Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?

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Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?

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Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?
Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?
2022-08-05 20:02:09 - last edited 2022-08-05 20:05:35
Tags: #Load Balancing #Bandwidth Control
Model: ER605 (TL-R605)  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version:

I use ER605 (still on v1.1.1) in standalone mode with 2 WAN ports. These two internet connections have identical bandwidth plan.

I have set up Bandwidth Control when usage reaches a certain percentage (e.g. 80%, later tried 90% as well) to avoid any user overloading the traffic to internet.

 

I need to understand the mechanism how it works in practice in order to be able to set it the most optimized way, with a certain percentage value.

 

First of all, I guess the reaching percentage is defined in Bandwidth Control when more than one user is occupying the bandwidth in the same time, otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

 

Does this value means on each WAN ports independently?

(I set it up for each WAN ports separately (because in the past the WANs had different "speed") but I know I could have defined them in one single rule as well.)

 

Due to the Load Balance function activated, it's not clear for me, how the router defines bandwidth usage.

It's because the logical method should be, the router providing different WAN ports for simultaneous traffic requests following Load Balance rules first.

So, when will the usage reach the defined value?

Does it get activated only on that WAN port where the traffic is that heavy?

Does Load Balance try to handle the situation first, distributing bandwidth wisely and only after that gives the control to Bandwidth Control function? (I guess so)

 

Unfortunately Traffic Statistics page shows unreliable and vague usage values, so that doesn't help to figure it out.

Recently when several more-active users are connected, Bandwidth Control gets activated, even when Statistics doesn't show that high usage. So, I wondered why in the past it had been activating this function less often.

 

The internet traffic has had no freezing so far, it's just a bit annoying when a user is compelled to get the limited bandwidth when Statistics page doesn't show not even close to the max bandwidth usage.

 

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#1
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4 Reply
Re:Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?
2022-08-08 09:01:36

  @Arion 

 

For me, all I had to do was go to the WAN port standalone settings screen, fill in the Upstream and Downstream Bandwidths according to the specific values given by the ISP, then go to the Load Balancing screen and enable it.
Nothing else was set up and it works fine so far.


If you're still having problems with yours, upgrade your firmware.

Just striving to develop myself while helping others.
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Re:Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?
2022-08-08 09:15:27

  @Virgo 

Load Balance and Bandwidth Control are two different things, IMHO.

Load Balance is not meant to limit anything, it just gives the direction for each request.

 

My question is how does Bandwidth Control work when Load Balance is activated? How does it measure the percentage of usage on the router? For the whole network or for each WAN port?

 

To maintain the network (internet access) more stable I feel the need to use Bandwidth Control as I can't expect fair use from the users connected.

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Re:Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?
2022-08-09 18:25:50

  @Arion 

 

if youre using Omada (I cant tell for standalone currently), you have multiple options for bandwith-control:

 - per user

 - for all users at the same time

 - for specific IP-network

 - for specific LAN-port

 - for specific WAN-port

 

this is independent from load-balancing and I think there might be some side-effects with specific combinations.

But to be honest, in my experience Load-Balance is not working for high-bandwith connections (ie gigabit-WAN) or if the difference is too big between both WANs.

 

Question is, what kind of problem are you trying to solve? 

 

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Re:Bandwidth control with Load Balance on ER605 - how does it work?
2022-08-09 19:59:02

RobertMEF wrote

Question is, what kind of problem are you trying to solve?

As I wrote in the first post: I had no issue so far, other than experiencing bandwidth control limiting traffic (per user, as I configured it) when it doesn't seem it should.

I would like to optimize the router's operation in standalone mode. Maintaining stability and flexibility in a healthy manner.

That's why I'm asking the developers to explain the algorithm. Because it's not obvious at all.

 

If I opt for the feature that lets me activate Bandwidth Control only when it reaches the defined percentage of usage, it means I want to avoid limiting the bandwidth when it's not necessary. Load Balance allocates traffic when it gets busy on one WAN port and that can misconduct the algorithm of the other feature.

 

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