setup-ipsec-vpn

Advanced usage: Deploy Google BBR congestion control algorithm

Google BBR is a congestion control algorithm that could significantly increase server throughput and reduce latency.

Google BBR has been built into Linux kernel 4.9 and higher, but needs to be manually turned on.

To learn more about the Google BBR algorithm, see this official blog or this official repository.

Prepare

You can check the current Linux kernel version with the command uname -r. When the version is greater than or equal to 4.9, you can deploy BBR directly by referring to the instructions below.

Generally speaking, the kernel versions of Ubuntu 18.04+, Debian 10+, CentOS 8+ and RHEL 8+ are greater than 4.9. But for Amazon Linux 2, you need to update the kernel in the following ways before deploying Google BBR.

Amazon Linux 2

Amazon Linux 2 provides newer versions of the verified Linux kernel, which can be installed from the Extras repository.

Install kernel-ng from the Extras repository

sudo amazon-linux-extras install kernel-ng

Update packages
```
sudo yum update
```
Restart the system
```
sudo reboot
```
Check the Linux kernel version
```
uname -r
```

Deploy Google BBR

In this section, we will start Google BBR by modifying the configuration file.

Backup /etc/sysctl.conf

sudo cp /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.conf.backup

Modify /etc/sysctl.conf

sudo vim /etc/sysctl.conf

Add the following lines to the file

net.core.default_qdisc = fq
net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control = bbr

Enable Google BBR
First, check your server’s kernel version using uname -r.
For kernel versions >= 4.20, apply sysctl settings:
```
sudo sysctl -p
```
For kernel versions < 4.20, you must reboot the server:
```
sudo reboot
```

Check Google BBR status

sudo sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_available_congestion_control
# net.ipv4.tcp_available_congestion_control = reno cubic bbr
sudo sysctl -n net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control
# bbr
lsmod | grep bbr
# tcp_bbr  16384  0

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