VPN - Slow VPN performance

Author

Slow VPN performance

Ed J

2006-02-25, 5:51 pm

Hi,

I am currently using two NetGear FVS318 VPN routers to connect my home with
my office. I'm accessing SMB-mapped drives at the office from my home, and
the performance is terrible. I have a broadband connection on both ends,
and normal internet performance is quite good, so I attribute the poor
performance to the slowness of the VPN.

The NetGear site states that the FVS318 router uses software encryption, and
can achieve a max throughput of 1.2 mbps for 3DES. Their FVS338 router
technical specs state that hardware encryption is used, and that it can
achieve VPN throughput of up to 60 mbps for 3DES. I don't know whether to
believe that number. It sounds too good for the money, and my broadband
connection is only a few megabits per second.

I have a few questions:

1. What is the likely source of the slow performance over the VPN? Is it
the software encryption in the FVS318?

2. Is there an economical (e.g., under $300) VPN router alternative with
good VPN encryption speed?

3. I am concerned about all the negative FVS338 router reviews that I see
on the web. Is it really that bad?

Thanks,

Ed

Simon

2006-02-26, 11:32 am

Ed J wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am currently using two NetGear FVS318 VPN routers to connect my home with
> my office. I'm accessing SMB-mapped drives at the office from my home, and
> the performance is terrible. I have a broadband connection on both ends,
> and normal internet performance is quite good, so I attribute the poor
> performance to the slowness of the VPN.
>
> The NetGear site states that the FVS318 router uses software encryption, and
> can achieve a max throughput of 1.2 mbps for 3DES. Their FVS338 router
> technical specs state that hardware encryption is used, and that it can
> achieve VPN throughput of up to 60 mbps for 3DES. I don't know whether to
> believe that number. It sounds too good for the money, and my broadband
> connection is only a few megabits per second.
>
> I have a few questions:
>
> 1. What is the likely source of the slow performance over the VPN? Is it
> the software encryption in the FVS318?
>
> 2. Is there an economical (e.g., under $300) VPN router alternative with
> good VPN encryption speed?
>
> 3. I am concerned about all the negative FVS338 router reviews that I see
> on the web. Is it really that bad?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ed
>
>
Hi Ed,
What are the ping response times across the tunnel, how do they compare
with the ping times across the internet between the 2 sites. Also bear
in mind it's the upstream speed of the broadband connection that will
limit the data throughput, not the downstream one, quite often this is a
lot less.
simon

Ed J

2006-02-27, 5:47 pm

Simon wrote:
> What are the ping response times across the tunnel, how do they compare
> with the ping times across the internet between the 2 sites. Also bear
> in mind it's the upstream speed of the broadband connection that will
> limit the data throughput, not the downstream one, quite often this is a
> lot less.

The average ping response across the internet is 34 ms, while the average
ping time within the VPN is 37 ms. Not too much difference there.

At one location, download speed is 4900 kbps, and upload is 660 kbps.
At the other location, download speed is 1300 kbps, and upload is 770 kbps.

I just ran file transfer tests through the VPN, and got about 700 kbps,
so I guess the upload speed is the big culprit, not the VPN performance.

Bummer. I was hoping for a one-time cost to improve performance, instead of
paying for a higher class of service.

Thanks,
Ed

"Simon" <simon@not-here.com> wrote in message
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> Ed J wrote:
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Mike Drechsler - SPAM PROTECTED EMAIL

2006-02-27, 5:47 pm

Ed J wrote:
> Simon wrote:
>
> The average ping response across the internet is 34 ms, while the average
> ping time within the VPN is 37 ms. Not too much difference there.
>
> At one location, download speed is 4900 kbps, and upload is 660 kbps.
> At the other location, download speed is 1300 kbps, and upload is 770 kbps.
>
> I just ran file transfer tests through the VPN, and got about 700 kbps,
> so I guess the upload speed is the big culprit, not the VPN performance.
>
> Bummer. I was hoping for a one-time cost to improve performance, instead of
> paying for a higher class of service.
>
> Thanks,
> Ed

I guess you realize now that when one connection is downloading the
other has to be uploading so the lowest common denominator of bandwidth
will always be the limiting factor. If you are downloading at 700kbps
through the VPN then congratulations. It's working as well as can be
expected. It's not that the performance is terrible, you simply are
experiencing the reality that LAN's typically operate at 100Mbit and
your "high speed" Internet link is more than 100 times slower at less
than 1Mbit effective speed. It may be 100 times faster than dialup but
it would need to get 100 times faster to match your LAN at the office.

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