[RT-AC86U] Accelerated crypto with /dev/crypto

[primitivo]

Is AES-Ni (cryptodev) acceleration switched on by default on RT-AC86U? Does it work for all OpenVPN instances or there has to be some commands that needs it to be activated? I am using Astrill applet and based on CPU usage it seems that AES-Ni is not used.

 

[RMerlin]

Is AES-Ni (cryptodev) acceleration switched on by default on RT-AC86U?

AES-NI and cryptodev are two different things. You don't need cryptodev to use AES-NI, the code simply needs to be compiled to take advantage of it. The OpenSSL build I compile for the RT-AC86U does.

No idea if Astril uses their own OpenSSL or not. If they do, then they might have compiled it for generic armv7l CPUs rather than specifically for the RT-AC86U CPU, which wouldn't take advantage of the advanced CPU features then. In that case, you'd have to ask them if they could provide a better optimized build of openssl for RT-AC86U routers.

AES-NI won't reduce CPU usage if you are using a connection close to 200 Mbps, it will rather allow you to fully use up to that speed.

 

[heysoundude]

I'm not sure I grok all the inferences and implications in this thread. an ELI5 would help while my coffee takes hold