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 Post subject: More startup options please
PostPosted: Sun May 16, 2010 8:28 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 8:08 pm
Posts: 9
I installed NeoRouter today and I was quite impressed. Thank you for the nice software.

I intend to use it mainly for just network sharing between work and home. In that regard, I have some suggestions.

I run the NeoRouter server on my home computer, which is often switched off. I can do a Wake On WAN (not via NeoRouter though but that is not a problem). On the other hand, I'd like my laptop to connect remotely as soon as my home computer has woken up. The situation is usually such that when I boot my laptop:

(a) my home computer, i.e. the NeoRouter server is usually off -- just to save electricity and to save nature;

(b) however, I'd like to have NeoRouter client to start with Windows and check whether the server is online and if not, remain available.

I could in fact achieve that (i.e. NeoRouter client starts, checks whether the server is online and if it is online, it connects). But when the server is not online, the client window comes up and just lingers (while I do not need it). For now, I installed another software, called Hide-It, to hide the NeoRouter (unconnected) client window into the System Tray.

What I like is that as soon as I wake up my home computer, NeoRouter client connects automatically. What I do not like is the NeoRouter window lingering while I do not need it (because often I do not want to get anything from my home computer). Therefore, my suggestions for options (in addition to the already existing nice options):

(a) very important for me: add an option to always start NeoRouter client minimized in the System Tray;

(b) less important but could be useful: for cases when the server is not present immediately, add an option to set an interval (e.g. every 60 seconds) for NeoRouter client to look for the server (while remaining unobtrusively in the System Tray); if your polling interval is already something like that, then such option would not be necessary at all but I am a little afraid that if the present polling interval is very frequent, my home firewall could possibly consider that polling as some kind of attack...

(c) least important: maybe, if possible, use your own custom icon for the NeoRouter connection in the System Tray (presently NeoRouter uses the Windows Local Area Connection System Tray icon, but I already had that icon for my ethernet cable connection, and now there is two, which makes them a little difficult to distinguish -- while unconnected).


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 Post subject: Re: More startup options please
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2010 3:58 am 
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Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 6:41 am
Posts: 1878
Hi doomsville,

Thanks for your good suggestions.

a) we will evaluate it

b) it works in this way already

c) you can hide the network connection icon for NeoRouter virtual adapter
1) Open the "NeoRouter Connection Properties" from the Control Panel >> Network Connections
2) click on "Configure.." button
3) click on "Advacned" tab
4) choose "Media Status", change value to "Always Connected"
5) click on "Ok" to save it

Thanks,
KevinZ - NeoRouter team


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 Post subject: Re: More startup options please
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2010 9:08 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 8:08 pm
Posts: 9
Thanks for the reply! The icon tweak worked.

I decided to go for a DD-WRT (my main LAN router at home) + Tomato Neorouter mod (cascaded to the DD-WRT router). This way I can have the Neorouter connection itself always going regardless of whether my home computer (also connected to the DD-WRT Linksys) is turned on or not.

I got everything to work quite as expected. Due to certain circumstances I cannot avoid, the Neorouter connection has to go through Speedtouch 780WL <-> Linksys 1 (DD-WRT) <-> Linksys 2 (Tomato Neorouter). I am quite satisfied but I noticed that while other connections through this LAN route more or less retain their speed, Neorouter connection loses almost 50% (e.g. my usual FTP upload through the first two routers is ~75 kbytes/s while Neorouter's VPN upload is ~40 kbytes/s). Does this depend on the MTU (I noticed that Neorouter uses MTU 1300 while my home LAN default is 1500) or any other factors? Would it be plausible to increase Neorouter's MTU in such a situation? Is there any other option to increase the speed?

I cannot omit any hops in my LAN since I need Speedtouch to act as the cable modem and I need Linksys 1 to act as the main router (therefore I cannot connect my home computer directly to Linksys 2: both Linksys 2 and my home computer have to be connected to the LAN ports of Linksys 1).

EDIT: I am asking because Neorouter seemed to work faster (in e.g. just share browsing) when it was installed on the computer. Could the Linksys WRT54GL router (or the smallness of the 448 KB available for JFFS) make it slower? If yes, should I disable any services as Linksys 2 is dedicated to being a Neorouter server?


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 Post subject: Re: More startup options please
PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 5:18 am 
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Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 6:41 am
Posts: 1878
Hi doomsville,

It's normal that the speed is a little bit slower than without using VPN and the speed depends on the CPU speed of your box or computer.

If it's a P2P connection between your home computer and a remote computer (assume you ftp/upload files from home to the remote one), it does not affect the speed too much.

If it's a relayed connection, all traffic will be relayed through the server, the speed is affected by the CPU. A linksys router is much slower than a normal PC, so you can feel it is slower.

The speed is also affected by the speed of your Internet connection.

However, please do not change the MTU and it's not the bottleneck. In your case, I wonder if your computers can create a P2P connection, that would make it faster.

Thanks,
KevinZ - NeoRouter team


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 Post subject: Re: More startup options please
PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 7:29 am 
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Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 8:08 pm
Posts: 9
I think I am using a P2P connection since I did not make any domain at all: I am using the direct IP address:port for the server, and the port is forwarded correctly to the Linksys router.

What is the speed difference between using UDP and TCP? And if I use UPD for all connections, is it reliable enough for errorless transfer of (possibly large) files?


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 Post subject: Re: More startup options please
PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 8:21 am 
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Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 6:41 am
Posts: 1878
UDP P2P is the best option and it's the default option. TCP P2P is a little bit slower than UDP P2P. UDP P2P is reliable enough for FTP/tcp and you don't need to worry about it.

Thanks,
KevinZ - NeoRouter team


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 Post subject: Re: More startup options please
PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 6:49 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 8:08 pm
Posts: 9
Indeed you were right. The bottleneck was one of the bureau's other laptops downloading an enormous amount of torrents :) I just did not notice that before and suspected it may have to do with Neorouter (but it did not).

Thanks for the fast advice. Neorouter rules!


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