Routers with 1) configurable QoS with hw acceleration at 1Gbps and 2) multiple vlans?

[ssm1234]

Hi I’m upgrading from an ASUS GT-AX11000 Pro. I have two requirements: 1) it needs to allow multiple VLANs or guest WiFi networks and 2) it needs to have adaptive QoS at speeds of 800Mbps with hardware acceleration. Any suggestions?

I don’t care about WiFi capabilities much.

(I’ve tried Merlin WRT on my current Asus but it disables hw accel + QoS at > ~300Mbps. Also I have guest network WiFi issues with bandwidth limiting QoS.)

 

[dave14305]

I don’t care about WiFi capabilities much.

Then get a separate x86 machine to do the routing and firewalling and run pfSense, OPNsense, FreeBSD or Linux on it. No ASUS WiFi router is going to measure up in terms of those speeds and advanced VLAN capabilities.

 

[ssm1234]

Interesting. Would you suggest any forums or howtos on the x86 approach?

 

[dave14305]

Initially, I would suggest installing OPNsense or OpenWrt on an x86 box.

Home Network Guy produces some good videos for OPNsense.

 

[Tech9]

I don’t care about WiFi capabilities much.

Just keep in mind the more business oriented the software is the less common home network features will be available. There will be no gaming presets, no parental control presets, no IoT presets... you have to recreate whatever you want manually. As an example my UniFi system doesn't have WPA encryption option as well as WPS since both are considered low security. If I have on older IoT with WPA and a button only - it's a no go. It can do full Gigabit AQM with FQ_CoDeL, but can't prioritize specific game needs. OPNsense/pfSense can go really deep in QoS options, but it won't be very user friendly and good hardware adds significant cost. So choose hardware wisely, decide carefully what do you want and if you really need it.

 

[ssm1234]

Good point. My main requirement is that I need very (very) low latency on the router even if a lot of bandwidth is being used. This is because I play live music over the internet and can’t afford >20ms (keeping with the beat is important ). And others may also be on other machines in the house.
This means that I need something that can handle adaptive QoS and high throughput. Hence the need for hardware acceleration.

And I need a couple of VLANs for iot devices and guest network.

The AX11000 does everything very well except for the QoS at high speeds.

 

[Tech9]

My main requirement is that I need very (very) low latency on the router

You can get low latency for passing through your equipment traffic, but can't fix latency upstream.

Hence the need for hardware acceleration.

Home routers use NAT acceleration because of weak CPUs. An appliance with x86 CPU doesn't need it.

 

[ssm1234]

You can get low latency for passing through your equipment traffic, but can't fix latency upstream.

yep. I’ve got the upstream issues solved for the most part, at least for the couple of servers I need to access. It’s my router that I’m focusing on right now.

 

[Tech9]

Your Cable ISP line perhaps already has around 10ms latency. The line capacity is also shared between subscribers and in peak hours the latency may increase further due to traffic congestion. The usual consequence of "get up to 2Gbps for only $5 more" the ISPs offer. Make sure you have realistic expectations before reaching for your credit card. Or at least make sure you have return options for the hardware you want to experiment with.

 

[ssm1234]

Your Cable ISP line perhaps already has around 10ms latency. The line capacity is also shared between subscribers and in peak hours the latency may increase further due to traffic congestion. The usual consequence of "get up to 2Gbps for only $5 more" the ISPs offer. Make sure you have realistic expectations before reaching for your credit card. Or at least make sure you have return options for the hardware you want to experiment with.

Yeah I understand. I’ve already measured the latency and cut down on buffer bloat on my current setup (combination of my own modem and QoS)

 

[dave14305]

This means that I need something that can handle adaptive QoS and high throughput

OPNsense/pfSense/FreeBSD practically only offer fq_codel for QoS. OpenWrt offers more flexibility with SQM scripts and other custom packages (official and community developed). But OpenWrt on x86 isn’t an easy ride. It works wonderfully on x86 once installed, but installing and upgrading can be awkward in my experience.

I’ve tried many different router platforms and they all have their flaws (whether technical or people-related).

I want to like OPNsense, but I personally feel there’s some flakiness in the lead developer (takes one to know one!), and I don’t get the impression that anyone in the FreeBSD orbit really knows how to develop the pf firewall without going back to OpenBSD for hints.

OpenWrt is very good, but their release discipline is lacking. Eventually they get it right, but can be frustrating to watch.

pfSense is good, but not friendly to the home user anymore based on NetGate’s recent decisions around the free community edition (CE).

 

[Tech9]

OPNsense/pfSense/FreeBSD practically only offer fq_codel for QoS

The same for UniFi OS gateways, FQ-CoDel based QoS only. They call it Smart Queues in the UI and even though it works on faster ISP lines (model dependent) it's not recommended for WAN speeds above 300Mbps as per Ubiquiti Help Center.

and cut down on buffer bloat on my current setup

There is a good chance you just improved the numbers on the website used for measuring bufferbloat. They are not very reliable and quite often folks invest in hardware they don't really need. If you know the servers you connect to - run continuous ping test and monitor the response with and without ISP line load. This will give you an idea where the problem is. Local issues you can address, upstream issues including ISP related - you can't. Keep in mind the ISP also applies QoS on their lines by default. Your measures come on top. The final result - not guaranteed.