you could use
netperf.bufferbloat.net - works on default (ipv4) only
netperf-west.bufferbloat.net - used to work on ipv4 and ipv6 - currently does not work at all
netperf-eu.bufferbloat.net - works on default (ipv4) only

 

[Jack Yaz]

Looking at this pages for this there are (were) 3 servers you could use
netperf.bufferbloat.net - works on default (ipv4) only
netperf-west.bufferbloat.net - used to work on ipv4 and ipv6 - currently does not work at all
netperf-eu.bufferbloat.net - works on default (ipv4) only

this was precisely my concern for trying to use netperf instead of ookla for spdmerlin - 3 servers wasn't enough to start with!

 

[heysoundude]

YES ... I have ... installed... The idea is ... I have this router from 1 month. I installed Merlin 384.18 only one day because next day 384.19 was available. I create my settings from scratch with new installed FW .... no need factory reboot because I have NEW router configuration. After I installed layers FlexQOS ... Amtm ... Diversion,... Entware ...AI protection and adaptive QOS ... I saw CPU much active and RAM almost full.

Few days ago I installed SKynet with the idea to disable AIProtection and to have something to replace and also to prepare ground for CAKE. With Skynet installed - RAM was almost full and in EVERY DAY the router reboot... instead of 4 days without Skynet. Skynet stress CPU more and added a new layer of RAM Memory occupied to full. I suppose when memory is full in some instances with heavy download and a lot of devices are push the network to the limit ( VOIP / Netflix/ Gaming / and 6 wifi devices all ON ) memory FULL and router reboot himself. Now I uninstalled SKynet and memory is down a little bit and I saw WHEN I disable I protection , memory is settle down to 60% and CPU 1-2 % ... and everything was OK.

Now my configuration is without Skynet but FLEX and Diversion - ON and also AIProtection - ON.

Yes is easy somehow to erase everything and to start from scratch with all config but I have a feeling is not from my config - could be a router fault / or other told me here - AIprotection update something and some specific router revision or other reboot some how ... others NO. I'll wait to see if he return to the old habit to reboot at 4 days ... and then my idea with FULL Memory could be real. That why I put those questions if CAKE slow down my connection ... I dont want to lose half of it because I'm happy with download speed and I pay for 500 and I want 500 / 450 ... not to limit myself to 250 ...

It's very easy to sense your frustration from where I sit.

Can I recommend that you go back into diversion and install a swap file? It's possible, from what you've written here, that your network demands exceed the available memory in the router; a swap file of 1-2GB on the memory stick/drive you have diversion running on will be quite helpful in the case that I'm correct. (another thing to consider is that you might want to look at your diversion settings, but one step at a time)

If you have FlexQoS installed, you should spend some time adjusting the settings there. AiProtection might be messing with things - follow the crowd over on the FlexQoS thread about that. if that's still not acceptable, cake might be the right solution.

Have you tried the WiFi Radar on your router to make sure your wireless frequencies aren't conflicting with your neighbours (even if most of the traffic the router sees is over wires)?

 

[cristake]

go back into diversion and install a swap file?

I already have swap file created from the first day when FW Merlin 384.19 was installed and all software. I read here and I do all the steps to be sure all will work flawless ... Also I create swap file on a big 8gb drive even 2gb is enough with the idea, maybe in the near future could be useful more GB to have.

want to look at your diversion settings,

Yes ... here could be something to dig ... I don't know really how to manage ... all those settings and strange things for me... Maybe some assistance would be appreciated

you should spend some time adjusting the settings there

I play sometime with settings here. I do not install the Flex and leave "home alone". It's pretty easy to figure out how to manage. I don't deny could be some other things to do, fine tuning ... but overall things work as I needed.

Have you tried the WiFi Radar on your router

No I don't use this but I use some phone app to see what channels are free and yes the wifi area here is very crowded all the time, but I managed to be on "free" zone .... on channels where others couldn't come because don't have router capabilities, they have ISP default routers and this was also a reason to by another router, instead to work stock ISP, ( ISP router it's bridged with ASUS RT86U ) to have power to do things ... for my already crowded home network.
I prefer main traffic, big traffic over wires because it is more stable and I have wired all my house though the walls ... extended with switch when I need more cable wiring. I have in mind to buy managed switches , to control in detail traffic and local settings in specific locations but I will spend more money and I could buy instead another router , but will be nonsense ...

Your advice was very good with precaution and tell me some things I done well ... I will consider CAKE next option if the problem persist over and over. I check now the router status and with no Skynet to stress RAM and CPU the router stay online but I need to stay alert to see when 4 day arrived will reboot again from nowhere.

A strange thing I see now is the SWAP ... it's ZERO ... !!! When usb was installed and swap file was created ( 2 month ago ) ... every day I see some 1-2-3 mb eat from swap ... On reboot swap was clean again and load again few megabites day to day. Yesterday when unistall Skynet ... and I verify at every 3-4 hours how router status, I see the swap file remain ZERO ... all the time and also after 24 hours is ZERO again. ( see attach )

It could do some check to verify if swap file is correct or mounted or work well ...???? or here is the magic trick ??? I don't know ...

Come back to CAKE.
I'll try to read again carefully all the discussions and to be prepared for see how will work and how can customize for my needs. For me GUI is important in setup and customize apps and will be big drawback if CAKE do not have such capabilities.
If not, I will be present all time long with questions on the forum, and I don't like to buzz people with silly and stupid questions ..

Update
Another reboot after 1 day and few hours with network few connections light usage ...

Thank you for advice and I look forward for more and for some assistance if will be necesary...
Cheers

 

[randomName]

Something is broke with cake-qos My ISP speed is 50/3. Setting zero/0 for my download speed will return ~ 56-59Mbit with bad bufferbloat. Capping it at 55Mb will give me erratic download speeds from 33 - 40Mbit. I've tested with /jffs/addons/util/betterspeedtest.sh -t 60 -H netperf-eu.bufferbloat.net -p 8.8.8.8, and spdmerlin, getting the same results. Even capping it between 90-95% will return erratic results.

Using Besteffort. I've tried using docsis which seems to make things worse, and I've tried unset, while adjusting the download speed.

I checked my cable modem, and the pwr signals are decent, also no errors or uncorrected errors. Even did a cable modem reset. Same results.

Did a hard reset on the router too.

If cake is fine I might have something somewhere in my router not configured right... or cake..

First noticed with FW 384.18.. just did an upgrade to 384.19 full reset, jffs wipe, everything. Same thing.


EDIT: Just ran some other Speed tests and now it seems to be fine ?

 

[heysoundude]

Something is broke with cake-qos My ISP speed is 50/3. Setting zero/0 for my download speed will return ~ 56-59Mbit with bad bufferbloat. Capping it at 55Mb will give me erratic download speeds from 33 - 40Mbit. I've tested with /jffs/addons/util/betterspeedtest.sh -t 60 -H netperf-eu.bufferbloat.net -p 8.8.8.8, and spdmerlin, getting the same results. Even capping it between 90-95% will return erratic results.

Using Besteffort. I've tried using docsis which seems to make things worse, and I've tried unset, while adjusting the download speed.

I checked my cable modem, and the pwr signals are decent, also no errors or uncorrected errors. Even did a cable modem reset. Same results.

Did a hard reset on the router too.

If cake is fine I might have something somewhere in my router not configured right... or cake..

First noticed with FW 384.18.. just did an upgrade to 384.19 full reset, jffs wipe, everything. Same thing.


EDIT: Just ran some other Speed tests and now it seems to be fine ?

so, go forth and use the internet. lol and <shrug>
as much as we'd like machinery (and the code running it and on it) to be perfect while we're feeding it energy to run, it has brainfarts too, just like humans.

 

[Kingp1n]

Something is broke with cake-qos My ISP speed is 50/3. Setting zero/0 for my download speed will return ~ 56-59Mbit with bad bufferbloat. Capping it at 55Mb will give me erratic download speeds from 33 - 40Mbit. I've tested with /jffs/addons/util/betterspeedtest.sh -t 60 -H netperf-eu.bufferbloat.net -p 8.8.8.8, and spdmerlin, getting the same results. Even capping it between 90-95% will return erratic results.

Using Besteffort. I've tried using docsis which seems to make things worse, and I've tried unset, while adjusting the download speed.

I checked my cable modem, and the pwr signals are decent, also no errors or uncorrected errors. Even did a cable modem reset. Same results.

Did a hard reset on the router too.

If cake is fine I might have something somewhere in my router not configured right... or cake..

First noticed with FW 384.18.. just did an upgrade to 384.19 full reset, jffs wipe, everything. Same thing.


EDIT: Just ran some other Speed tests and now it seems to be fine ?

Are you still experiencing issues with cake? Where you able to resolve it or did you uninstall?

 

[randomName]

Are you still experiencing issues with cake? Where you able to resolve it or did you uninstall?

Different speed test sites were giving different results, even then the same site would return erratic values.. so it was hard to pin point it. I did however uninstall cake, and I'm back to traditional QoS with the same performance as with cake, according to my buffer-bloat testings

 

[dave14305]

Interesting unintended consequences for people (ab)using betterspeedtest.sh.

[Bloat] netperf server news