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User Manual

Prioritising the traffic of home network devices

Since KeeneticOS 3.8, Keenetic routers' traffic queue management function is based on seven numbered prioritization levels in descending seniority order; a lower number corresponds to a higher priority.

The previously used 'Class of service' parameter in registered devices and IntelliQoS settings has been replaced by 'Traffic priority'.

Note

For information on installing KeeneticOS from the Developer channel, see the Installing a Dev build of KeeneticOS article. All questions about the Dev version are answered in the Keenetic Community developer forum.

Traffic processing priorities can be set either to specific categories of applications (see Traffic classification and IntelliQoS instructions) or individually to each registered home network device.

This article will look at handling traffic prioritization for Keenetic router LAN devices.

By default, the system prioritizes backhaul (inbound and outbound) traffic according to the Differentiated Services standard (DiffServ, DSCP) or 802.1p prioritization layer system.

Differentiated Services Code Point mapping (DSCP map)

802.1p Priority Code Point (802.1p PCP)

Priority of traffic processing in KeeneticOS

CS5, VA, EF

6

➀. Top

CS4, AF41, AF42, AF43

5

➁. Critical

CS3, AF31, AF32, AF33

4

➂. High

CS2, AF21, AF22, AF23

3

➃. Medium-high

AF12, AF13

2

➄. Medium

DF, CS0, BE

0

➅. Normal (Default)

CS1, AF11, LE

1

➆. Low

This means that a data packet coming in from the outside or addressed to the outside network from a local network, e.g. labelled CS2, will have a higher than average priority when processed by KeeneticOS.

Note

Traffic marked accordingly to DSCP CS6 mapping, or with an 802.1p code value of 7, has superior system priority — routing and control traffic — and is unconditionally processed first. Assignment of this prioritization level to user traffic is not available.

For traffic from all devices connected to the Keenetic router's LAN, the default processing priority number is Normal.

If priority is already specified in the service fields of data packets from a priority ➅ device, the traffic is processed according to the table above. The value of the markers remains unchanged during processing in this case.

To set the traffic priority to a specific device, go to the Device lists page from 'My networks and Wi-Fi'. Click on the registered device entry, and under 'Basic settings', find the 'Traffic priority' setting. This setting is only available for registered devices.

traffic-priority-01-en.png

Data transmitted from a device with a lower priority number will be served first — before data from devices with a higher number (lower priority) setting.

If you want the traffic of a specific device not to interfere with other hosts, set this device to low priority ➆. In this case, the traffic of this device will be processed last.

Important

The priority set for the device will apply to all types of traffic exchanged between the device and external networks.

If the device is assigned a priority other than ➅ — Normal (default) and the data packets do not contain the standard traffic prioritization markers or have markers that do not match the set priority (see table above), the markers will be added to the packet service field according to the table below, and those that do not match the set priority will be deleted.

Priority in KeeneticOS

DSCP mapping

802.1p value

➀. Top

EF

6

➁. Critical

AF41

5

➂. High

AF31

4

➃. Medium-high

AF21

3

➄. Medium

AF13

2

➅. Normal

BE

0

➆. Low

LE

1

Markers are only added to traffic packets exchanged by the device with default priority ➅ if they were originally missing. If markers are present in traffic packets exchanged by the device with default priority, they are processed as indicated above, according to those markers, and their value is not changed.

The set prioritization level is displayed in the list of registered devices in the 'Traffic priority' column.

traffic-priority-02-en.png

In our example, the smartphone has been set the highest priority ➀ so that it can occupy the bandwidth it needs for data transmission while 'crowding out' other devices, and its traffic is handled first.

Important

Prioritizing traffic is easiest to notice when using low access speed connections such as 3G and ADSL. There is usually no need for additional prioritization of devices on high-speed tariffs and leased line internet links.

Prioritization applies only to internet traffic.

Since version 3.8, KeeneticOS has implemented special in-system functions to ensure the transmission of prioritized traffic using NAT session accelerators, both at the core system level and in the Ethernet switch unit.

For devices with up to and including 128 MB of RAM (these are the lowest models), we recommend enabling zRAM.