aMule Forum

English => aMule Help => Topic started by: jmcho@hotmail.com on August 16, 2006, 06:09:14 PM

Title: RE: Much more upload than download
Post by: jmcho@hotmail.com on August 16, 2006, 06:09:14 PM
I'd like to chime in here and clarify the initial poster's concern -- because this concern has been raised on several forums and has been mentioned here by a few users on a few occasions in the last 6-8 months.

I am using Ubuntu 6.0.6 and I have aMule CVS build Mon Jan 9, 07:02:13 CET 2006.

I have deliberately been using a LowID session because I am not interested in punching holes in my firewalls.  In general -- I only allow about 50 KB/s max for uploading and I only pick downloads with 5 or 6 stable sources.  My downloads go anywhere from 5.0 kb/s to 30 kb/s.  Not bad all things considered.... Of course, I would love to get higher rates -- but to insure security -- thats the price I pay I guess.

I did in fact punch holes in my firewalls to see what people were talking about (opened ports 4662, 4665, 4672, 4711 UDP/TCP bi-directional) on my D-Link wireless router (DI-625).  Naturally I obtained a HighID.  I also removed my ceiling on upload rates (I have no limitation on my download rates).  And right from the get go -- I was exceeding 300 kb/s uploads.  My downloads dwindled down to about 1.5 to 2.8 kb/s.  I left my system on for a week... and the average upload was easily in the 280-300 kb/s while my download had barely cracked 4 kb/s.  I then went out of town to my parents home on the other side of the country and I modded their router to do the same.... Same result -- uploads in excess of 200 kb/s while downloads were about 2 kb/s.  When I shutdown the firewall holes and resumed my LowID session - I once again got 20-30 kb/s.  I have confirmed many of my downloads have in excess of 20 and even sometimes 30 sources that are online ready to share.  But even with rejections due to my LowID, I easily surpass my performance as opposed to when I was a HighID user.  I have done no tuning (and I personally don't think it would matter).

Not being too much of an export with aMule -- I tend to believe the issue isn't with the network, but more with aMule.  Let me know if I can provide more information -- I can even provide download content for some of the experts to try.

Regards,
John
Title: RE: Much more upload than download
Post by: jmcho@hotmail.com on August 16, 2006, 06:11:55 PM
Also, just for clarification,  I can easily hit 300-400 kb/s on downloads across the network from my ISP.

Thanks.
John
Title: Re: Better downloads with lowID
Post by: pleur on August 16, 2006, 07:22:14 PM
it could be the upload is filling up your bandwith, in order to download (if using cable), you need about aprox 10% of your upload free  (so, cap your upload to 90% of the max speed, so if you can upload about 100 KiB/s, cap it to 90)

If you're using a system where your download-rate is linked to your upload rate (dial-up, for example), the calculation is simple, the more you upload, the less you CAN download, i guess the best rate is to cap your upload about 50% of the max capicity of your line

sometimes the router causes the problem, as it has limited connections, in that case you can adjust the max-connections in your preferences (check your router manual for that)

And seriously, does it make sense that you can download faster if you're using 1) a lowid and 2) cap your speed to whatever slow rate ? no, it doesn't!

PS: Punching holes in your security, isn't the correct term for opening ports; there's no real security-thread if you open ports you need to use (but, don't open ports if you don't need them, as there is no use for that)


OT:

All download needs to be uploaded, so the best ratio is UL==DL, but a better upload means more speed in advance!
Title: Re: Better downloads with lowID
Post by: jmcho@hotmail.com on August 16, 2006, 07:46:38 PM
I did in fact also tried doing what you stated (reducing my upload capacity).  I first reduced it to 70 kb/s and then to 50 kb/s -- it doesn't seem to matter (I only ran these for 2 days a piece).

To be crystal clear -- I agree it does NOT make sense.  But telling me that doesn't help.  I'm stating the hard facts.  And both on the Ubuntu and this forum -- I can see I am not alone in my observation.  I'll play with my router tonight -- your initial point about maybe the upload queuing up and preventing downloads coincides with my initial statement that I was at 300 kb/s uploading in about 5 minutes.  But, reducing the throughput so that only 50 kb/s was allowed should've compensated for that initial burst I would think?

Regards,
John
Title: Re: Better downloads with lowID
Post by: pleur on August 16, 2006, 08:50:55 PM
No, i'm sorry, saying it doensn't make sense doesn't help you at all

but, let me put it this way, you're watching just the short term (well, a day or two isn't that long), but consider this:

Using a LowID means that you can't see other LowID's (thus, less sources to download from AND upload to)
Increasing your upload means more credits, wich means faster queues, wich means faster downloads
When downloading faster (that should be the case with an HighID), you can share files faster, thus upload more files (thus, downloading faster, uploading more et cetera, et cetera)


You should try to make a enviroment that is able to compare data; you are changing some variables and compare that data (gatherd in two days) with data that has very different variables for a much longer time. To really check your statement, you should be testing it properly, thus:

A) During one week: Add some downloads, doesn't matter what, but try to download stuff that is average (a new film, a game, some music perhaps), use your lowID (thus, don't forward the ports), cap your upload to 50 KiB/s and don't interfere your uploads/downloads

B) During one week: Add some downloads, doesn't matter what, but try to download stuff that is average (a new film, a game, some music perhaps), use your HighID (thus, forward the ports), cap your upload to 50 KiB/s and don't interfere your uploads/downloads

Now, compare your results, not just the peaks in the speed, but long-term data, as: average download speed, completion of the files

You should now see that an HighID does make your donkey go faster, at least, that has to be, because there shouldn't be a single reason (not that i can think of), that would make a lowID go faster then an HighID

But, still, please test and let us know, perhaps there is some reason that i can't think of this moment, and I *do* like to help ppl increase their speeds :)
Title: Re: Better downloads with lowID
Post by: jmcho@hotmail.com on August 16, 2006, 09:02:27 PM
Ok.  THanks for the suggestions.  I'll be back with some results.  Sorry if I sounded so terse -- but every poster who has ever made mentioned this fact has gotten a read the faq answer or you probably don't know what you are doing.  ;)  And this issue just starting coming up recently (for instance -- didn't have this problem with Ubuntu 5.10).

Regards,
John
Title: Re: Better downloads with lowID
Post by: lionel77 on August 17, 2006, 01:00:22 AM
I've split this thread from the original one (http://forum.amule.org/thread.php?threadid=10722), because I think this one is going into a somewhat different direction.


You might also want to try to use really conservative values for some of the settings:
Connection -> Max Connections  =  80
Core Tweaks -> Max new Connections / 5s  = 10
Title: Re: Better downloads with lowID
Post by: jmcho@hotmail.com on August 22, 2006, 08:29:30 PM
Its been 6 days and 21 hours.  I think thats about a week... Here are my results for a lowid configuration:

Thse are stats from amule:

Uptime: 6 days 21 hours
Transfer UL:DL Ratio:  7.21:1
Total Upload: 69.73 GB
Total Download:  9.62 GB

Avg Download Rate: 4.91 Kb/s
Avg Upload Rate: 35.38 Kb/s

Max Download rate:  54.37 kb/s
Max Upload rate: 52.34 kb/s

Avg Connections: 5.48
Peak Connections: 78

I'll try the high ID in a day or so... for about a week.
Title: Re: Better downloads with lowID
Post by: jmcho@hotmail.com on October 07, 2006, 10:17:33 AM
Ok so here is the verdict.  

First sorry it took so long to respond.  But to make a long story short -- my aMule kept quitting after like the 3rd or 5th day...

In any case -- I've seen enough that I now say that your source plays a good deal into how fast you will be able to download.  If you pick a poor source -- no matter whether you have a highid or not -- you will not beat even a person who has a lowid.

In some cases -- I got 18:1 UL:DL ratio... In some cases I got 4.34:1 UL:DL ratio... It just depends on what you are trying to download -- its availability on your network, etc...

Those of you who may wonder how is it that your LowID can out perform your HighID -- I would say -- give it a week and see the stats for the same downloads using both type of IDs.  I think you will see the difference there... HighID does give better throughput -- but only  if the source allows for that throughput.  Sorry I don't have stats -- but with my aMule constantly quitting on me -- stats were lost.

Regards,
John