slow upload on 386.2_4 (Asus RT-AC88U)

[Morac]

I have a RT-AC88U running 384.2_4 and while my upload speeds are only 12 Mbps, I’m getting that over wired.

My router only joins the mDNS broadcast group on br0 while yours does br0, br1 and br2. From reading it looks like br1 and br2 are either bridged or guest networks. Are your lan devices on a guest network or something that is configured as bandwidth limited?

Also it looks like you are running a bunch of custom scripts. Have you tried temporarily removing them?

 

[eusagc]

Hi! Thanks for checking this out. I used to get the full 100 upload speed in 384.19. But after trying 386.1 and 386.2_4, even after clean installs, I can barely get past 1Mbps, but only on wired connections.

My router only joins the mDNS broadcast group on br0 while yours does br0, br1 and br2. From reading it looks like br1 and br2 are either bridged or guest networks. Are your lan devices on a guest network or something that is configured as bandwidth limited?

Also it looks like you are running a bunch of custom scripts. Have you tried temporarily removing them?

I have 2 guest network pairs active (i.e., 2 pairs of 2.4 and 5GHz SSIDs, and thus only one pair is left unused). I got info from another thread (here... http://www.snbforums.com/threads/so...rent-subnets-386-2_4-solved.72497/post-688607) that in FW 386.x, subnet 192.168.101.x is now guest network 1's 2.4GHz and 192.168.102.x is guest network 1's 5GHz.

Only wireless clients connect to these guest networks, since I think it's not possible to map physical ports to these VLANs. Afaik, there is no bandwidth limit set anywhere, but there is custom DNS defined for clients on that guest network (in LAN -> DNSFilter).

Also, the 1st guest network has the same SSID for both 2.4 and 5GHz bands, and has MAC filter enabled to accept only the list defined in the table on tab Guest Network. There are 2 identical tables for both 2.4 and 5GHz bands.

Also it looks like you are running a bunch of custom scripts. Have you tried temporarily removing them?

Not that I'm aware of. Are you referring to scripts in /jffs? I'm not sure really if there is anything there. Is it possible that some amtm addon put something in there? I can check for you, but I'm not so sure how to access that folder, so if you kindly tell me how to do that. (It was easy on Tomato.)

Many thanks. Cheers!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Also it looks like you are running a bunch of custom scripts. Have you tried temporarily removing them?

Not that I'm aware of. Are you referring to scripts in /jffs? I'm not sure really if there is anything there. Is it possible that some amtm addon put something in there? I can check for you, but I'm not so sure how to access that folder, so if you kindly tell me how to do that. (It was easy on Tomato.)

He's referring to the amtm scripts that you've previously said you had installed. We can see these have included: FlexQoS, Diversion (+pixelserv-tls), uiDivStats, connmon, scMerlin, dn-vnstat, ntpMerlin, spdMerlin, Skynet and Scribe. But you said you that you've tested your router without these scripts being installed and/or enabled. If that's not the case then none of that testing is valid.

I suggest to be sure you disable "JFFS custom scripts and configs" in the router's GUI and remove any attached USB devices. Reboot, then test again.

 

[eusagc]

He's referring to the amtm scripts that you've previously said you had installed. We can see these have included: FlexQoS, Diversion (+pixelserv-tls), uiDivStats, connmon, scMerlin, dn-vnstat, ntpMerlin, spdMerlin, Skynet and Scribe. But you said you that you've tested your router without these scripts being installed and/or enabled. If that's not the case then none of that testing is valid.

I suggest to be sure you disable "JFFS custom scripts and configs" in the router's GUI and remove any attached USB devices. Reboot, then test again.

Aha! No sir, I never disabled them in any of the tests, except for that time when I'm still slowly building the config, just after loading the new FW. and haven't started installing the addons yet. I don't remember saying that I disabled the addons when I did the tests, but if so, then I'm sorry, maybe I just wasn't very clear.

Yes, I will retest this tomorrow morning, with the addons disabled. I will let you know. Thank you.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Aha! No sir, I never disabled them in any of the tests, except for that time when I'm still slowly building the config, just after loading the new FW. and haven't started installing the addons yet. I don't remember saying that I disabled the addons when I did the tests, but if so, then I'm sorry, maybe I just wasn't very clear.

Ah, OK. I was probably reading too much into what you said and confusing it with your similar post from February where you said "Disabled all amtm add-ons, same problem".

The most obvious thing that would effect bandwidth would be QoS, either the built-in settings or via add-ons like FlexQoS.

 

[dave14305]

I’ve never used an AC88U, but I’ve never seen vlan2 as a wan interface name when properly using Adaptive QoS. It’s usually eth0 (or eth4 on an AX58U).

Just to understand the impact of QoS, what’s the output of tc qdisc

 

[eusagc]

Ah, OK. I was probably reading too much into what you said and confusing it with your similar post from February where you said "Disabled all amtm add-ons, same problem".

The most obvious thing that would effect bandwidth would be QoS, either the built-in settings or via add-ons like FlexQoS.

No worries bro... Yep, I remember I did that, but that was ages ago.

Right from the start, I was always suspecting that this was a QoS thing, and so anything QoS-related should be disabled.

 

[eusagc]

I’ve never used an AC88U, but I’ve never seen vlan2 as a wan interface name when properly using Adaptive QoS. It’s usually eth0 (or eth4 on an AX58U).

Just to understand the impact of QoS, what’s the output of tc qdisc

Hi! Yeah, I guess it's HW dependent. I have a Tenda running FreshTomato on another network and I think it uses vlan2 as primary wan interface. Cheers!

 

[eusagc]

I have a RT-AC88U running 384.2_4 and while my upload speeds are only 12 Mbps, I’m getting that over wired.

My router only joins the mDNS broadcast group on br0 while yours does br0, br1 and br2. From reading it looks like br1 and br2 are either bridged or guest networks. Are your lan devices on a guest network or something that is configured as bandwidth limited?

Also it looks like you are running a bunch of custom scripts. Have you tried temporarily removing them?

And so I turned my live home network into a testbed lol... Please find the test as outlined below. Please let me know if anything was missed or is unclear. I thank you all in advance for taking a look at this, it's a lot of steps and logs. My family here have been grumbling the whole past hour or so while I was rebooting and stuff... In the end, the problem is still there. I fully reverted to pre-test state now (didn't do any restores). Please take your time. Cheers.

TEST SEQUENCE LOG:

TEST START:
Speedtest 95.56/0.92 (wired)
Speedtest 124.76/142.98 (wireless)

Disable "Enable JFFS custom scripts and configs"
Speedtest 94.47/0.88 (wired)
Save syslog(7).txt https://pastebin.com/Jqg9Rvj7
Reboot
Save syslog(8).txt https://pastebin.com/kdzxPtVL
Speedtest 92.32/1.05 (wired)
Speedtest 158.16/144.38 (wireless)

Disable "Enable DNS-based Filtering"
Speedtest 91.52/0.93 (wired)

Remove USB "Safely Remove disk"
Physically remove USB drive
Save syslog(9).txt https://pastebin.com/ii8Ur0Zn
Reboot
Speedtest 93.31/0.88 (wired)

Remove Guest network 5GHz
Remove Guest network 2.4GHz
Speedtest 91.24/0.99 (wired)

Remove all lan port connections except local
Save syslog(10).txt https://pastebin.com/pm1vrfRJ
Reboot
Save syslog(13).txt https://pastebin.com/5nhwJzyE
Observed: br1 gone!
Speedtest 94.06/0.92 (wired)
Speedtest 155.44/148.45 (wireless)
PROBLEM PERSISTS!

Disabled QoS (previously Adaptive QoS/Automatic Setting)
Speedtest 93.20/1.03 (wired)
Speedtest 151.61/145.46 (wireless)
Save syslog(14).txt https://pastebin.com/pKquLChx

Power off
Power on
Speedtest 92.52/0.86 (wired)
Speedtest 151.84/144.32 (wireless)
Enable QoS (Mistake! Syslog should've been taken first!)
Save syslog(15).txt https://pastebin.com/UVQbVgvt

REVERT ALL STEPS ABOVE!
Speedtest 89.86/1.08 (wired)
Speedtest 129.56/123.83 (wireless)
PROBLEM PERSISTS!

 

[eusagc]

Just to understand the impact of QoS, what’s the output of tc qdisc

Here's

tc qdisc

pre-test (before the test stuff above) and post-test (this is after all tests have just been done, just prior to revert part). I'm also pasting

ifconfig -a

in case... Many thanks.

tcqdisc_pretest https://pastebin.com/PvFsP9Wp
tcqdisc_posttest https://pastebin.com/g11y6wnr
ifconfig_pretest https://pastebin.com/r8QMtce6
ifconfig_posttest https://pastebin.com/A8auvM8v

 

[Morac]

It seems like the “easiest” way to find the problem is to clear NVRAM and JFFS and set up the bare minimum to get online with Wi-Fi (no QOS, guest networks, custom addons, special DHCP, etc) and check the LAN speeds. Based on the third post they should be good. Then one by one add all the other stuff and check the speeds (and backup config) after each step. Once the upload speed drops out, you’ll know that change is the cause.

It may be time consuming, but it will give you your answer.

 

[eusagc]

It seems like the “easiest” way to find the problem is to clear NVRAM and JFFS and set up the bare minimum to get online with Wi-Fi (no QOS, guest networks, custom addons, special DHCP, etc) and check the LAN speeds. Based on the third post they should be good. Then one by one add all the other stuff and check the speeds (and backup config) after each step. Once the upload speed drops out, you’ll know that change is the cause.

It may be time consuming, but it will give you your answer.

Thank you. I'll do it as you suggest when I try this again. Can't do it now (it's Monday tomorrow), Friday night or Saturday morning is possible. Will report back then.

Do you think we might have hit the problem somewhere in the things I did above, but it just didn't fix the issue since some gunk still "sticks" in NVRAM?

 

[eusagc]

It seems like the “easiest” way to find the problem is to clear NVRAM and JFFS and set up the bare minimum to get online with Wi-Fi (no QOS, guest networks, custom addons, special DHCP, etc) and check the LAN speeds. Based on the third post they should be good. Then one by one add all the other stuff and check the speeds (and backup config) after each step. Once the upload speed drops out, you’ll know that change is the cause.

It may be time consuming, but it will give you your answer.

Hi! I methodically did everything again, from a cleared NVRAM/JFFS starting point, and it seems the problem is, quite strangely, with Traffic Monitong (Tools -> Other). Enabling IPTraffic (per IP monitoring) regardless of file location (RAM or external USB) will slow down upload to ~1Mbps on wired connections only.

After configuring almost all settings, I inserted a USB stick and proceeded to format, create swap file, etc. I then installed entware and loaded a few addons) just for good measure, when I remembered to enable the traffic history logs and move the files to USB. As soon as I did this very last step, boom, the problem appeared. Disabling this didn't fix the problem... I actually had to restore a backup (taken just before USB configuration) in order to get the normal 100Mbps upload. I thought it had something to do with the USB stick, and decided to enable it again, but use RAM this time. Problem reappeared. Again, wired upload is slow, wireless is normal.

Why in the world traffic logging would cause this problem I have no idea. But at least we have pinpointed the cause.

I will now finish the router config and will send another note when all is finished. Many thanks to you all. Cheers.

 

[roguetr]

Hi! I methodically did everything again, from a cleared NVRAM/JFFS starting point, and it seems the problem is, quite strangely, with Traffic Monitong (Tools -> Other). Enabling IPTraffic (per IP monitoring) regardless of file location (RAM or external USB) will slow down upload to ~1Mbps on wired connections only.

After configuring almost all settings, I inserted a USB stick and proceeded to format, create swap file, etc. I then installed entware and loaded a few addons) just for good measure, when I remembered to enable the traffic history logs and move the files to USB. As soon as I did this very last step, boom, the problem appeared. Disabling this didn't fix the problem... I actually had to restore a backup (taken just before USB configuration) in order to get the normal 100Mbps upload. I thought it had something to do with the USB stick, and decided to enable it again, but use RAM this time. Problem reappeared. Again, wired upload is slow, wireless is normal.

Why in the world traffic logging would cause this problem I have no idea. But at least we have pinpointed the cause.

I will now finish the router config and will send another note when all is finished. Many thanks to you all. Cheers.

This is interesting. I'm on an RT-AC5300 and have just noticed that the on-router speedtest has expected results whilst all clients, wired and wireless, have a restricted upload. I've disabled practically everything to no avail. I guess it's factory reset time (I also had Traffic Monitoring logging to disk).

 

[eusagc]

This is interesting. I'm on an RT-AC5300 and have just noticed that the on-router speedtest has expected results whilst all clients, wired and wireless, have a restricted upload. I've disabled practically everything to no avail. I guess it's factory reset time (I also had Traffic Monitoring logging to disk).

Yup, it was really strange. At first, I was thinking there must be something unique in my setup, since nobody else seemed to have this issue. Digging deeper though, it all boiled down to this (IP traffic monitoring).

After this difficult experience, I scaled down on many things. From a month ago, internet got upped to 200/200 (dl/ul), and I decided to turn off QoS, and disabled a lot of amtm addons as well. For traffic logging though, I find this addon "Vnstat" to be good enough to replace the router logging. For IP traffic logging, I settled on Traffic Analyzer -> Statistic.

Oot, the stability of the router seem to have improved after I turned off Diversion and Skynet. I now schedule my reboot twice a month. It's been really peaceful and quiet this past month or so...

 

[roguetr]

Yup, it was really strange. At first, I was thinking there must be something unique in my setup, since nobody else seemed to have this issue. Digging deeper though, it all boiled down to this (IP traffic monitoring).

After this difficult experience, I scaled down on many things. From a month ago, internet got upped to 200/200 (dl/ul), and I decided to turn off QoS, and disabled a lot of amtm addons as well. For traffic logging though, I find this addon "Vnstat" to be good enough to replace the router logging. For IP traffic logging, I settled on Traffic Analyzer -> Statistic.

Oot, the stability of the router seem to have improved after I turned off Diversion and Skynet. I now schedule my reboot twice a month. It's been really peaceful and quiet this past month or so...

I'd never had any stability issues and never needed a scheduled reboot thankfully. The factory reset has fixed the upload problem from client devices, very weird!

I've re-enabled everything except FlexQOS and per IP monitoring. As long as Diversion and content filtering are working I'm good ... Not going to push my luck.

 

[Morac]

IP Monitoring disables hardware acceleration, but most upload speeds aren’t fast enough that that would matter and it would affect Wifi too.

 

[roguetr]

IP Monitoring disables hardware acceleration, but most upload speeds aren’t fast enough that that would matter and it would affect Wifi too.

Yep, I'm aware. For me the issue affected wired and wireless alike. I've always had CTF disabled due to (minimally) time scheduling and never had an issue. We're talking a max upload of 20Mbps reduced and capped to about 5Mbps.