Throughput/bandwidth of asuswrt-merlin supported routers

[chrisisbd]

I am shortly going to get fibre broadband connected to my home. I'll probably go for a 900Mb/s connection though faster and slower ones are available and router performance may affect my choice.

Which asuswrt-merlin routers will comfortably manage 900Mb/s throughput? I currently have an RT-AC86U but I suspect that may not be fast enough to make full use of the 900Mb/s.

 

[Tech9]

Your router can do 940Mbps wired and about 550Mbps on wireless to common 2-stream AC client. If it works properly - continue using it.

 

[chrisisbd]

Brilliant! Thank you for such a quick reply. That means I can continue using the RT-AC86U. Well, it will have to change roles, I currently have a DSL-AC68U running the Gnuton variant handling my VDSL.

Not having to deal with a new router as well as a new connection will simplify the changeover. I can always change/upgrade in a while when everything has settled down.

Thanks again.

 

[bennor]

I currently have an RT-AC86U but I suspect that may not be fast enough to make full use of the 900Mb/s.

What leads you to believe the RT-AC86U may not be fast enough for the new 900Mb/s fiber service?
What is your use case? If running Asus-Merlin what addon scripts are you using? How many wireless devices are you currently using and do any of them support faster WiFi speed than what the RT-AC86U supports? How many wired devices? Any NAS or USB drive attached to the router? What router services (AiProtection, AiMesh, VPN, etc) are you currently running?

 

[bbunge]

You may want to replace that AC86U as they are known for sudden hardware failures. Had one go wonky on me after a factory reset a couple of weeks ago.

 

[chrisisbd]

What leads you to believe the RT-AC86U may not be fast enough for the new 900Mb/s fiber service?

Nothing really, that's why I asked the question! I just didn't have any idea of throughput. I doubt if I'll be pushing its limits especially as much of what's connected to it is hard-wired rather than WiFi.

 

[Treadler]

I am shortly going to get fibre broadband connected to my home. I'll probably go for a 900Mb/s connection though faster and slower ones are available and router performance may affect my choice.

Which asuswrt-merlin routers will comfortably manage 900Mb/s throughput? I currently have an RT-AC86U but I suspect that may not be fast enough to make full use of the 900Mb/s.

I would try your current router first & see how you go. Any problems will become apparent, & if none, winner!

 

[Poul Bak]

All routers made the last 10-15 years have a 1Gbit wired connection, this means about 900MBit/s throughput WIRED!
Wireless is another matter, your current router won't be able to fill your new internet connection.
But, as others have said, try it, you can always upgrade your router (and your devices), take one step at a time and analyze the result, so you know you won't waste your money.
The art of making a good network is to only upgrade the bottlenecks to your needs.

 

[RMerlin]

All routers made the last 10-15 years have a 1Gbit wired connection, this means about 900MBit/s throughput WIRED!

A significant number of recent routers have 2.5 Gbps interfaces, even 10 Gbps in some cases.

 

[Poul Bak]

A significant number of recent routers have 2.5 Gbps interfaces, even 10 Gbps in some cases.

You're absolutely right, I meant HIS router has a 1GBit connection which should fit his new connection.
(My own routers do have 10 GBit)
If he's going to buy a new router I will definitely recommend at least 2.5Gbit.

 

[bengalih]

Can I add on to the question here and ask which Merlin capable routers can acheive these speeds without the use of CTF?
As I've just discovered a possible security issue with CTF on my RT-AC68U, I am adverse to relying on the black box technlogy on a new device I get.
Do the new devices even use CTF, or is their hardware powerful enough to process the throughput without this?

 

[RMerlin]

Do the new devices even use CTF

No. Completely new implementation called flow cache, which works both at L2 and L3. Flow Cache is a software feature. There's also a separate engine called runner/archer/crossbow (depending on the SoC model) which is hardware-based. Both of them run together, and they have different requirements. Some applications (like QoS) may require one engine to be disabled but the other still works.

 

[RMerlin]

The new engine is far more configurable.

admin@stargate:/tmp/home/root# fc status
    Flow Refresh Timer Interval  = 10000 millisecs
    TCP Flow Idle Timer          = 60 s
    UDP Flow Idle Timer          = 120 s
    L2 Flow Idle Timer           = 120 s
    Mcast Flow Idle Timer        = 120 s
    Other Flow Idle Timer        = 120 s
    Pkt-HW Activate Deferral rate = 1
    Pkt-HW Idle Deactivate = 0
    Pkt-SW Activate Deferral count = 0
    Flow Low Pkt Rate = 10
    Acceleration Mode: <L2 & L3>
    MCast Acceleration IPv4<Enabled> IPv6<Enabled>
    IPv6 Learning <Enabled>
    L2TP Learning <Enabled>
    GRE Learning <Enabled>
    4o6 Fragmentation <Enabled>
    TCP Ack Prioritization <Enabled>
    ToS Multi Flow <Enabled>
    Notify Processing Mode <Hybrid>
    Rx Pkt Length Mode <Enabled>
    OVS Flow Learning <Disabled>
    HW Acceleration <Enabled>
    Tx Thread <Enabled>
    Tx Thread Idle Delay <8> yield loops
    Flow Ucast Learning Enabled  : Max<16383>, Active<111>, Cumulative [ 1745678 - 1745567 ]
    Flow Mcast Learning Enabled  : Max<1152>, Active<0>, Cumulative [ 0 - 0 ]
    Pure LLC Acceleration: <Disabled>

admin@stargate:/tmp/home/root# fc
Flow Cache Control Utility:

Proc FileSystem: /proc/fcache 

::: Usage:

:::::: Flow Cache SW System :
       fc status
       fc enable
       fc disable
       fc resetstats
       fc flush
                      [ --hw ]
              - Flush all flows matching any combination of:
                      [ --if   <interface> ]
                    | [ --flow <flowid>    ]
                    | [ <--mac | --dstmac | --srcmac> <macaddr> ]
       fc flwstats <cmd>
           fc flwstats n <field> <value> [<field> <value> ]
              - Create new query where <field> is one of the following:
                 srcv4, rxdstv4, dstv4, srcv6, dstv6, srcport, dstport,
                 srcipver, dstipver, proto, rxinvid, rxinpbits, rxoutvid,
                 rxoutpbits, txinvid, txinpbits, txoutvid, txoutpbits,
                 txtos|rxtos|txdscp|rxdscp <val>|all,
                 dstmac, srcmac, inrxdstmac(l2gre), inrxsrcmac(l2gre),
                 intxdstmac(l2gre), intxsrcmac(l2gre), srcphy, dstphy
                 rxchannel, txchannel (channel = gemidx for PON flows)
           fc flwstats g <id>  - Get results for query <id>.
           fc flwstats d <id>  - Delete query <id>.
           fc flwstats c <id>  - Clear counters on query <id>.
           fc flwstats p [v]   - Print out all active queries. (verbose)
           fc flwstats i [<interval>] - set/get poll intreval in msec
       fc nf-flwstats <cmd>
           fc nf-flwstats n [<id>]   - Activate query specified <id> or allocate 
           fc nf-flwstats g <id> [v] - Get results for query <id>. (verbose)
           fc nf-flwstats d <id>     - Delete query <id>.
           fc nf-flwstats c <id>     - Clear counters on query <id>.
           fc nf-flwstats p          - Print out all active queries.
       fc config
                      [ --defer          <rate>      ]
                    | [ --sw-defer       <pkts>      ]
                    | [ --low-pkt-rate   <rate>      ]
                    | [ --monitor        <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --accel-mode     <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --hw-accel       <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --tx-thread      <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --tx-thread-idelay <yield lp>]
                    | [ --tcp-ack-mflows <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --tos-mflows     <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --timer          <ms>        ]
                    | [ --mcast          <0|1|2|3>   ]
                    | [ --ipv6           <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --4o6-frag       <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --gre            <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --l2tp           <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --idle-timer-tcp <s>         ]
                    | [ --idle-timer-udp <s>         ]
                    | [ --idle-timer-l2  <s>         ]
                    | [ --idle-timer-mcast <s>       ]
                    | [ --idle-timer-other <s>       ]
                    | [ --pure-llc       <0|1>       ]
                    | [ --rx-pktlen-mode <0|1>       ]

       fc dump 
              [ --flow <flowid> ]
              [ --mcast-bitmap <num-of-bitmaps> <bitmap-start-idx> <0|1> ]
              [ --mcast-bitmap ]

 

[RMerlin]

Without FC/Runner, none of these Broadcom router will get over ~450 Mbps. Anything higher will require at least FC. And I believe that beyond ~1 Gbps you typically also need Runner.

 

[bengalih]

Without FC/Runner, none of these Broadcom router will get over ~450 Mbps. Anything higher will require at least FC. And I believe that beyond ~1 Gbps you typically also need Runner.

What, if any tradeoffs do you get running those? IOW, if I want to get an Asus router to continue to use Merlin, and I want to achieve ~1Gbps (my download limit on fiber), do I lose other features? I would assume so if these technologies are not enabled by default?

 

[Tech9]

They are enabled by default and there is no more user control in GUI. Depending on what firmware features are selected whatever is incompatible gets disabled automatically. This is not documented by Asus, WAN-LAN throughput will be anywhere between 450Mbps and 8Gbps on routers with 10GbE ports. When users have throughput issues - stop here, describe the configuration, get advice what to do.

 

[bengalih]

They are enabled by default and there is no more user control in GUI. Depending on what firmware features are selected whatever is incompatible gets disabled automatically. This is not documented by Asus, WAN-LAN throughput will be anywhere between 450Mbps and 8Gbps on routers with 10GbE ports. When users have throughput issues - stop here, describe the configuration, get advice what to do.

Hmm... I just ask because in shopping for a new one, it would kind of be nice to know what features I may be unable to use in order to achieve the 1 GBps WAN throughput. Is it stuff like QOS that makes it suffer?

 

[RMerlin]

do I lose other features? I would assume so if these technologies are not enabled by default?

To get acceleration (beyond 1 Gbps), you need to avoid Traditional QoS and Bandwidth Limiter.

 

[Tech9]

1 GBps WAN throughput

You're fine. Most commonly discussed models here can do Gigabit easily and you perhaps don't need to mess with any QoS options with Gigabit ISP. The model I can recommend is getting older, but time tested reliable and stable - GT-AX6000. Very similar RT-series model is RT-AX88U Pro. Both come on sale price from time to time. If you want to take chances with BE-class models and are willing to wait for Asus to fix things - RT-BE88U is popular choice dual-band model, RT-BE96U is perhaps the best price/performance tri-band model. Good luck!