Congestion Control on DD-WRT using TCP Vegas.
In my previous article, we covered building a wireless home network using commodity hardware and DD-WRT. While it works great, you can definitely hit some snags when generating a lot of traffic, e.g. running BitTorrent, playing Black Ops, and trying to use your VoIP all at the same time. Everyone is given equal footing: that BitTorrent traffic might cause your VoIP call to drop and Black Ops to lag since it's eating up all of the bandwidth. QoS is fully supported by DD-WRT and could be used, but it's often difficult to configure, especially if you don't have a consistent up- and down-stream Internet speed. Enter the world of TCP Vegas:
Vegas is an implementation of TCP that achieves between 37 and 71% better throughput on the Internet, with onefifth to one-half the losses, as compared to the implementation of TCP in the Reno distribution of BSD Unix. This paper motivates and describes the three key techniques employed by Vegas, and presents the results of a comprehensive experimental performance study—using both simulations and measurements on the Internet—of the Vegas and Reno implementations of TCP.
The Ultimate DD-WRT Setup: Wireless Bridging, No-IP, and OpenDNS.
Summary:
For 99% of the population, the stock firmware that's included with wireless routers is just fine. For the remaining 1% of power-users, it just doesn't cut it. Whether it be increased signal range, a wireless mesh, or just the need to tweak settings under the hood, there's always a reason to want more from that commodity piece of hardware. The following guide will cover enabling No-IP, OpenDNS, and creating a bridged wireless network across your environment.
DD-WRT is a Linux based alternative OpenSource firmware suitable for a great variety of WLAN routers and embedded systems. The main emphasis lies on providing the easiest possible handling while at the same time supporting a great number of functionalities within the framework of the respective hardware platform used.
The graphical user interface is logically structured, and it is operated via a standard Web browser, so even non-technicians can configure the system in only a few simple steps.
Apart from the simple handling, speed and stability are also in the focus of our development work. Compared to the software preinstalled on many WLAN routers, DD-WRT allows a reliable operation with a clearly larger functionality that also fulfills the demands of professional deployment.
In the following scenario, we're going to build a wireless bridge network that makes use of both No-IP and OpenDNS.