Ubiquiti ERLite-3 Slow, Inconsistent Throughput

[thiggins]

I'm testing an ERLite-3 for review with v1.9.1 OS. I used the wizard to set the Basic Router configuration.

I'm getting throughput in the low 100 Mbps range.

I tried executing "set system offload ipv4 forwarding enable", which didn't help. This model doesn't support hardware offload.

Since this router is so often recommended by many of you for Gigabit internet connections, what's your secret?

 

[netwrks]

I'm testing an ERLite-3 for review with v1.9.1 OS. I used the wizard to set the Basic Router configuration.

I'm getting throughput in the low 100 Mbps range.

I tried executing "set system offload ipv4 forwarding enable", which didn't help. This model doesn't support hardware offload.

Since this router is so often recommended by many of you for Gigabit internet connections, what's your secret?

The ERL supports system offload. Can you post the output of "show ubnt offload" ? QoS will kill throughput, as will LAN port bridging. Is the WAN connection a PPoE connection?

 

[sfx2000]

That's odd - as even Tolly's reports show that it should be capable of more...

 

[thiggins]

The ERL supports system offload. Can you post the output of "show ubnt offload" ? QoS will kill throughput, as will LAN port bridging. Is the WAN connection a PPoE connection?

I am using the basic Router configuration with DHCP WAN connection. WAN on ETH0, LAN on ETH1. ETH1 and 2 are not bridged.

admin@ubnt:~$ show ubnt offload

IP offload module : loaded
IPv4
forwarding: enabled
vlan : disabled
pppoe : disabled
gre : disabled
IPv6
forwarding: disabled
vlan : disabled
pppoe : disabled

IPSec offload module: loaded

Traffic Analysis :
export : disabled
dpi : disabled
admin@ubnt:~$

 

[netwrks]

I am using the basic Router configuration with DHCP WAN connection. WAN on ETH0, LAN on ETH1. ETH1 and 2 are not bridged.

admin@ubnt:~$ show ubnt offload

IP offload module : loaded
IPv4
forwarding: enabled
vlan : disabled
pppoe : disabled
gre : disabled
IPv6
forwarding: disabled
vlan : disabled
pppoe : disabled

IPSec offload module: loaded

Traffic Analysis :
export : disabled
dpi : disabled
admin@ubnt:~$

IPv4 is offloaded, which is how it should be. The throughput should easily be, in the 900 Mbps range. Is the WAN port consistently connected at 1000 Mbps? Can you swap out the Ethernet cable between the router and modem? Any errors on any of the interfaces?

 

[sfx2000]

Might be a good oppty for @kvic to pipe in, as he's done a fair amount of benchmarking and tweaking to get excellent performance on the ER-L3

 

[sfx2000]

Can you swap out the Ethernet cable between the router and modem? Any errors on any of the interfaces?

I'm assuming that @thiggins is running things on the lab test bench - so no cable modem - and a pretty good test environment.

The low numbers do suggest maybe a cable concern - rest looks ok.

 

[thiggins]

I am testing with CDRouter. Sometimes throughput is ok. Sometime not.

 

[sfx2000]

I am testing with CDRouter. Sometimes throughput is ok. Sometime not.

CDRouter is a good test platform for benchmarking performance...

Outside of settings, maybe this is what the performance is - and this is also taking into account Tim's experience with his test bench and his knowledge and experience.

Truth be told - the chipset is what it is - the SW is very good.

I'd reach out to UBNT and get their insight/feedback on this device/SW with discussion on the test plan and bench HW/SW...

(somehow, I have a feeling that Tim is spot-on actually...)

 

[kvic]

IP offload requires a reboot to effect after enabling (but I think that's already done..). Also worth checking if flow-accounting or QoS is accidentally enabled. What are the output of "show flow-accounting" and "show queueing"?

Post the output of sanitised "show configuration" which might give us a better idea of the ERL's setup. I know @DanH was an actual user of ERL

 

[thiggins]

IP offload requires a reboot to effect after enabling (but I think that's already done..). Also worth checking if flow-accounting or QoS is accidentally enabled. What are the output of "show flow-accounting" and "show queueing"?

Post the output of sanitised "show configuration" which might give us a better idea of the ERL's setup. I know @DanH was an actual user of ERL

I can post the configuration output. But I am making NO changes from the configuration set by the Wizard. I power cycle the router after each test run.

As noted above, I'm finding the problem to be inconsistent. The test run is 5 minutes with bandwidth equally divided among 10 TCP/IP streams. The CDRouter log shows some tests produce 940 Mbps or so, others produce lower or 0 throughput.

 

[DanH]

I just used it for home use, it had no problems with 350mbps cable. With hwoffload disabled though it was 60Mbps. I didn't do any serious testing, just downloading games and movies always maxed out what the ISP gave me. Wish I could add more, but I pretty much just used eth0 as WAN, no bridge, and eth1 as LAN. Also had enabled IPv6, not that that makes a diff. I can upload my confit later I think I have it in a folder.

 

[kvic]

I can post the configuration output. But I am making NO changes from the configuration set by the Wizard. I power cycle the router after each test run.

As noted above, I'm finding the problem to be inconsistent. The test run is 5 minutes with bandwidth equally divided among 10 TCP/IP streams. The CDRouter log shows some tests produce 940 Mbps or so, others produce lower or 0 throughput.

Throughput is consistent on my ER-X with v1.9.1. When it was tested under stress (with v1.9.0 back then), I didn't observe fluctuation in throughput either.

v1.9.1 has been up near six weeks for me since upgrade. The release schedule of EdgeOS is to my liking... If you're confident with your test setup, it's likely you might have discovered some issue in v1.9.1 on ERL...

 

[Dreamslacker]

What are the tests that are consistently delivering lower throughput (if at all consistent)?

Certain tests may trigger some ALGs which are not accelerated on the unit or trigger some Auto-QoS features. E.g. SIP traffic.

 

[thiggins]

This is a simple TCP/IP throughput, 10 connections, with throughput evenly divided among the 10.

 

[thiggins]

Ok, folks, I think I found the problem.

The CDRouter configuration is has the WAN DHCP server lease time set to 2 minutes. This is to shorten test time for tests related to DHCP renewal. This has yet to cause problems in any other routers tested.

The ERLite doesn't like this in the basic Wizard configuration. That configuration has IPv6 enabled by default. The connection drops when the lease expires. Note I'm not doing any IPv6 tests, so CDRouter doesn't have IPv6 enabled. The WAN DHCP lease is IPv4 only.

If I change the ERLite config to disable IPv6, the lease renewal occurs without breaking the connection.

So I will disable IPv6 in the router (delete system ipv6 then set system ipv6 disable) when I test ERLite routing throughput.

 

[sfx2000]

Ok, folks, I think I found the problem.

The CDRouter configuration is has the WAN DHCP server lease time set to 2 minutes. This is to shorten test time for tests related to DHCP renewal. This has yet to cause problems in any other routers tested.

That's weird... but sounds like you've got it going...

 

[majnu]

Tim

Is this just an updated firmware for the one you reviewed previously?

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-reviews/32012-first-look-ubiquiti-edgerouter-lite

Thanks

 

[DanH]

You think that makes no sense you should try and configure a cloudkey,router, and switch to anything but 192.168.1...you have to adopt the router and switch while on192.186.1, then change the network to 192.186.2 or whatever then reboot the router. Then reboot the switch....then factory reset the cloudkey so it gets the new ip range too. Then re adopt everything in the controller again....so fed up with this Unifi line. Oh and throw in a healthy amount of ipconfig commands in there too..

 

[sfx2000]

Keep in mind that Tim tries very hard to keep his testing based on the Out Of Box configs....