Slow Internet

[D0zer]

Hi All

I have a client with a gentoo server which is used as a mail server, as well as a load balancing server with 2 internet connection. Eth0 is connected to the cisco router for mail. Eth1 is connected to the LAN. Eth2 is connected to a 2Mbps adsl line through a telkom branded netgear router.

Arno Iptables is running for firewall and nat, Squid proxy is running, with a wpad.dat file serverd to the clients for autoproxy. I constantly get calls from people saying the internet is very slow. Browsing the web from the Windows SBS 2003 machine or my laptop is also painfully slow when I am on the network. Some people can work without issue online, and other's battle with timeouts.

If I connect straight onto the 2Mb line the internet performs at a reasonable speed.

These issues seemed to crop up after some updates where done on the Gentoo system to get it up to date. and the autoproxy discovery was configured. I am looking for any recommended software I can install on the gentoo box for monitoring, or any ideas of where to start looking as to what is causing the slowness on web browsing.

Many Thanks
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Gentoo Newbie

[PaulBredbury]

[D0zer]

Thank's for the suggestion Paul, the MTU is set to what you recommended.

Eth0 - Fixed IP for mail. 512 Line
Eth1 - LAN Connection
Eth2 - ADSL Connection. 2Mbps line

eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1450
inet 196.x.x.x netmask 255.255.255.240 broadcast 196.x.x.x
inet6 fe80::21b:21ff:fe14:b346 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether 00:1b:21:14:b3:46 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 6014221 bytes 2443952237 (2.2 GiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 6278615 bytes 3820244176 (3.5 GiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

eth1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.15.254 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.15.255
inet6 fe80::92e2:baff:fe1a:d60 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether 90:e2:ba:1a:0d:60 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 39084732 bytes 11027456331 (10.2 GiB)
RX errors 2 dropped 974 overruns 0 frame 1
TX packets 68577468 bytes 87849660687 (81.8 GiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

eth2: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1492
inet 10.0.15.254 netmask 255.0.0.0 broadcast 10.255.255.255
inet6 fe80::3a60:77ff:fe7c:7603 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether 38:60:77:7c:76:03 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 26800386 bytes 20981251185 (19.5 GiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 5128 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 24139807 bytes 4754297789 (4.4 GiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
device interrupt 20 memory 0xf7d00000-f7d20000

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 0 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 6334479 bytes 11910172616 (11.0 GiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 6334479 bytes 11910172616 (11.0 GiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
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Gentoo Newbie

[D0zer]

The client changed from an adsl line to a fiber line and internet was still not great there. Due to some changes with regards to telephone service in the office, the one adsl line which the cisco router was running on got disconnected. I swapped it over to the spare adsl line. The line was repaired recently by the telephone company, its connecting at 2mbps now.

Internet is working very well at the client now. The issue seems to have been that the one line was connect at 512, which was the fixed ip line for mail, dns resolving I suspect was using this line. Squid use to give lots of time out errors. Now that that line is running at 2mbps web browsing is much better. Web browsing only improved when the adsl line was connecting at 2mbp even with the fiber link.

In summary
Load Balancing was setup between Eth0 and eth2 with fail over.
Eth0 - 2mbps adsl line
Eth2 - Fiber link not sure of speed.

I don't think the load balancing has worked ideally since it got setup by the guy who did the Linux server. I always found basic things like web browsing very slow. The solution recommended was get packet fence to monitor the network maybe its torrents messing the connection up. Once the 512mbps line was upgraded to a 2mbps line the internet is now usable.

I learned that trowing extra hardware, and money at a problem wont always fix it, thankfully the client had not invested extra money on new infrastructure just yet. The problem rectified itself when the line was automatically upgraded by our service provider to a faster connection. I am convinced the issue is on the local server with regards to the load balancing and routing on the server.
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Gentoo Newbie