QoS - Which device do I configure for my external Plex server?

[Bat 'n' Ball]

Hello,

SHORT VERSION:
My Plex media server device is connected to my XR500 router via a 5GHz wireless extender.

How do I configure QoS on the XR500 to guarantee an upload bandwidth of 8Mbps for Plex? Do I ‘Set Device Bandwidth’ to 8Mbps for both the Wi-Fi extender and the Plex media server, or just one of the devices?

LONG VERSION:
I have a Plex media server running on a My Cloud PR2100 in my spare bedroom. It’s connected to my XR500 router via a Netgear EX6150v2 5GHz Wi-Fi extender and all works flawlessly! The exact configuration is:

WD My Cloud PR2100 <<->> NETGEAR GS308 Switch <<->> NETGEAR EX6150v2 Wi-Fi extender <<->> NETGEAR XR500 Router

The Wi-Fi extender and Switch are connected via 1Gbps ethernet.

In the XR500 Device Manager, the Wi-Fi extender shows as being connected to my 5GHz wireless network but the My Cloud PR2100 (and all other devices connected to the switch) show as being offline, even though they are not.

Anyway, as with the 'short version' above, do I ‘Set Device Bandwidth’ to 8Mbps for both the Wi-Fi extender and the Plex media server, or just one of the devices?

My connection speed is 60Mbps down / 15Mbps up. Any other info or screenshots I will gladly provide if needed.

Thank you.
 

[Netduma Alex]

That's a very good question. One of the problems with Bandwidth Allocation at the moment, and one we're going to be fixing, is that you can't specify a reserved amount of bandwidth for one device and share the rest among the others. If you disable "share excess", devices will be limited in how much bandwidth they can use. The current issue with the feature is that every new device added to the network divides the amount of bandwidth available to each device.

What you might want to do, in order to ensure bandwidth for your plex server, is to give the plex server 100% of the bandwidth allocation but with Share Excess turned on. This will mean the Plex server is given priority when it requires bandwidth.

As for how much allocation to give to the extender, i'm not actually sure. I'll have to ask the devs. Maybe for now set the repeater to 50% and the Plex server to 50%.

[Bat 'n' Ball]

Hi Netduma Alex,

Thanks for your reply. I will try your suggestions and have a fiddle.

It would be quite a complicated test to set up, though. I would need to start a full-throughput torrent upload or something at 15Mbps (my max upload bandwidth) and then start 2 x 4Mbps WAN streams, chuck my PlayStation 4 into the equation and shoot a few folk to ensure buffer bloat is okay and see how DumaOS handles it all.

On reflection, it might not really be an issue for me. Plex is not ping-sensitive like gaming is and the 8Mbps I quoted was for worst case scenario of two friends/family watching a 4Mbps stream over the internet at the same time (I only have two people who have access to my content).

In my experience Plex tends to manage bandwidth well. In the past, before I purchased my shiny new XR500, I have observed Plex uploading huge chunks of stream data and then waiting five or ten seconds before uploading another chunk, when bandwidth allows. Conversely, when bandwidth is tight, it will stream constantly instead but at a lower throughput, essentially achieving exactly the same bitrate over a congested connection.

I may just leave things as they are and see if friends/family moan about buffering!

It’s all good stuff to discuss, though. Thanks again 😀

[Netduma Fraser]

With share excess on and Anti-Bufferbloat eliminating local congestion I don't think you'll run into any issues

[Bat 'n' Ball]

Thanks, Netduma Fraser. That's good to know.