Kitz Forum
Computers & Hardware => Networking => Topic started by: Chunkers on November 16, 2016, 08:10:54 PM
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My network has grown randomly and with no thought given to its structure, plus I don't know anything about how to properly organise a network. If I log into my router now there will be at least 35 devices with IP addresses and I am not even sure what they all are.......
Here is my networking strategy :
1. Buy new network device
2. Find spare network port on nearby device
3. Plug device in
Lately I have been having some trouble with buffering between my HTPC server and client devices, now my kids are older the demand on the network has grown considerably, particularly streaming video which is what everyone seems to want to do.
Its a bit of a surprise, as I guess I thought that with Gigabit everywhere I would never have a problem. I don't think its the server, which has plenty of power and memory.
I have drawn a lovely picture of my network in its current configuration and where I think the bottleneck is, if anyone who understands networking has a chance to have a look any comments appreciated..
Is there a tool I can use to see if there are / where are the bottlenecks?
I reckon LAN5 is the pinch point, presumably with the current configuration each HD video stream has to go in both directions to the router. I guess it is better to have your servers at the top of the network hierarchy, perhaps I should move my HTPC server onto the main router ? I think I will try that tomorrow :
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi43.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe352%2FJolltax%2FNetwork_zps0h93tf3x.jpeg&hash=7937608636599609a836907659a6cff231a235f6)
Cool beans! :cool:
Chunks
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Hi chunkers
Others may disagree but you have a small network, and it does not look bad from your pic
I would not move your htpc yet, rather I would look at what devices are having the issue streaming e.g. Are the devices on wifi - which I'm thinking they are
You may have a mismatch between 100/1000 on the wap devices
Do you use vlans
Is your htpc capable of nic bonding, but you need to check your switch as well, or you could end up with a storm
Is your switch a managed switch - if so, what level switch - I guess level 2
Have you run any speed tests on network
If wifi devices are having the issue - which wap are they mainly connected too - if power plug wap - hardwire it
Are all devices on same node or have you separated them
On your loadbalancer, have you set any QoS, and are your settings correct for bonding/loadbalance/DNS etc
Can you reproduce the slowness
I hope that helps a little but there is more, just run out of time sorry
Many thanks
John
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Hi chunkers
Others may disagree but you have a small network, and it does not look bad from your pic
I would not move your htpc yet, rather I would look at what devices are having the issue streaming e.g. Are the devices on wifi - which I'm thinking they are
Thanks for your reply, great to get some advice and glad it looks OK. I assumed the problem was network related because I see the buffering on both wireless and wired clients, I have some suspicions about my switch which is an unmanaged TP-Link TL-SG1008D (http://www.tp-link.com/en/download/TL-SG1008D_V1.html) (mine is version 1, version 7 now on sale) - it is a gigabit switch and does appear to be working correctly. Regarding your questions
Do you use vlans
No
Is your htpc capable of nic bonding, but you need to check your switch as well, or you could end up with a storm
The server is running MediaPortal on Windows 10 and currently has a single NIC (motherboard), I could obviously install more NIC's
Is your switch a managed switch - if so, what level switch - I guess level 2
It's one of these TP-Link TL=SG1008D (http://www.tp-link.com/en/download/TL-SG1008D_V1.html) switches, unmanaged (Version 1)
Have you run any speed tests on network
No, but I could easily do this, I am getting green lights on my main router which suggests it sees a Gigabit connection but I don't have any data for downstream
If wifi devices are having the issue - which wap are they mainly connected too - if power plug wap - hardwire it
Not consistent really, all three, the reason I have three WAP's is to get coverage in all parts of the house
Are all devices on same node or have you separated them
Not really sure what this means
On your loadbalancer, have you set any QoS, and are your settings correct for bonding/loadbalance/DNS etc
My loadbalancer is only managing WAN loads as far as I can see. My router has lots of diagnostics, I just found this, not sure if its any help :
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi43.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe352%2FJolltax%2Fthing_zpsd159kcjx.png&hash=c410fc8d5a53e7f470daadc2ea6bf7b314624a61)
Can you reproduce the slowness
Its not really consistent to be honest but I only really notice it when I am watching TV on a client, very occasionally I will get buffering - which seems weird because its all local to my network.
Cheers!
Chunks
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One can theorise about the benefits/drawbacks of multiple switches vs density of cabling. But in practice I've found you can get away with an awful lot, I've only ever identified two factors that ever caused real symptoms...
1) wireless.. It has I improved a lot, with amazingly good theoretical performance, that will sometimes even be seen in real world performance. But in demanding or hostile environment, it never come close to being a substitute for wired lan.
2) hardware failure... I don't know whether your switches would be classified as 'consumer grade' but if they are, they are likely stuffed full of aluminium electrolytic capacitors with a design life of a few months to a year or two. Failure mode often manifests in high error counts, with retransmissions that impact performance of connected equipment.
Just my opinion, based on personal experience that may or may not be typical. :)
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QoS I suspect can solve this.
Also yeah 5ghz wireless AC exceeds 100mbit ethernet comfortably even with its inconsistent performance it tends to bottom out over 100mbit.
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Hi
I hope you don't mind, but my last question was more pertinent as to issue
There is a big lack of information so guess work took over, and I mentioned 100/1000 primary because of wap points (based on it's residential not commercial equipment)
I am not familiar with tp link switches, albeit it's a dumb hub, not switch as we always use HP procurve but I also am not sure what pause is on the pic supplied, but on tapatalk, when trying to view large on pic, it keeps reverting back so is hard to see. I suspect this pause maybe part of the issue perhaps
However, as I first started, if it's not replicateable, then this may suggest it may be a mix of hardware, network etc, and not just 1 failure point
I stress though, there is not enough information to fully determine
Many thanks
John
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Thanks for the thoughts, I think I will focus on replacing the old switch first and then start looking at my server - what would people recommend as an 8 port Gigabit switch suitable for home use?
I found this review on Tomshardware (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/unmanaged-gigabit-ethernet-switch-roundup,review-33411.html) which suggests that the Netgear's GS308 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS308-100UKS-Gigabit-Ethernet-Switch/dp/B00AWM7PKO/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1479374673&sr=1-1&keywords=netgear+308)is a good choice - its also super cheap on Amazon.
Is there any benefit (for me) in getting a managed switch like this Netgear GS108 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/KVM-Switches/NETGEAR-GS108T-200UKS-ProSAFE-Gigabit-Ethernet/B000RAILSQ/ref=gbps_tit_m-8_d94e_adaacc5d?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=4d3ae7cf-3400-4f74-a439-6d7051a8d94e&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=161428031&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=H463BZJFFPGMDPKZ5P7B)? Any reason why I would need a managed switch?
Cheers
Chunks
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Hi
I hope you don't mind, but my last question was more pertinent as to issue
There is a big lack of information so guess work took over, and I mentioned 100/1000 primary because of wap points (based on it's residential not commercial equipment)
I am not familiar with tp link switches, albeit it's a dumb hub, not switch as we always use HP procurve but I also am not sure what pause is on the pic supplied, but on tapatalk, when trying to view large on pic, it keeps reverting back so is hard to see. I suspect this pause maybe part of the issue perhaps
However, as I first started, if it's not replicateable, then this may suggest it may be a mix of hardware, network etc, and not just 1 failure point
I stress though, there is not enough information to fully determine
Many thanks
John
Thanks for the advice, here is the description of the data shown in the table :
Unicast:
Displays the number of normal unicast packets received or transmitted on the port.
Broadcast:
Displays the number of normal broadcast packets received or transmitted on the port.
Pause:
Displays the number of flow control frames received or transmitted on the port.
Multicast:
Displays the number of normal multicast packets received or transmitted on the port.
Undersize:
Displays the number of the received frames (including error frames) that are less than 64 bytes long.
Normal:
Displays the number of the received packets (including error frames) that are between 64 bytes and the maximum frame length. The maximum untagged frame this router can support is 1518 bytes long and the maximum tagged frame is 1522 bytes long.
Oversize:
Displays the number of the received packets (including error frames) that are longer than the maximum frame.
Total (Bytes):
Displays the total number of the received or transmitted packets (including error frames).
Not sure if it helps.
Chunks
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I'm currently using a netgear GS116 and would also be interested in the benefits of a managed switch.
Chunkers, I wonder if it's your HTPC that's struggling, have you looked at disc through put, cpu usage etc?
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Hi
In very simple terms, I stress very simple, a switch directs packets to the correct port and not all ports of the switch. A managed switch allows more control over packets at switch level device
A dumb hub outputs all packets to all ports
Also, as sevenlayer states, cheap devices are not built the same, so deprecation is expected.
@xhunkers, on your tplink device you took screen capture from, what is on port 4, where the pause value is high
Many thanks
John
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I'm currently using a netgear GS116 and would also be interested in the benefits of a managed switch.
Chunkers, I wonder if it's your HTPC that's struggling, have you looked at disc through put, cpu usage etc?
Good question, yes I have looked at it and I think you are right to be suspicious. I don't see anything obvious other than I notice that since the Windows 10 upgrade a new LAN driver has been issued which I have now installed.
It is an i5-2500 PC, 8Gb RAM running Windows 10 and with a quad tuner DVB-T2 card installed. Typically it runs at less than 5% CPU occasionally spiking up to 20%, memory use is usually around 25%.
I have been running it for a couple of years and when I originally put it together I tested it recording 8 simultaneous streams and it coped easily.
I know whats going to happen, I am going to change a whole bunch of stuff and trhe problem will go away without me ever knowing what it was, lol
o7
Chunks
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It could be disk I/O that's the problem, what kind of setup do you have there? Do you have antivirus or anything else the could be using the disk heavily?
You can go into the resource monitor and view the disk i/o.
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In very simple terms......
Thanks John, for a more in depth explanation Chunkers might find this useful (https://blog.udemy.com/managed-vs-unmanaged-switch/).
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Just looking at the drawing, if lengths permit then I'd move LAN 3 and LAN 4 from the router onto the switch. Keep the switch as the centre of your network.
Can you make any sort of estimate of the loads that your video streaming puts on the network? For example is six streams each of 20meg (megabits/sec)?
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Just looking at the drawing, if lengths permit then I'd move LAN 3 and LAN 4 from the router onto the switch. Keep the switch as the centre of your network.
Can you make any sort of estimate of the loads that your video streaming puts on the network? For example is six streams each of 20meg (megabits/sec)?
I will have a look at what diagnostics my router has to show data rates as I think it would be useful to see how much the HD streams use.
One question : Does all data get routed through the main router on a network like mine?
I always assumed that all traffic goes via the router which is why I thought it would be better to have the server on the main router (not the switch) to avoid having the link between the router and the switch (LAN 5) having to cope with double the data rate for each stream i.e. up to the router and then back to the client each time ...... is this wrong?
I replaced the old switch with this new one which arrived from Amazon, was only £20 so figured it was an easy thing to try :
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi43.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe352%2FJolltax%2FCrap%2Ftwentyquid_zpsv6ktes7q.jpg&hash=5463647a5676e911a702f65e698cb791ee942317)
o7
Chunks
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I can really recommend running an iperf3 (https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php) server or two on your network.
iperf3 can run a range of IP transfer tests across your network. I've used it on FreeBSD, MacOS and Win10, so it'll run on whatever you've got!
I used it to test my gigabit cabling soon after installation to ensure it was behaving correctly under load. Another good use is to check that switches and routers are capable of saturating all of their ports. For example, a cheap 5-port gigabit switch might not necessarily be capable of pushing 5Gbit across all ports simultaneously.
So, perhaps install an iperf3 server on a couple of hosts, then run the iperf3 client on some of your other hosts in various combinations to thoroughly exercise your networking equipment.
It's quite satisfying to make the LEDs on a few gigabit switches scream :)
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One question : Does all data get routed through the main router on a network like mine?
I always assumed that all traffic goes via the router which is why I thought it would be better to have the server on the main router (not the switch) to avoid having the link between the router and the switch (LAN 5) having to cope with double the data rate for each stream i.e. up to the router and then back to the client each time ...... is this wrong?
Understandable that you'd think that, but it is indeed wrong :)
Routers route between networks. Switches direct traffic to the destination host within the same network. If you have a 5-port switch with your router and two hosts (A, B) connected, the switch will see traffic from Host A destined for Host B and direct the incoming traffic to the port to which Host B is connected. It'll never travel back to the router first.
The ethernet ports on the router itself behave in the same way. The 'router' part of the router (pardon the clumsy phrasing!) only gets involved if a packet is destined for an address outside of your home network. Such packets are sent to the router (your 'default gateway' for packets not destined for your home network) which passes the data to your ISP for onward travel. The router then needs to keep track of those outbound connections so that it can route replies back to the internal host which initiated the request.
Hope that helps!
[edit]: just to add: If it helps, think of it like this: If devices are connected to the same gigabit switch, and the switch is decent, you'll have 1Gb of bandwidth between all those devices at all times, with no contention. When a device connected to switch A talks to a device on switch B, you have a maximum of 1Gb but you'll be contending for that 1Gb with other devices talking to eachother between those switches.
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Hi
If the DNS is controlled by the router, then the router is involved at first, but this may not be true if there is another device used for DNS inside the network
Many thanks
John
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Hi
If the DNS is controlled by the router, then the router is involved at first, but this may not be true if there is another device used for DNS inside the network
Very true, though DNS requests are teeny-tiny, and most clients will cache those quite aggressively once done.
Oh -- and Chunkers -- I saw an 'o7' salute back there ... are you an Elite: Dangerous player by any chance?
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Understandable that you'd think that, but it is indeed wrong :)
Wow, I am much clearer now thanks so much to you guys for the explanation. I am now feeling a bit bad about cheaping-out on my switches, I guess I have always just seen them as "extra holes" to plug into and that the router did all the work but now I know they do "stuff" I kinda wished I had gone for quality not cheapness, lol.
I can really recommend running an iperf3 (https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php) server or two on your network.
I am going to give this a go, definitely, but it will be after I get back from work as I will be away for 4 weeks from Monday.
I am embarrassed at my own ignorance and am going to try and improve my knowledge of how networks, er ..... work
I saw an 'o7' salute back there ... are you an Elite: Dangerous player by any chance?
I do have a copy, in fact I bought the game before it was released, and I think I would like it because I am old enough to have been obsessed with the original - I even went out and bought a HOTAS joystick to play it with but haven't got round to it yet.
In fact I am an Eve Online (https://www.eveonline.com/) player, have been playing since 2007, a game which has consumed vast numbers of hours of my life. Its also a spaceship game, but from what I have seen, more strategic and with a lot more "metagaming". Its pretty much all I have played for the last 9 years, I occasionally flirt with FPS games, however, currently playing SWBF which is great fun and just bought BF1.
Its a great time to try Eve, actually, CCP has just released a patch allowing "Alpha state" clones to play for free - the learning curve is extreme but don't let it put you off - if anyone wants to give it a try then let me know.
We should have a "what games do you play" thread (unless there is one already)
o7
Chunks
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Wow, I am much clearer now thanks so much to you guys for the explanation. I am now feeling a bit bad about cheaping-out on my switches, I guess I have always just seen them as "extra holes" to plug into and that the router did all the work but now I know they do "stuff" I kinda wished I had gone for quality not cheapness, lol.
No problem! And not to worry -- it's probably just as bad to pay way over the odds for some enterprise-grade kit when all you need is something just a bit better than bog-standard. Now you know how the data's physically moving around, it might become clear how you want your network structured.
Even if you rip it all out and end up putting it back exactly how it was, it's all fun, eh? (...and that's why I get in trouble with the Mrs. ;))
Personally, I've had really good experiences with the Netgear GS105E (5-port) and GS108E (8-port) switches. They're both capable of pushing full bandwidth across all ports simultaneously and have some handy features that are a bit above consumer level without costing 'pro' prices.
I am going to give this a go, definitely, but it will be after I get back from work as I will be away for 4 weeks from Monday.
Cool -- well if you need any help running iperf3 give me a shout. It really is a great way to pressure your LAN in a controlled way to see how it performs.
I am embarrassed at my own ignorance and am going to try and improve my knowledge of how networks, er ..... work
Hehe -- don't worry about that at all. More fun to learn as you go along :)
I do have a copy, in fact I bought the game before it was released, and I think I would like it because I am old enough to have been obsessed with the original - I even went out and bought a HOTAS joystick to play it with but haven't got round to it yet.
Same here on the age thing. Elite on the Acorn, then Frontier on the Atari ST. I too got a HOTAS and have lost far too much time to E:D! Never quite got into Eve, but do enjoy reading the stories that come out of the community!
Good luck!
Chris
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I can really recommend running an iperf3 (https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php) server or two on your network.
iperf3 can run a range of IP transfer tests across your network. I've used it on FreeBSD, MacOS and Win10, so it'll run on whatever you've got!
I used it to test my gigabit cabling soon after installation to ensure it was behaving correctly under load. Another good use is to check that switches and routers are capable of saturating all of their ports. For example, a cheap 5-port gigabit switch might not necessarily be capable of pushing 5Gbit across all ports simultaneously.
So, perhaps install an iperf3 server on a couple of hosts, then run the iperf3 client on some of your other hosts in various combinations to thoroughly exercise your networking equipment.
It's quite satisfying to make the LEDs on a few gigabit switches scream :)
Just an addendum to this moderately old thread I installed iperf3 (https://iperf.fr/) and tested my server and a couple of wired clients on my network and things seem to be OK.
I really like iperf as a tool, it works great and is super easy to use, thanks for the recommendation @displaced.
It looks to me like there is not much wrong between my server and the clients if I am reading it right, I have read the theoretical maximum for a Gb network is 125 Mbit/s so I am 80% there :
C:\iperf>iperf3 -s
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------
Accepted connection from 192.168.1.10, port 56106
[ 5] local 192.168.1.100 port 5201 connected to 192.168.1.10 port 56107
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 10.9 MBytes 91.2 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 95.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 10.00-10.06 sec 637 KBytes 93.8 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.00-10.06 sec 0.00 Bytes 0.00 bits/sec sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.06 sec 113 MBytes 94.5 Mbits/sec receiver
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------
Accepted connection from 192.168.1.11, port 63616
[ 5] local 192.168.1.100 port 5201 connected to 192.168.1.11 port 63617
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 10.7 MBytes 89.5 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.5 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.5 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 95.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 95.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 11.3 MBytes 94.5 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 10.00-10.07 sec 858 KBytes 94.1 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.00-10.07 sec 0.00 Bytes 0.00 bits/sec sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.07 sec 113 MBytes 94.3 Mbits/sec receiver
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------
Chunks
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Glad you've found iperf3 useful! It's great for seeing how many bits you can shove around a network without worrying about higher-level protocols.
However, your stats are a bit off. Gigabit should be 100 Mbytes/sec, not Mbits - it looks like you've got some congestion somewhere or a hardware problem (faulty Gbit ethernet cable, under-spec router, etc).
Here's what it looks like on my Gigabit LAN, going from my office PC, via two Netgear switches (a GS108E and a GS105E) to my server:
Connecting to host trillian.home, port 5201
[ 4] local 192.168.50.13 port 58119 connected to 192.168.50.50 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 109 MBytes 911 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 102 MBytes 859 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 99.0 MBytes 831 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 102 MBytes 860 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 110 MBytes 925 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 108 MBytes 906 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 109 MBytes 913 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 110 MBytes 926 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 108 MBytes 910 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 108 MBytes 910 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.04 GBytes 895 Mbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.04 GBytes 895 Mbits/sec receiver
iperf Done.
Your numbers are, I think, pretty much spot-on for a 100Mbit network -- so perhaps it's worth double-checking all network adapter stats/settings and the LEDs on your routers to check that all links are indicating 1 Gigabit.
Also, some of your network gear (either the adapters in your machines or the switches themselves) may provide cable testing functionality. Modern equipment will fall back to slower speeds if the cable is out-of-spec, rather than not work at all.
Good luck!
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Hi
Yes,I concur with @displaced, in that your stats look like 100 network. What is the path taken between those 2 pc. I am thinking same, that 1 device or more maybe downgrading to 100 from a 1000, which as displaced has posted, could be device or cable, it could even be on the switch, if set to 100, and not 1000
If your interested, here is a live test from our speedtest server, but to test to this level on internet, you would need 1GB connection to internet
Many thanks
John
« SpeedGuide.net Speed Test Results »
1398101 kbps down (~1398.1 Mbps, 170667 KB/s)↓
88 kbps up (~0.09 Mbps, 11 KB/s)↑
10240 KB downloaded in 0.06 seconds
4 KB uploaded in 0.371 seconds
Tested on: 2016.12.12 03:41 EST
Tested from: helweb.co.uk
Test Link: http://www.speedguide.net/speedtest/results.php?test=4619345
Latency: 133ms
Provider: t-ipconnect.de
Location: DE
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OK, I am glad I posted these results and thanks for the replies, I have all green lights on my router indicating Gb connections so I have some homework to do .....
hehe
Chunks
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WOW, I THINK WE MIGHT HAVE CRACKED IT BOYZ
I couldn't think of any other reason so I replaced the virtually new CAT6 network cable to my server with a horrible old CAT 5E one and hey presto!
Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
PS C:\Users\Jimjams> wmic NIC where "NetEnabled='true'" get "Name","Speed"
Name Speed
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller 1000000000
PS C:\Users\Jimjams>
And also iperf look more like what you guys said :
C:\iperf>iperf3 -c 192.168.1.100
Connecting to host 192.168.1.100, port 5201
[ 4] local 192.168.1.10 port 51445 connected to 192.168.1.100 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 107 MBytes 901 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 112 MBytes 940 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 112 MBytes 938 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 112 MBytes 938 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 111 MBytes 934 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 112 MBytes 936 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 112 MBytes 938 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 111 MBytes 931 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 111 MBytes 932 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 112 MBytes 935 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.09 GBytes 932 Mbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.09 GBytes 932 Mbits/sec receiver
iperf Done.
C:\iperf>
If this solves my TV streaming issues I may have to come round your house(s) and french kiss you, brace yourselves
Chunks
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Hi chunkers
Haha a beer is more appreciated thank you.
Glad you resolved it
Interestingly, are you sure your cat6 is not CCA (copper coated ali)... might explain it and there's a lot of of CCA advertised, even as solid copper
Also, may be well advised to check all pc and replace as needed.
Horribly old cat5e maybe full copper :)
Many thanks
John
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Hi Chunkers!
Glad you got it sorted. I've had a couple of out-of-spec ethernet cables over the years. Sometimes it was CCA as John notes, others it was a case of the twisted pairs being barely twisted at all. I once bought a 50 metre reel of alleged Cat6 cable whose wires were entirely straight - no twists at all. They even had the cheek to stamp 'CAT6 VALIDATED' on the outside insulation. Gits.
Cat5e is perfectly valid for gigabit speeds. The 'e' makes all the difference. I've only run 6e around my house for a bit of future-proofing, but only for the fixed runs. Otherwise, I've got plenty of 5e patch leads between my machines and switches.
Anyway -- do let us know if this has fixed your buffering problems! A 100Mbit link is easily saturated by high-bitrate files, especially when adding in some protocol overhead. Now you're running about 10 times faster, you should be fine :)