How do I adjust network priority?

[duby2291]

I usually have an awe full lot of traffic coming in and out on my PC. No I am not doing anything illegal.. Between the terminal server, and the web site, there are times when the bandwdth is saturated to the point that web browsers and email clients and so on become unresponsive.

So I want to give firefox, and thunderbird priority over network bandwidth so that in those situations when the bandwidth is saturated I can still perform my usual desktop duties comfortably.

Any ideas how I might do this? Any suggestions?

[jmbsvicetto]

Hi.

You'll want to read about QoS. For your system go to your kernel tree, run make menuconfig, choose Networking --> Networking options --> QoS and fair queueing. A good source about this is http://www.lartc.org/ .
If you want to apply QoS to your Internet connection, you'll probably need to look at your router/firewall config.
_________________
Jorge.

Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh

[duby2291]

That site you linked to is way over my head. Do I just have to enable the QoS option in menuconfig, and then select the appropriate modules? Will it automatically then adjust priority?

[Naib]

lol cross-posting on different forum sites lol

iptables
_________________
#define HelloWorld int
#define Int main()
#define Return printf
#define Print return
#include <stdio>
HelloWorld Int {
Return("Hello, world!\n");
Print 0;

[duby2291]

[jmbsvicetto]

If your problem is caused by exhausting your Internet pipe, no solution on your local desktop will solve your problem - you'll need to configure the router.
That is, if I read you correctly and you have traffic generated from the outside. You can't control that traffic in your local box, you can only limit it on your router.
_________________
Jorge.

Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh

[duby2291]

I actually have both the web server and the terminal server installed on my desktop. Both of them exist solely for recreational use. It is not a production environment.

Because this is the only computer that is generating any real traffic, do I still need to build a linux router? I would think that a PC should be able to throttle the traffic it is generating without need from an outside source.

For me in my usage scenario that would make much more sense then to take the time and money of building a custom router.

[Hu]

You can have your desktop prioritize the traffic without needing an external router, assuming you have the appropriate QoS support in the kernel. The simplest way to address your problem would be to define filters for tc which direct your HTTP/SMTP/IMAP traffic into a class which has a large bandwidth allocation, and dump everything else into a class which has little guaranteed bandwidth, but a ceiling that will allow it to consume anything you are not otherwise using. Beware that if your master class allows too much traffic out too quickly, you will overload the pipe and the router will begin queuing packets, at which point you lose the ability to order traffic effectively.

LARTC is quite complex, but it is worth learning.