PRIQ Traffic Shaper - How to optimize ?
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Hello. Beginner in using pfSense, I have configured my SG-1000 to do traffic shaping with Priority Queuing (PRIQ).
The set-up is as simple as I could make it:
1 WAN and two LANS (home and guests), no phone over IP, no TV over IP, no peer to peer, no games. Hence the setup is basic also:
Modem ISP data: Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin: 7.0 6.0 db
Line Attenuation: 63.5 31.5 db
Data Rate: 3424 896 kbpssUsing the wizard: I use presently the ratio .86 for downstream and upstream (3424 x 0.86 = 3000). It works and the ADSL line from my ISP seems to be stable. But I have no way to know if this is the optimal setting and how to improve.
1 WAN, 2 LANS, PRIQ, 3000 770 kbpsNo VoIP, No use for penalty box, No peer to peer, no games, no change to other applications.
I have tried adjusting download and upload speed for the WAN, using the same proportional reduction for both, and adjusted each day at .80, then .82, then .84, then .86, then .88, then .90 and so on. Each day, I performed speed tests and, more recently, made a screenshot of the queues. This did not help me determining how to optimise.
What should I be trying to optimize ?
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PRIQ doesn't care about bandwidth. It's purely for prioritizing specific traffic types, eg HTTP vs SSH vs email. You can fiddle with the WAN/LAN bandwidth settings but they won't do anything with PRIQ.
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<quote kom="">PRIQ doesn't care about bandwidth.
Thanks KOM, this means I should not bother recording bandwidth.
<quote kom="">It's purely for prioritizing specific traffic types, eg HTTP vs SSH vs email. You can fiddle with the WAN/LAN bandwidth settings but they won't do anything with PRIQ. <unquote>Today's Modem ISP's data are: Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin: 7.0 5.0 db
Line Attenuation: 63.5 31.5 db
Data Rate: 3424 896 kbps
My today's inputs to the shaper are (all others remaining the same)1 WAN, 2 LANS, PRIQ, 3110 770 kbps
Looking into it, there seems to be a correlation between my PRIQ settings and ADSL line's stability (lifetime between undesired modem resets). If I get fewer resets, it seems to me my ISP rewards me by increasing Downstream data rate. Across all my tests, Upstream data rate seems to be constant (odd, is it not ?), while Downstream data rare fluctuates, and seems to do so in a not-random fashion.
For the purpose of better prioritizing specific traffic types, eg HTTP vs SSH vs email, maybe for the more precise purpose of reducing probability of undesired modem resets to stabilize the working of the resulting traffic, I understand I should look at the Queues page. Is there anything there I should look at ? TIA</unquote></quote></quote>
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The Queues page is useful for seeing if traffic is going into the queues as expected.
I can't think of how PRIQ could affect your line stability. Modem resets shouldn't be happening at all. All PRIQ does is let you define an order of packet processing and then it just follows it blindly, irrespective of bandwidth. Other shapers like HFSC care very much about bandwidth settings, but PRIQ is dumb & simple. I use PRIQ at my company.
