Fritz!Box 7390 and QoS Tagging

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Fritz!Box 7390 and QoS Tagging

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5047 posts

Uber Geek

#1487116 7-Feb-2016 18:16

fe31nz:The FritzBox can do all the QoS it likes, but without somehow tagging the packets, the upstream routers will not give them any priority, so when the traffic merges with other customers' traffic, the VOIP packets would be treated as normal packets and risk getting dropped anywhere there is congestion. Once the VOIP packets reach 2D's routers, those routers could be automatically giving the VOIP traffic priority (maybe by adding appropriate tags), but in between, in the Chorus network, their documentation makes it pretty clear that they expect the packets to have the 802.1Q PRI tags set for traffic to be given priority. In the absence of congestion, that does not matter much, but as more and more people connect to fibre, there will be congestion problems eventually. So it is much better to discover problems like this now and get them fixed.

Thanks, that makes sense. It'll be interesting to see what happens as fibre uptake increases I guess.

fe31nz

1232 posts

Uber Geek

#1487121 7-Feb-2016 18:29

Paul1977:

I don't think I'd attempt a setup like that until I was a little more savvy with the EdgeRouters, also don't want to by another one!

Other than retaining the TR-069 access for 2D, does this setup give you any other benefits?

The TR-069 access is the main benefit - it means I can just forget the VOIP setup as 2D will adjust it as necessary for any changes they make.

It was also an interesting exercise in learning about routers and my EdgeRouter in particular. When I started, I had a fair idea that it should be possible somehow, but it took a while to work it all out - especially that it really did require two routers. Now that it is going, the actual config is not that complicated.

fe31nz

1232 posts

Uber Geek

#1487626 8-Feb-2016 17:58

I have fixed my 7390 so that it now sets the DSCP flags correctly for VOIP (on its WAN interface - I have not checked on the LAN side). Unfortunately, there is no web config to do this - I had to telnet in and edit the /var/flash/voip.cfg file. In there, there are three settings:

sip_prio = 0;
rtp_prio = 0;
rtcp_prio = 0;

These are the DSCP flags and need to be changed to:

sip_prio = 26;
rtp_prio = 46;
rtcp_prio = 46;

The procedure for changing them is to first enable telnet on your FritzBox. On your phone, dial #96*7* to enable it (#96*8* will disable it again). Use a telnet program to connect to your FritzBox and give the master password to login. Then do the following commands:

cd /var/flash

nvi voip.cfg

The nvi program is a modified version of the vi editor - anyone familiar with vi should be able to use it. For those like me who do not use vi, the simple way to make the changes is to just use the page down key to get to the end of the file, then page up 3-4 times (more if you have a small number of lines per page in your telnet session) until you see the options. Use the cursor keys to go to the sip_prio option, then hit the I key to enter editing mode. Use the backspace and cursor keys to edit the three values, then hit <Esc>:wq to save and exit the file. Then reboot your FritzBox. The command "reboot" works from the telnet session to do that.

Note that I am still using version 6.20 firmware on my 7390 - I think that later firmware versions may have removed the telnet capability. If so, I have no idea how to go about directly editing the config files without telnet. It may not be possible.

hio77

12999 posts

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Lizard Networks

#1487632 8-Feb-2016 18:08

fe31nz:

I have fixed my 7390 so that it now sets the DSCP flags correctly for VOIP (on its WAN interface - I have not checked on the LAN side). Unfortunately, there is no web config to do this - I had to telnet in and edit the /var/flash/voip.cfg file. In there, there are three settings:

sip_prio = 0;
rtp_prio = 0;
rtcp_prio = 0;

These are the DSCP flags and need to be changed to:

sip_prio = 26;
rtp_prio = 46;
rtcp_prio = 46;

The procedure for changing them is to first enable telnet on your FritzBox. On your phone, dial #96*7* to enable it (#96*8* will disable it again). Use a telnet program to connect to your FritzBox and give the master password to login. Then do the following commands:

cd /var/flash

nvi voip.cfg

The nvi program is a modified version of the vi editor - anyone familiar with vi should be able to use it. For those like me who do not use vi, the simple way to make the changes is to just use the page down key to get to the end of the file, then page up 3-4 times (more if you have a small number of lines per page in your telnet session) until you see the options. Use the cursor keys to go to the sip_prio option, then hit the I key to enter editing mode. Use the backspace and cursor keys to edit the three values, then hit <Esc>:wq to save and exit the file. Then reboot your FritzBox. The command "reboot" works from the telnet session to do that.

Note that I am still using version 6.20 firmware on my 7390 - I think that later firmware versions may have removed the telnet capability. If so, I have no idea how to go about directly editing the config files without telnet. It may not be possible.

Good to see someone else has had a good play around in the firtz!

for chorus ufb, doesnt the voice need to go down another vlan to get the prioritization though?

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

fe31nz

1232 posts

Uber Geek

#1487649 8-Feb-2016 18:47

hio77:

Good to see someone else has had a good play around in the firtz!

for chorus ufb, doesnt the voice need to go down another vlan to get the prioritization though?

Not quite - it goes on VLAN 10 like all the rest of the traffic, but needs to have the correct value put in the 801.1Q VLAN header's PRI field. So now I need to see how I go about getting my EdgeRouter Lite to check the DSCP field of outbound packets and set the 802.1Q PRI field correctly for high priority packets. I have lost my copy of the Chorus document that set this out for the moment, but certain PRI values cause the Chorus routers to use the committed bandwidth that is available on all fibre connections and handle those packets with priority. All other traffic uses the remaining bandwith and gets dropped if necessary to fit the bandwidth. The committed bandwidth available on my 200/200 Mbit/s connection is (if I remember correctly) 2.5 Mbit/s, easily enough to handle the VOIP traffic.

For those who do not understand what committed bandwidth is, it is bandwidth that is allocated for your use only, and is available from your ONT right through the Chorus network to where it connects to your ISP. No other user's packets can use your committed bandwidth, even in the worst of congestion situations.

Paul1977

5047 posts

Uber Geek

#1488030 9-Feb-2016 13:18

fe31nz: So now I need to see how I go about getting my EdgeRouter Lite to check the DSCP field of outbound packets and set the 802.1Q PRI field correctly for high priority packets. I have lost my copy of the Chorus document that set this out for the moment, but certain PRI values cause the Chorus routers to use the committed bandwidth that is available on all fibre connections and handle those packets with priority.

Let us know how you get on with this, I'd be interested to know. Do you know if Enable would use the same 802.1Q PRI values as Chorus?

Paul1977

5047 posts

Uber Geek

#1488032 9-Feb-2016 13:23

fe31nzNote that I am still using version 6.20 firmware on my 7390 - I think that later firmware versions may have removed the telnet capability. If so, I have no idea how to go about directly editing the config files without telnet. It may not be possible.

I'm running 6.30, so I'll see if I can enable telnet and report back.

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LennonNZ

2459 posts

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#1488055 9-Feb-2016 13:35

Unregulated Bitstream 2A Service Specs (Enable/Chorus) PCP 5 to go into the HP Pool

http://www.enable.net.nz/assets/uploads/Service%20Description%20for%20Bitstream%202a%20.pdf

https://www.chorus.co.nz/file/48702/Bitstream_2_Acelerate_Service_Description-June-2014-Final.pdf

The Regulated Bitstream 2 (30/10,100/50) are PCP 4 to go into the HP Pool

http://www.enable.net.nz/assets/uploads/files/governance/Enable_UFB_Service_Description_for_Bitstream.pdf

https://www.chorus.co.nz/file/48692/chorus-ufb-services-agreement-service-description-for-bitstream-2.pdf

Paul1977

5047 posts

Uber Geek

#1488064 9-Feb-2016 13:54

LennonNZ:

http://www.enable.net.nz/assets/uploads/Service%20Description%20for%20Bitstream%202a%20.pdf

PCP (cos/802.1p) of 5 will place into the HP Pool.

This is the same as the Chorus Unregulated Plans but the Regulated BS2 (30/10,100/50) are PCP 4

Thanks

Paul1977

5047 posts

Uber Geek

#1488065 9-Feb-2016 13:56

Paul1977:

fe31nzNote that I am still using version 6.20 firmware on my 7390 - I think that later firmware versions may have removed the telnet capability. If so, I have no idea how to go about directly editing the config files without telnet. It may not be possible.

I'm running 6.30, so I'll see if I can enable telnet and report back.

Telnet doesn't appear to be working for me on 6.30. You can always modify a backup config and restore it to the device to change setting not in the GUI, but this requires disabling the integrity check.

EDIT: I don't believe editing the config file and disabling the integrity check works for 7490.

fe31nz

1232 posts

Uber Geek

#1488193 9-Feb-2016 16:53

I have now seen another "The service provider successfully transmitted settings to this device." message in the 7390's log, and the changes I made to the voip.cfg file are still there, so it looks like 2D's regular TR-069 sessions do not overwrite the new settings. Excellent!

Now I am looking at getting my EdgeRouter Lite to insert the right value into the 802.1Q header PRI/CoS field for my VOIP packets. What I want it to do is to check the DSCP flags of packets and set the PRI field from that. I have found an option that seems to be about setting that field:

[edit]
erl@erl# set interfaces ethernet eth0 vif 10 egress-qos
Possible completions:
<text> VLAN eqress QoS

Detailed information:
Format for qos mapping "0:1 1:6 7:6"

But so far I have not been able to find any documentation on how the mapping settings work. It seems to be the same as running /sbin/vconfig on a Ubuntu system with the vlan package installed, but the documentation for vconfig is also not very helpful. The value after the colon seems to be the value to put in the PRI field, but so far I have not been able to find what the value before the colon means.

See http://linux.die.net/man/8/vconfig set_egress_map.

Paul1977

5047 posts

Uber Geek

#1488542 10-Feb-2016 08:52

fe31nz:

I have now seen another "The service provider successfully transmitted settings to this device." message in the 7390's log, and the changes I made to the voip.cfg file are still there, so it looks like 2D's regular TR-069 sessions do not overwrite the new settings. Excellent!

Now I am looking at getting my EdgeRouter Lite to insert the right value into the 802.1Q header PRI/CoS field for my VOIP packets. What I want it to do is to check the DSCP flags of packets and set the PRI field from that. I have found an option that seems to be about setting that field:

[edit]
erl@erl# set interfaces ethernet eth0 vif 10 egress-qos
Possible completions:
<text> VLAN eqress QoS

Detailed information:
Format for qos mapping "0:1 1:6 7:6"

But so far I have not been able to find any documentation on how the mapping settings work. It seems to be the same as running /sbin/vconfig on a Ubuntu system with the vlan package installed, but the documentation for vconfig is also not very helpful. The value after the colon seems to be the value to put in the PRI field, but so far I have not been able to find what the value before the colon means.

See http://linux.die.net/man/8/vconfig set_egress_map.

If you post a question in the Ubiquiti support forums they are good at giving a reply (based on the one question I posted!).

fe31nz

1232 posts

Uber Geek

#1491639 13-Feb-2016 17:19

I now have my EdgeRouter Lite sending my VOIP packets with VLAN PRI set to 5, which seems to be what Chorus want for traffic to use the committed bandwidth and have priority over other traffic on the fibre. This is the command I had to add to my config:

set interfaces ethernet eth0 vif 10 egress-qos "1:5 2:5 3:5 4:5 5:5 6:5 7:5"

It seems like that command will make all packets with a non-zero DSCP value have a VLAN PRI of 5, but I am still not sure how the settings work. I have no way of verifying that the packets are actually using my CIR bandwidth either - I will only find out when there is bad congestion happening sometime in the future.

I also noticed that the 2D/Snap VOIP packets I am receiving do not have the VLAN PRI field set. I really think they need to fix that, so that when everyone is on fibre, the VOIP traffic will have priority. They do have the DSCP field set - the SIP packets are set to CS3, and the RTP packets to EF.

jnimmo

1097 posts

Uber Geek

#1491708 13-Feb-2016 18:55

fe31nz:

I now have my EdgeRouter Lite sending my VOIP packets with VLAN PRI set to 5, which seems to be what Chorus want for traffic to use the committed bandwidth and have priority over other traffic on the fibre. This is the command I had to add to my config:

set interfaces ethernet eth0 vif 10 egress-qos "1:5 2:5 3:5 4:5 5:5 6:5 7:5"

It seems like that command will make all packets with a non-zero DSCP value have a VLAN PRI of 5, but I am still not sure how the settings work. I have no way of verifying that the packets are actually using my CIR bandwidth either - I will only find out when there is bad congestion happening sometime in the future.

I also noticed that the 2D/Snap VOIP packets I am receiving do not have the VLAN PRI field set. I really think they need to fix that, so that when everyone is on fibre, the VOIP traffic will have priority. They do have the DSCP field set - the SIP packets are set to CS3, and the RTP packets to EF.

Thanks for the research! Is it possible the ONT removes these tags on ingress traffic? Would seem strange though

fe31nz

1232 posts

Uber Geek

#1491755 13-Feb-2016 19:42

jnimmo:

Thanks for the research! Is it possible the ONT removes these tags on ingress traffic? Would seem strange though

The Chorus documents tell us what the ONT does. If the VLAN PRI field is 0 or 5, it is left unchanged. If it is anything else, it is overwritten to 0. The value 5 means the ONT will send the packet with high priority using the CIR (committed) bandwidth. The value 0 means that the packet will be sent with ordinary priority using the EIR bandwidth. Traffic on the fibre is "policed at ingress".

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