Optimizing TCP slow start
The short version of the problem and solution I will describe is that while TCP gets up to speed
fairly fast, and "fast enough" for many uses, it doesn't accelerate
fast enough for short-lived connections such as web page requests. If I have 10Mbps connection
and the server has 10Mbps to spare, why doesn't a 17kB web page transfer at 10Mbps from
first to last byte? (that is, when excluding TCP handshake, HTTP request and server side
page rendering)
This is pretty Linux-focused, but I'll add pointers for other OSs if I see them.
Short version
This will get a bit basic for some people, so here's the short version. Make sure you measure
the effect of changing these settings. Don't just increase them and think "more is better".
On receiver side (requires kernel version 2.6.33 or newer (and a fairly new iproute package. iproute2-ss100519 works). Use your default route instead of "x.x.x.x"):
i...