SOLVED Plex client via high latency satellite connection

[ver151set]

Server is on a 1 Gbps connection and all clients run fine except one. My parents have a vacation property in the sticks with hughesnet. Speedtest there usually comes in around 20 Mbps and netflix/prime will play HD just fine. For some reason Plex refuses to play, movies will play about 30 seconds then fail over this connection, even when quality is set as low 0.2 Mbps.

I asked about this via plex support and they said I likely would need to adjust TCP due to high latency of hughesnet connection - about 900 ms

Anyone have any experience streaming plex over a high latency connection, or a solution? TIA

 

[sretalla]

This article provides some hints... http://www.kehlet.cx/articles/99.html

I haven't yet worked out exactly what to change on TrueNAS or in the jail, but I confirm I see the same issue with Plex when I travel to other continents.

EDIT:
I also found this... http://xgu.ru/wiki/TCP_tuning

Which seems to indicate changing these (right above the highwat settings for solaris mentioned in the other article):

kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=16777216
net.inet.tcp.rfc1323=1
net.inet.tcp.sendspace=1048576
net.inet.tcp.recvspace=1048576

I won't be in a position to check these for a while, so let me know if you try them how it goes.

Make sure to use tunables if you're expecting to survive a reboot (which that article says is necessary for it to work).

 

[Samuel Tai]

If both locations run OpenWRT on their routers, you could create a UDPspeeder tunnel between both sites, and then run OpenVPN inside that tunnel.

 

[ver151set]

This article provides some hints... http://www.kehlet.cx/articles/99.html

I haven't yet worked out exactly what to change on TrueNAS or in the jail, but I confirm I see the same issue with Plex when I travel to other continents.

EDIT:
I also found this... http://xgu.ru/wiki/TCP_tuning

Which seems to indicate changing these (right above the highwat settings for solaris mentioned in the other article):

kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=16777216
net.inet.tcp.rfc1323=1
net.inet.tcp.sendspace=1048576
net.inet.tcp.recvspace=1048576

I won't be in a position to check these for a while, so let me know if you try them how it goes.

Make sure to use tunables if you're expecting to survive a reboot (which that article says is necessary for it to work).

I will load up the tunables, should be back out there within a week or two to test, Ill let you know if it helps

 

[ver151set]

If both locations run OpenWRT on their routers, you could create a UDPspeeder tunnel between both sites, and then run OpenVPN inside that tunnel.

Sounds handy, unforunately plex server network is behind pfsense, remote network is behind merlin firmware on a asus ac3200

 

[Samuel Tai]

Also try changing the TCP congestion control algorithm:

TCP congestion control algorithm selection in TrueNAS Core/FreeNAS

Networking-minded TrueNAS Core/FreeNAS admins may need to change the TCP congestion control algorithm for their specific installations from the default TCP new Reno to achieve the best performance. (For reference, see http://intronetworks.cs.luc.edu/current/html/newtcps.html.) There are several...

www.truenas.com

In this case, try Cubic or H-TCP.

 

[ver151set]

Perfect, going to try cubic

Thanks for your help guys, if I get plex playing well out there my mom will be very happy

 

[ver151set]

Just an update, cubic and the tunables made plex playable over the satellite connection. Thanks again

 

[sretalla]

I would be interested to know if you tested each option separately or just both together... just to know if one of the two would be enough.

 

[ver151set]

I would be interested to know if you tested each option separately or just both together... just to know if one of the two would be enough.

Just tested them both together

Recently setup plex to route through cloudflare as well (with cache disabled on the plex subdomain so they dont ban me)
Might not help with performance but felt more secure with the reverse proxy/cloudflare setup rather than having a firewall port open for plex

Interestingly reading through their articles they recommend running cubic for maximum performance