ANSWERED Eddie Windows = fast; Linux = slow

[hashswag 11]

Hi..

 

I'm have an interesting issue that I'm hoping has a simple solution.

 

ISP: Verizon FiOS 75/75

PC:  Quad core 3.0Ghz, 8GB RAM

Host OS: Windows 7

VM (VMware Workstation 11) Guest OS: Linux Mint 17.1

 

Without AirVPN:

Win7:  85/92

Mint 17.1: 85/90

 

With AirVPN Eddie 2.7 (SSL Tunnel Protocol)

Win7:  55/53

Mint 17.1: 15/50

 

I am using the same settings for Protocol (SSL Tunnel) for both Windows and Linux.  When running the Linux tests, I turned off the Windows VPN (to avoid double VPN).  When testing the VPN, I connected to the same AirVPN server.  I tested both sides many times (no fluke).

 

The Linux VM has enough network bandwidth to get high speeds (see the Without AirVPN test results).  At first I was concerned with CPU power in the VM (it's allocated a single core), but I don't think that's a factor for two reasons:

1.  Upload is fast

2.  Running top in Linux doesn't show the CPU getting above 50% (including firefox, flash, and tunneling)

 

Are there any tricks in Linux to get download speed up?

 

Thanks...

 

 

 

[Staff 9780]

Hello,

 

in the VM it is maybe a bottleneck due to the CPU. An OpenVPN daemon is run only by one core in any case so even if this core is at capacity you will not see the CPU particularly stressed, unless this is a single CPU, single core system. Currently OpenVPN does not scale well on multi-processor systems, it does not support HT.

 

Kind regards

[hashswag 11]

Thanks for the response.  I thought I clearly indicated that I didn't believe it was the CPU for a few reasons:

1.  The upload speeds are fast (which also encrypt using tunnel and openvpn processes)

2.  The CPU during download doesn't go above 50% in the Linux VM

 

It *appears* like the connection is getting throttled by the ISP, the way it's bouncing around at the 15mbps position on speedtest.net.  But I'm using SSL which prevents ISP throttling.

[Staff 9780]

Hello!

 

> 1.  The upload speeds are fast (which also encrypt using tunnel and openvpn processes)

 

You're right, that shows that the bottleneck is not in the CPU.

 

But if it was your ISP to throttle, you could not reach higher performance on the host. With OpenVPN over SSL, the symptoms point to a bottleneck caused by VMWare. If the VM is attached via NAT to the host, maybe the problem is there. What happens in bridge mode?

 

Kind regards

[hashswag 11]

Brilliant!  The problem was NAT within VMWare.  Switching to bridge mode (and getting an IP from my LAN), I am getting 51/79 in speedtest.net (even BETTER than what I get on the Windows host). 

 

To double check, I switched back to NAT and am getting 17/51.

 

Switched back to Bridge, and saw 72/77.  I have never seen anything above 55 (for download) in Windows.  Contemplating switching my host OS to Linux as some point. 

 

Thanks!