Throughput tests WRTSL54GS v1.1 vs WRT54GS v3.0
The goal of this test is to measure and compare the NAT'ing/routing/switching behavior of these two WRT54G's [1] running OpenWRT Whiterussian RC6 [5]:
| model | s/n | CPU | flash/RAM | eth switch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WRTSL54GS v1.1 [2] | CJK11xxxxxxx | Broadcomm 4704rev9 266Mhz | 8/32MB | inCPU |
| WRT54GS v3.0 [3] | CGN5xxxxxxx | Broadcomm 5352 200Mhz | 8/32MB | BCM5325 |
IMPORTANT: nbd ( openwrt developer) pointed a problem with "entropy gathering which fills /dev/random from wifi" in WR rc6 and suggested me trying a newer build (09test); I'll try it an repost the results (specially the wifi ones)
--jjo; Jan 10, 2007.
Testbed, methodology
- Topology
--------> iperf test connection------>
WIFI-NATed [CLIENT]+)) wifi (( +[ WRT ]+=== wan ===+[SERVER] (iptables MASQUERADE'd)
LAN-NATed [CLIENT]+=== lan ===+[ WRT ]+=== wan ===+[SERVER] (iptables MASQUERADE'd)
LAN-routed [CLIENT]+=== lan ===+[ WRT ]+=== wan ===+[SERVER] (plain routing)
LAN-switched [CLIENT]+=== lan ===+[ WRT ]+=== lan ===+[SERVER] (hardware switching)
"lan": any LAN (1of4) port
"wan": WAN port
"wifi": 802.11g link at 54Mbps (aprox 2mts distance between antennas)
iptables MASQUERADE'd: default whiterussian setup (masquerade both wifi,lan to wan)
plain routing: accomplished with iptables full "flushing" + server route to client via WRT
- client: IBM Thinkpad T42, lan: e1000 (10/100/1000), wifi: ipw2200
- server: generic PC sempron 2200+, lan: 8139too
- routers: (stated above)
Results
Throughput values in megabits per second taken from iperf's output. Please note that measured rates by iperf correspond to _application_, ie: they don't consider protocol headers, etc.
CPU usage % shown by top for ksoft_IRQd from a ssh logged session, this "top" session was not considered for throughput values (separately taken) to avoid "measuring load influence": 100% CPU usage was aprox= 90% ksoft_IRQd + 8% dropbear + 2% top.
| model | WIFI-NATed | LAN-NATed | LAN-routed | LAN-switched |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WRTSL54GS | 23.5mbit/s (65%) | 47.5mbit/s (90%+) | 55.8mbit/s (90%+) | 93.7mbit/s (0%) |
| WRT54GS | 10.5mbit/s (14%) | 34.2mbit/s (90%+) | 40.4mbit/s (90%+) | 93.8mbit/s (0%) |
Analisys
WRTSL54GS
WIFI-NATed at 23.5 mbits (802.11g @54Mbps) with ~65% CPU usage denotes "reasonable" CPU availability for this 802.11g saturated link.
LAN-NATed at 47.5 mbits shows the CPU bottleneck when routing+MASQUERADING, considering that ip_conntrack table has just a few entries this is a VERY optimistic max.
LAN-routed at 55.8 mbits is pretty poor, I think that ip_conntrack processing is ALSO affecting this scenario (if loaded it gets called even for non-nated streams); it would be veryVERY useful to have ip_conntrack optionally loaded by openwrt (currently static).
LAN-switched at 93.8 mbits is expectable given that hardware only switching is involved.
WRT54GS
LAN-NATed and LAN-routed values give about 75% when compared to its newer cousin, 75% is roughly 200/266, respective CPU clocks [MHz] (this confirms CPU saturation).
WIFI-NATed at 10.5 mbits (dbl-confirmed 802.11g @54Mbps) is a bad smelling frog, I double checked openwrt setup... nothing strange found; about 1mo ago I was running RC5 getting ~20mbits+ rates (informal, from rsync/ftp rates), so it maybe something with RC6 wifi in this hardware, dunno(?).
As expected, LAN-switched gave same results.
Conclusions
Both WRT's seem reasonable for 802.11g @54Mbps even when NAT'ing traffic (common usage), obviously depending on traffic patterns, how many clients, etc ... given the constrained RAM (and CPU) for NAT+conntracking ... NOT tested here.
On the contrast, their CPU is not powerful enough to saturate _both_ (LAN+WAN) 100mbps links simultaneously, even when "only" routing (55mbit/s max on WRTSL54GS); this could be enhanced by having ip_conntrack optionally (not)loaded by openwrt.
Out of band disclaimer
Ok ... I know, you agree: blogger sucks for writing technical reports .. sheesshhhh :-P
References
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G
[2]http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Linksys/WRTSL54GS
[3]http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Linksys/WRT54GS
[4]Iperf bandwidth measurement tool: http://dast.nlanr.net/Projects/Iperf/
[5]http://downloads.openwrt.org/whiterussian/rc6/
This thread at openwrt forums talks about openwrt experiences on Linksys WRTSL54GS model, and was the starting point to encourage loading openwrt on WRTSL54GS v1.1 model.
