Prioritizing the traffic of home network clients

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The previously used 'Class of service' parameter in registered clients and IntelliQoS settings has been replaced by 'Traffic priority'.

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 client.

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

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.

TIP: 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 clients connected to the Keenetic router's LAN, the default processing priority number is ➅ — Normal.
If priority is already specified in the service fields of data packets from a priority ➅ client, 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 client, go to the Client Lists page from 'My networks and Wi-Fi'. Click on the registered client entry, and under 'Basic settings', find the 'Traffic priority' setting. This setting is only available for registered clients.

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Data transmitted from a client with a lower priority number will be served first — before data from clients with a higher number (lower priority) setting.
If you want the traffic of a specific client not to interfere with other hosts, set this client to low priority ➆. In this case, the traffic of this client will be processed last.

NOTE: Important! The priority set for a client will apply to all types of traffic exchanged between the client and external networks.

If a client 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.

Приоритет в 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 a client with default priority ➅ if they were originally missing. If markers are present in traffic packets exchanged by clients 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.

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

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

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