Half Bridge mode capable routers

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radiusq

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#290557 19-Nov-2021 13:15

Hi,

I have a 950Mb/500Mb Enable fibre delivered plan and a PC Engines APU2 running OpenWrt as my home router. See - https://openwrt.org/toh/pcengines/apu2

I love OpenWrt and all it's features - inbuilt WireGuard support, SQM Etc. The APU2 should be capable of handling a 1Gbit internet connection, and many users overseas report the devices as being 'easily Gigabit capable'. However, as I have found out, 1Gbit is only possible when receiver side scaling is functioning and can load balance inbound IP traffic across multiple CPUs.

The crux of my issue is that load balancing over multiple CPUs is not possible when using a PPPoE delivered connection - as the hashing function for Receive Side Scaling cannot work with PPPoE encapsulated traffic.

I found a related thread on geekzone here - https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=243623

"Unfortunately, RSS is usually capable of hashing IPv4 and IPv4 traffic (L3+L4). All other traffic like PPPoE or MPLS or .. is usually received by queue 0. See -
https://wiki.freebsd.org/NetworkPerformanceTuning"

This is definitely my problem. I currently see 400/400Mb - which is honestly fine, but my OCD won't allow me to let it go......

So..... given that 100% of NZ internet connections are provided over PPPoE - I assume folks here have come up with a solution.....

Years ago I used to use a Draytek Vigor 120 to 'bridge' PPPoA traffic to a small IP router that I was using. This worked really well. I understand this specific functionality is often referred to as 'Half Bridge' or 'PPP/IP Extension'.

It seems like a vendor specific function and is found only on a few devices, and I am not sure if it even exists as a feature for native Ethernet (as opposed to xDSL).

My current plan is to install a half-bridge/PPP Extension 'router' so that my inbound connection looks like -

<fibre ONT>->[PPPoE encapsulated traffic] -><Half-bridge PPPoE> -> [Native IP traffic] -> <APU2 router>

The problem I have is that I need to locate a router that can support the half-bridge / PPP Extension functionality as described above, do so over native Ethernet (not xDSL) *and* do so at 1Gb/s linespeed.

Has anyone here hit this issue and solved this problem I wonder....? I suspect it's a common problem in NZ. There are very few devices that can handle 1Gb/s and even fewer that can do it with proper queue management etc...

Can anyone mention a device that would suit my needs as above?

Cheers.

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1687 posts

Uber Geek

#2815706 19-Nov-2021 13:25

Lots of providers use IPoE (DHCP). Vocus (Orcon, Slingshot), TrustPower, Sky, Vodafone, Contact, My Republic, Stuff... if you're that keen to keep the OpenWRT setup maybe changing ISP might be easier!

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2815722 19-Nov-2021 14:01

While I can totally appreciate the feature set open source routing platforms gave was really good 10 years ago, there are simpler, better, off the shelf options these days.

Your option are either move to a provider that does DHCP, or grab a Mikrotik RB4011 off the shelf and have fun - RouterOS v7 support wireguard too.

RunningMan

8953 posts

Uber Geek

#2815728 19-Nov-2021 14:12

radiusq: [snip] So..... given that 100% of NZ internet connections are provided over PPPoE

Huh? No they're not. ADSL isn't (usually). FW isn't. Some UFB connections are, some use IPoE.

If it's that problematic, use a different provider that meets your specific needs.

radiusq

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2815731 19-Nov-2021 14:15

Cheers for that. I wasn't aware that IPoE was an option anywhere. I like my current ISP though.... decisions, decisions....

alavaliant

222 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#2815770 19-Nov-2021 15:27

radiusq:

This is definitely my problem. I currently see 400/400Mb - which is honestly fine, but my OCD won't allow me to let it go......

As in 400/400Mb via a speedtest? I'm running a APU2 with openwrt for my gigabit fibre connection. And my speedtest results last time I checked are giving me around 850Mb/450Mb

So I'm wondering if you are doing more comprehensive testing beyond a speedtest.net result (and I'm missing that my connection isn't actually able to run as fast as I think it is under real world usage), or if there is something else slowing your connection?

For the record I'm with 2degrees for Internet (PPPoE) and am from memory using openwrt without any special configuration other than the basic VLAN 10/PPPoE setup required to get it to connect.

BarTender

3606 posts

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#2815793 19-Nov-2021 16:45

I struggled to find a Linux box that is capable of GBit PPPoE. I think you’ll need at least a recent i5 or 7 to do it. So with that comes the power draw.
I think your best option would be a Edgerouter or MikroTik to have some more advanced features or the UDM.
Most if not all routers have dedicated offload for PPPoE so can handle GBit. Otherwise move to an ISP that supports IPoE as others have suggested.
There is even a pinned post about what ISPs use PPPoE vs IPoE.
https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=174969

toejam316

1466 posts

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#2815797 19-Nov-2021 16:56

As above, a Mikrotik is absolutely a great option. Also, if you're going to delve into Router OS 7, I'd suggest looking at an RB5009, it's an absolute unit of a router, capable of handling 10Gbit.

You could also use a Mikrotik or similar as a network bridge to handle the PPPoE part of the equation if you are hellbent on sticking with your current setup.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

Equinox IT

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radiusq

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2815811 19-Nov-2021 17:21

alavaliant: As in 400/400Mb via a speedtest? I'm running a APU2 with openwrt for my gigabit fibre connection. And my speedtest results last time I checked are giving me around 850Mb/450Mb

Interesting. What version APU2 do you own? I have apu2c2 - which has the 211at NIC.... Both speedtest.net and fast.com give me similar results. I've also simulated real world by using bittorrent from multiple clients. I never get more than 400Mb in either direction.

I have tested with laptop configured as a PPPoE client and get very close to 950/500 - ruling out my ISP as bottleneck.

michaelmurfy

meow
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#2815816 19-Nov-2021 17:52

If you're after something a whole lot more advanced then the Mikrotik RB5009 is an absolute beast and will be able to handle anything you throw at it. Also supports Wireguard.

I've run PFSense multiple times now and even used an APU2 but always end up with a Mikrotik every time. For a platform they're just solid, feature packed and just works.

I know this doesn't necessary answer your question but I've personally not run into the issue where my router can't route my connection. I'm currently using a Mikrotik RB4011 which is handling my connection very well and does everything I need. I'd personally be retiring your current router for a Mikrotik.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

radiusq

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2815817 19-Nov-2021 17:58

chevrolux:

While I can totally appreciate the feature set open source routing platforms gave was really good 10 years ago, there are simpler, better, off the shelf options these days.

Your option are either move to a provider that does DHCP, or grab a Mikrotik RB4011 off the shelf and have fun - RouterOS v7 support wireguard too.

I still really like OpenWrt. Features like policy based VPN over Wireguard are great. SQM, Time-based ACLs too!. It might be old school, but it does everything I need it to and I've got a few years of playtime with it. Those Mikrotik boards have serious hardware though - I just need to to figure out if their RouterOS does everything I need it to, and can put myself through the pain of learning it. Hmm.... hardware is definitely well priced for what it is!

alavaliant

222 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#2816021 20-Nov-2021 08:47

radiusq:
alavaliant: As in 400/400Mb via a speedtest? I'm running a APU2 with openwrt for my gigabit fibre connection. And my speedtest results last time I checked are giving me around 850Mb/450Mb

Interesting. What version APU2 do you own? I have apu2c2 - which has the 211at NIC.... Both speedtest.net and fast.com give me similar results. I've also simulated real world by using bittorrent from multiple clients. I never get more than 400Mb in either direction.

I have tested with laptop configured as a PPPoE client and get very close to 950/500 - ruling out my ISP as bottleneck.

I just retested (I was at work last time I posted), I'm getting 500/450Mb currently in speedtest.net - which is interesting as I know I got a much higher download speed in the past. I originally tried opnsense on the apu2 but because I couldn't get it past 400/400 (known issue with the bsd ppp tool being single threaded). I switched to openwrt and recall being very pleased when I got 850/450 with openwrt.

That was quite some ago, I was on the 19.07 or ever earlier openwrt release back then (it was right after I upgraded to gig when I last did a bunch of tests). I'm currently on 21.02 so it's possible some of the changes between old and current releases have limited performance without me noticing. I never bothered trying to do bittorrent tests etc, I was mainly at the time just working on getting provisioning sorted (initially my correction has the upload limit increased but not download limit so I was getting 100/400 until that was sorted out at the isp end).

For the record I have a apu2d4

PANiCnz

990 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2818451 24-Nov-2021 12:56

By all accounts the RPi4 can do gigabit, but I haven't tried it to confirm. I've got one setup with OpenWRT for testing at the moment and it was doing 300/100 fine yesterday. Just rolled over today to gigabit so will try and find some time to plug in the Pi and see if it'll handle gigabit. I'm surprised your existing device doesn't do it.

PANiCnz

990 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2819326 25-Nov-2021 18:39

For what its worth I managed to get full gigabit speeds on a RPi4 with OpenWrt. The key is to enable irqbalance. There is also a "software flow offloading" option under Firewall that might help too.

opkg install irqbalance

uci set irqbalance.irqbalance.enabled=1

uci commit

reboot

alavaliant

222 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#2820777 28-Nov-2021 22:58

PANiCnz:
For what its worth I managed to get full gigabit speeds on a RPi4 with OpenWrt. The key is to enable irqbalance. There is also a "software flow offloading" option under Firewall that might help too.

opkg install irqbalance

uci set irqbalance.irqbalance.enabled=1

uci commit

reboot

I've been doing research on openwrt and performance. My impression from the various forum threads and bug tracer information I read. Is that the 21.xx release turning the flow offload support off by default is why I'm getting slower maximum transfer speed on my pcengines hardware now (vs earlier release). So turning on flow offloading might help on the rpi4 as well.

The flip side is that flow offloading is disabled by default for 21.xx as it's broken with ipv6. So in my case I've not tried turning it back on as I like having ipv6 support. It sounds like it won't be fixed with ipv6 until the openwrt 22.xx release as apparently the support in openwrt currently isn't official - it's a patch openwrt wrote and nobody is sure why it's broken with the 21.xx release. A newer kernel and nftables is needed for the official kernel flow offloading support (which shouldn't have ipv6 issues) but that isn't coming until the openwrt 22.xx release.

alavaliant

222 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#2820779 28-Nov-2021 23:04

My curiousity got the better of me when I realized the bug report mentions ipv6 problems with software flow offloading. And the openwrt web interface has an option for hardware flow offloading as well (which appears when software flow offloading is turned on).

On my apu2 I now get a speed test result of 880/449 with both software and hardware flow offloading turned on. I'm just working out of I am now having ipv6 issues now or not (so I might have to turn it back off). I expect it's going to take a while to tell if it's effecting me or not. Since the bug reports don't have an exact test case to reproduce the reported problems. And while so far I'm not managing to reproduce any problems, it doesn't mean I won't see any in the next few days...

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