[Bloat] is extremely consistent low-latency for e.g. xbox possible on SoHo networks w/o manual configuration?

[Daniel Sterling]

Good day list,

I am looking for input / discussion on how to achieve:

* on a "regular" SoHo network

* first and foremost, to the exclusion of all other goals, consistent
low-latency for non-bulk streams from particular endpoints; usually
those streams are easily identified and differentiated from all other
streams based on UDP/TCP port number,

* and assuming the identified and prioritized streams behave
themselves and stay non-bulk, decent throughput for all other traffic.


That is to say, some endpoints are more important than others; and
moreover some apps on some endpoints are most important.


In my case the traffic that needs to be low-latency no matter what is
xbox FPS gaming traffic (Call of Duty UDP traffic is especially easy
to prioritize, as it typically uses port 3075).


How would you customize your network to achieve those goals?


Here is what I have done; please provide any and all feedback:


I put a linux laptop between CPE (WAN) and LAN. AT&T fiber in my case,
100+ mbit up and down.

I've a tc script that drastically limits bandwidth for non-prioritized
traffic (where priority is based on UDP/TCP port number).

The theory is that this ensures prioritized traffic always has plenty
of available bandwidth to send / receive data, and will never
experience latency unless it's misbehaved / incorrectly classified.



Here is what I have NOT done:

I didn't use tc_cake WITHOUT adding a layer of port-based
prioritization. On a typical SoHo network, I don't see how it would be
possible to ensure xbox traffic never experiences latency w/o
prioritizing streams *before* cake sees them.


Does this make sense?

Here is my script:
https://gist.github.com/eqhmcow/1278a928d11279cb5846688e05dfd363#file-prio-cake-sh


Thanks,
Dan