Wireshark-users: [Wireshark-users] TCP behavior under strict CAR rate-limiting

From: Christopher Hunt <chunt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:10:17 -0700
Please excuse me if this is off-topic. I'm needing some expert TCP analysis and not sure where to turn. I'm experimenting with CAR rate-limiting using the Cisco IOS. I am using Iperf to test TCP throughput, PRTG to poll the Cisco interface traffic levels each second and Wireshark to capture the packets. This is a lab, so there are no public IPs in use. Using the rate-limit statement "rate-limit input 10000000 1875000 3750000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop" I see expected behavior, that is an average of 10mbps with bursts up to ~18mbps. Using the rate-limit statement "rate-limit input 10000000 1875000 3750000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop" I see an average of 0.02mbps (200 bits/second) with no bursting at all. I expected that the cause would be excessive drops by the Cisco interface causing the TCPs on either end to negotiate a low tcp_receive_window, but the packets don't bear that out. The window sizes are staying high. The cisco interface doesn't show many drops nor does it ever seem to receive the 10mbps rate, even for a second. I expect that even retransmits, duplicate ACKS etc. would increment packet counters on the Cisco.Any ideas what else could cause low throughput besides a low tcp_receive_window?
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Christopher Hunt