vnStat dn-vnstat over-measuring TX, and who knows about RX

[quibiti]

Hi all, I have had spdMerlin installed for a bit, showing interesting patterns, but after installing dn-vnstat, realized the speedtests were obscuring anything I might see on data usage. So I reduced speedtests to twice daily, 4am and 8am. However, dn-vnstat showed unusually large data transferred, and oddly tx almost same as rx for most periods. Looking at the built-in traffic monitoring, it's clear RX >>> TX. My router does have the mysterious busts of fake data recorded, so longer term logging is harder to compare...

Live monitoring shows that RX is definitely the primary usage.

What could be the issue, and how can I help diagnose?

RT-AC88U on ASUSMerlin 386.5_2 with dn-vnstat v2.0.4

 

[dev_null]

I'm guessing you have hardware acceleration (Runner and/or Flow cache) enabled. See: https://www.snbforums.com/goto/post?id=678188

You'd need to decide if data usage monitoring is more important than speed if that's the case.

 

[quibiti]

Hi dev_null, thanks for the reply!
on AC88U, yes, HwA is "enabled"
on AX86U (on 388.1, all else similar, different network), the measurement of RX and TX looks correct and HwA acceleration is Runner: Enabled - Flow Cache: Enabled

ATM, speed is essentially limited by the processor due to everything going over VPN, so about 65Mbps on AC88U and 240Mbps on AX86U (main reason for upgrading the AC88U on my primary network). Would disable HwA on the AC88U make things "even" slower than that? I'm guessing not. That network is in-laws and usually only has less than 10 devices online, most traffic is Netflix, honestly. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

 

[dev_null]

Hi dev_null, thanks for the reply!
on AC88U, yes, HwA is "enabled"
on AX86U (on 388.1, all else similar, different network), the measurement of RX and TX looks correct and HwA acceleration is Runner: Enabled - Flow Cache: Enabled

ATM, speed is essentially limited by the processor due to everything going over VPN, so about 65Mbps on AC88U and 240Mbps on AX86U (main reason for upgrading the AC88U on my primary network). Would disable HwA on the AC88U make things "even" slower than that? I'm guessing not. That network is in-laws and usually only has less than 10 devices online, most traffic is Netflix, honestly. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

I've never assessed vnStat-on-Merlin where all traffic goes over a VPN - I don't have any method to do so -, so that may also be part of your issue.

You may want to search for or open a separate thread on HWA settings with a VPN.

Yours is definitely an edge case.

 

[quibiti]

I should have mentioned that the traffic recorded on AX88U appears to be fine, with reasonable looking patterns and timing.

Thanks for the help!