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Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Melancholie
Grafter
Posts: 451
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎23-07-2013

Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Just been looking at some Bitcoin traffic as catching up with transactions absolutely destroyed my connection and found the below in the DiffServ field:
Differentiated Services Field: 0x80 (DSCP 0x20: Class Selector 4; ECN: 0x00: Not-ECT (Not ECN-Capable Transport))
This would I guess put this traffic in the gold queue - is this where it should be or is it perhaps a bit high given the nature of this traffic?
10 REPLIES 10
Kelly
Hero
Posts: 5,497
Thanks: 380
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

What do you mean by "destroyed your connection"?
Kelly Dorset
Ex-Broadband Service Manager
Melancholie
Grafter
Posts: 451
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎23-07-2013

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

I'm a really long way away from the exchange and Bitcoin is a P2P protocol hence opens up quite a few TCP connections.
These connections drowned out other traffic due to being in the gold queue.
With the kind of speeds I have I am very reliant on the prioritisation you guys do.
Feel free to grab a dump of a Bitcoin flow from here. It doesn't make any attempt to obfuscate itself Smiley
MJN
Pro
Posts: 1,318
Thanks: 161
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-08-2010

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Bitcoin bandwitdth demands are relatively low. If your transactions caused issue with your connection you've almost certainly got problems beyond which traffic management are the appropriate fix. It'd be a game of whack-a-mole throttling them as something else will merely take its place.
If I were you I'd be looking at running some speed tests to quantify your issues then Plusnet can guide you through some diagnosis to see what, if anything, can be done to help.
Melancholie
Grafter
Posts: 451
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎23-07-2013

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Quote from: MJN
Bitcoin bandwitdth demands are relatively low.

Mmm not when you're on the initial run to catch up with transactions.
EDIT: I should clarify that the line does suck nonetheless, Plusnet are aware of this and, to their credit, have gone to ridiculous lengths to try and improve things but to no avail. FTTC arriving soon hopefully I just thought it strange that Bitcoin was in the gold queue.
Mattz0r
Rising Star
Posts: 620
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎21-07-2010

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Just leave it running overnight?
Melancholie
Grafter
Posts: 451
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎23-07-2013

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Ended up being over 4 nights Grin and it's done now.
This wasn't a complaint or anything, was just querying whether this should be changed to avoid complaints in the future. Someone who decides to use Bitcoin may not equate it with high bandwidth usage and might complain when their streaming starts to buffer as this carries the same priority.
I knew what was going on and dealt with it, some other people might not be so fortunate and may complain. Bitcoin is getting more mainstream now  Smiley
Kelly
Hero
Posts: 5,497
Thanks: 380
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

You reckon it's find to drop into Silver then?  It's an async process and can afford to take a back seat to web browsing?  (I'm not 100% sure what this process is actually doing Cheesy )
Kelly Dorset
Ex-Broadband Service Manager
Melancholie
Grafter
Posts: 451
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎23-07-2013

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Quote from: Kelly
You reckon it's find to drop into Silver then?  It's an async process and can afford to take a back seat to web browsing?  (I'm not 100% sure what this process is actually doing Cheesy )

Absolutely Kelly. It's not time sensitive stuff really, it's downloading of Bitcoin transaction records. It's basically a bulk download.
It should really take a back seat to interactive stuff like web browsing and especially streaming.
dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 12,257
Thanks: 306
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

We've got a signature for BitCoin so we should be able to move it. I'll have a look and see what I can do.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology
dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 12,257
Thanks: 306
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Bitcoin Traffic Classification

Subject to the change being approved this will be going into the next change in the traffic management database to put it in Silver, should be done Monday or Tuesday I'd expect.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology