I have a Cisco 4900M switch with traffic shaping setup on one end of the Metro Ethernet handoff, and a Dell server running RouterOS v4.13 on the other end. I've been trying to stream video files (encoded at 50Mbps), and soon realized that I need to configure traffic shaping on both ends as LANs on each side have a 1Gbps backbone. To make the long story short, streaming video stutters, and even though I can transfer files at ~250Mbps across the circuit, my video streaming rate stays right at around 37-45Mbps.

The Cisco side is configured, as it's a basically 3 lines of code. As our budget got tighter, I was recommended to purchase RouterOS as it supposedly handles traffic shaping as well ($45 is a steal - assuming it works with my setup).

I need help setting up the RouterOS side. I tried setting up pcq queues in many different ways, and adding them to the Queue trees. I also tried just a simple queue setup, but no luck. The video still stutters. Basically I need to make sure the excess packets are going to the queue and not being dropped.

Can someone provide a step-by-step instructions on how to set this up?

I think you should read this thread.

10G compatibility/performance with Mikrotik?

http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46773


You are not pushing 10G, but this thread talk about 100 Mbps performance as well.

This was very educational, however like you mentioned in your post I'm not pushing anything close to 10G (yet, lol). For now, I can transfer files at ~ 270Mbps. However when I try to play a video file from a shared drive on the other side, the video stutters. It doesn't always stutter, however majority of the time it does, and that's not acceptable for Quality Control work that we do. Based on my research, traffic shaping is what we need, and that requires setting up queues in RouterOS. That part is quite confusing, and a detailed step-by-step instructions for my particular problem would be appreciated.

Thank you.

My tests show that using a RB450G, i got bursts of packet drops even at 100 Mbps of trafic routed between two routers ports (400 Mbps total in/out trafic).

You will not solve your problem using trafic shaping. Trafic shaping help to share bandwith between different kind of trafics. It does not help for a single trafic.

The first thing you need is a router with hardware acceleration for routing (ASIC or FPGA or eventually a network processor). It will route without packet loss and without heavy jitter. This is wire speed routing.

Mikrotik is producing a network processor based router (RB1000 / RB1100). If not fast enough, you'll need to buy a Cisco or Juniper high end router.

You should ask a network guru at your location to test your router with an Ethernet tester. If your router is ok for your bandwith needs without packet loss, then you can eventually add trafic shaping, so that you can route different trafics with different priorities.

Generally, for video needs, the best is to use a dedicated network for storage. This is named a SAN (storage area network). Most of the time it is a fiber channel network, with a fiber channel switch, and fiber channel disks. It is very expensive, but it does work...

Sounds like your MetroE is hanging, is it burstable/ Could be IRQs on your dell as well.

Like I mentioned in my original post, I have no problems transfering files (FTP, SAMBA) over the circuit at speed going close to 250Mbps, but because of the way Metro Ethernet works, you need traffic shaping so when you have a GiG backbones on each end and a 300Mbps pipe in between them, it's easy to saturate the circuit and packets will get dropped. Most MEtro Ethernet carriers recommand traffic shaping, expecially at this speed, because it will queue up the rest of the packets beyond what you set it to be (in my case 300Mbps - 10% overhead = 270Mbps).

I have problems playing video files, regardless at which end they are at, as they stutter in the process. Some video files playout fine, and others don't. Some times I'll play 6-7 times in a row without any issues, but than I start seeing hickups. Bottom line, I need to make sure no packets are being dropped, but rather queued for later processing.

FYI, My DELL server is a Power Edge 1435 - DualCore AMD Opteron 2GHz with 2 GB of RAM. The CPU never goes above 11% CPU usage. I think I have plenty of firepower here.