Read/send buffer size

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andlju
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Joined: 2003-02-28 12:58
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Read/send buffer size

Post by andlju » 2003-05-02 04:42

Hi.. I've been trying to google around for some information about how to set buffer sizes when sending/receiving files etc over TCP. However, I only tend to find really complicated algorithms, but what I really need is a few guidelines.
  • I'm guessing the size should be somewhere in the interval 4k-64k or so, or am I way off?
  • Should I focus on setting the buffer so that it is optimized for file reading/writing or network sending/receiving?
  • Should I try to sync it with the MTU setting in some obscure way?
My testing so far seems to put me at a buffer around 16-32k, but I've only tested this over my own LAN - and I'm guessing those numbers might not be very accurate over the Internet.. :?

sandos
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Re: Read/send buffer size

Post by sandos » 2003-05-02 10:13

andlju wrote:Hi.. I've been trying to google around for some information about how to set buffer sizes when sending/receiving files etc over TCP. However, I only tend to find really complicated algorithms, but what I really need is a few guidelines.
  • I'm guessing the size should be somewhere in the interval 4k-64k or so, or am I way off?
  • Should I focus on setting the buffer so that it is optimized for file reading/writing or network sending/receiving?
  • Should I try to sync it with the MTU setting in some obscure way?
My testing so far seems to put me at a buffer around 16-32k, but I've only tested this over my own LAN - and I'm guessing those numbers might not be very accurate over the Internet.. :?
Higher latency = larger buffers in general. For 400ms-ish satellite connections with high bandwidth, 128k-512k is useful.

Nev
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Joined: 2003-01-03 13:29

Post by Nev » 2003-05-08 00:33

My experience is that it all boils down to the LANs in either end of the connection. If you are on a smooth network with lots of bandwidth then changing the packet size will of course reduce overhead. But on a larger, conjested, network; ethernet-frames will be corrupted, invalidating ip-packets, which makes TCP do alot of resending. Huge packet sizes can in this case decrease performance enourmously.
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andlju
Posts: 27
Joined: 2003-02-28 12:58
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Contact:

Post by andlju » 2003-05-08 02:35

Thank you for the answers! :D
So, the best way might be to give the user a choice of some predefined buffer sizes and let him/her find the one that fit the best?
16k
64k
256k
512k
?
What about drive read/write buffers? Should they simply be in sync with the network buffer, or are there other things to consider?

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