Hi there, I would apprecate some general advice.

I run a small WirelessISP with my main edge router to the internet a PC with 750 MB ram, 2 gig processor and a 64 MB flash card.
It's 6 or more years old (I suspect nearer 8 years old )
I have two incoming feeds - a dual bonded aDSL2+ link capable of 32 meg down / 2 meg up and a dual bonded aDSL 1 link capable of 13 meg down and 1.2 meg up.

I have about 100 customers and run a routed network with about 40 nodes and masq most customers from the two gateways to the subnet 192.168.x.x (I use the ranges 192.168.95.x to 192.168.200.x with lower than 95.x free)
I extensively use pre-routing to direct traffic from (say) 192.168.111.x to the aDSL2+ line and from (say) 192.168.124.x to the aDSL 1 line.

However - my radio infrastructure tests fine to the MT router - 20 megs or so. BUT I am seeing much slower speeds for real customers on the network - 2-4 megs in some cases (not limited), maybe up to 6 megs. Connection count ranges from 3000 to 10000 connections and I block P2P. Finally I am running version 2.9.46 (YES I know out of date but if it isn't broke ....). I don't dare upgrade the running unit in situ.

My CPU is not maxing out and typically runs 8 to 20%. The question is, is the computer / router not up to the job with extensive prerouting, and is the OS version too old?

================================

I have a (nearly) identical backup unit, version 5.16, 2.2 GHz processor, 1.5 Gig ram, 256 MG memory module.
Should I make the effort and replace the running unit with the new and later unit and would this help?

Thoughts and questions appreciated.

PS should I also upgrade this to 5.25 the current version while I am at it ....
Cheers, Bill
==========================

The CPU doesn't sound particularly stressed but that is a fairly old ROS version and the network drivers may also be less than ideal. Depending on what you are observing as regards speed at various test points it would be worth looking around in the stats for clues regarding where the stress is.

ROS 5 is probably going to be more efficient in execution of the rules and you may also have some opportunity to streamline/reorder the rules to improve efficiency. Building up an alternate system and testing it on say one customer group would give you some idea of what to expect once fully cut over.

The old version does not seem to have any way I can monitor how much all the prerouting I am doing is loading the system?

The only trouble in testing is it is all or nothing - I have to replace the old server with the new (would also involve taking the whole network offline for the duration of the swap). Providing I have made an exact copy of the old system could you see any problems with the new ?

Finally do you think I should leave the new system at 5.16 or upgrade it to 5.25 in my lab, while testing it ?

Cheers, Bill

Thanks for the suggestions.

Hi again, I would really appreciate comments from MT people on the number of connections, cpu speed and memory, and software version - and if any or all of these could be limiting my fairly fast 32 meg backhaul connections...

Or do I need to look elsewhere?

Cheers, Bill

I block P2P.

Also as WISP I have a different approach to issues you mention
Blocking P2P - rather than just using firewall rules which use CPU resources and if this process is slow it effects 100% of customers on your network, I just set rate limits on the PPPoE connection to the CPE , failing that I then use different bandwidth limits for evening (domestic peak usage hours)on the CPE
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Limit_Dif ... _and_Night
If this has no effect – I contact the bill payer and inform them that I am reviewing the service cost as they are downloading very heavily – this to date has worked very effective for me,

a dual bonded aDSL2+ link capable of 32 meg down / 2 meg up and a dual bonded aDSL 1 link capable of 13 meg down and 1.2 meg up.

On ADSL it’s the upload bandwidth you really have to monitor and ensure it’s not maxing out otherwise you could have your network slow to a crawl due to say several Skype video calls taking place,
I remember reading on the forum where a poster had set the ADSL limits to not max out the upload bandwidth ?

my radio infrastructure tests fine to the MT router - 20 megs or so

Are you using 802.11A have you tried 802.11N?

BUT I am seeing much slower speeds for real customers on the network - 2-4 megs in some cases (not limited), maybe up to 6 megs

My guess is you are using default data rates on the CPE’s which depending the distance from AP will cause low CCQ – I simply use data rates upto 24Mb instead of default of 54MB for 802.11A, NV2 will auto set CCQ for best data transfer – I have seen CCQ go from 70% to 100% bythis but as you are aware this is trade-off in bandwidth VS speed?

A quick reply in haste but you have given me some interesting things to consider...

I realise about the upload but I have to admit I have not been monitoring as closely as maybe I should..

One other comment I would appreciate is (if you don't mind saying) the backhaul you have, the number of customers and critically the connection count.
PM me if you want

Thanks in haste!