[Cake] overhead and mpu

[Ryan Mounce]

On 6 September 2017 at 05:49, Dennis Fedtke <dennisfedtke at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Thank you for all answers.
> But for me this still makes no sense.
> Assuming we have an ethnernet connection running over a docsis line.
> docsis is able to transmit full 1500byte ethernet packets.
> Lets say it is an 50 Mbit/s Line. (I dont know now how exactly docsis works)
> So to reach the 50Mbit/s ethernet speed the docsis link rate needs to be
> higher 50,6 Mbit/s (50*1518/1500 ??)
> But when running a speedtest it will still not show the full speed. because
> of other overhead from underlying protocols (tcp/ip for example)
> So the ISP will set the sync rate even higher to compensate for that.
>
> But does this matter for the end user?

There is only one speed that matters for an end user configuring cake.
You need to know the rate of the shaper defined in the CM config file
for your plan, or otherwise determine this rate. As I have said CMs
don't 'sync' in the way you are used to with xDSL so this terminology
isn't really correct, however in terms of being the significant
bottleneck immediately 'upstream' of cake the configured rate of this
shaper is equivalent to the 'sync' speed for xDSL.

Simply ignore the speed that your ISP advertises, this is a bogus
number for just about every DOCSIS ISP. Also ignore the speed reported
by speedtest.net unless you are confident that there is no other
activity on your link and that you know what TCP options are in use by
your operating system.

If you get a very consistent result on speedtest.net, it is possible
to estimate the rate of the CMTS's shaper. This is a relationship
between the TCP payload size and full Ethernet frame size. For
example, on an OS that uses TCP timestamps and you get a result of
100Mbps on speedtest.net the L2 rate may be 100 * (1518 / 1448) ~=
104.8Mbps.
By now you can see where 1518 comes from (1500 bytes Ethernet payload
(IP packet) + 14 bytes Ethernet header + 4 bytes  Ethernet FCS). 1448
is (1500 bytes IP packet (Ethernet payload) - 20 bytes IPv4 header -
20 bytes TCP header - 12 bytes TCP timestamps option).

You should use Wireshark to confirm which TCP options and MTU your
system is using with the speedtest.net server and use these values
instead of my above example.

Once you have your estimate, round it down a couple of percent. If
your estimate is too high then it will be as if you don't have cake at
all. Too low and cake will still be effective, you will just sacrifice
a small amount of speed.

> In case of docsis does it make sense to account for 18 overhead?

Whatever the speed may be, you must always configure 'overhead 18 mpu
64' or the equivalent 'docsis' keyword to correctly compensate for the
Ethernet framing seen by the shaper in the CM/CMTS, otherwise cake may
underestimate the link utilisation when smaller packets are being sent
and its benefits will be defeated.

> The user will enter 50mbit and it will work. If the isp has provided a
> sligher higher syncrate.

This 50Mbps figure is suspiciously round, where is it actually from?
This is the advertised speed of your plan by the ISP?

> and the mpu setting. i don't know how cake handles this in detail.
> How the overhead gets added.
> lets i enter mpu 46.
> And cake we set 18 as overhead.
> Will this result in mpu 46 or 64?
> Can someone debug the code maybe please? :>

This has already been answered and the relevant snippet of code has
been posted. Overhead is first added (relative to IP), and packets
that are still below the MPU *after* the overhead is added will be
rounded up to the MPU of 64.

> I have the feeling with mpu 46 my pages lot a bit snappier. but could be
> placebo.

Correct, this is a placebo. You need to configure 'overhead 18 mpu 64'
or equivalently 'docsis', no ifs no buts. Focus your attention on
estimating the rate of your shaper. The framing compensation for
DOCSIS is a solved problem whereas the rate of a given link varies
from ISP to ISP, and from plan to plan.

>
> Thank you.
>
>
>
>
>
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