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Report on Meshoween 2021 network test

Note - this report is written from a Southern California perspective. Depending on your location, as they say YMMV!

During the test the node count on the linked networks locally rose to around 1,090.  N2MH's N2MH-Hub saw 1428, most likely a record for an AREDN network.

Observations:

As we hoped, network storms never appeared from our West Coast point of view, and none have been reported to date.  Network traffic was not substantially higher than normal. Using KN6PLV's Mesh Monitor, messages per second were averaging about 600 before the test.  During the test it hovered closer to 700. Most of the increase in traffic was due to OLSR routing broadcasts, which each node has to handle.

As we expected, older devices struggled. Many wound up with a load significantly greater than 1 (which is a full load for a single-CPU device like these), indicating their CPUs were struggling to keep up with their pending processes.  Ssh'ing into a few of them and running top showed that with node counts around 1,000, loads of around 4-5 were seen.  

Things we didn't expect:

While the slower nodes struggled with displaying UI pages, they were usually still able to pass traffic.  But occasionally that older hardware bogged down so much that it couldn't.  Perhaps some effort should be made to prioritize traffic handling...

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Updated date: Sunday, October 31, 2021 - 15:17


Meshoween test results

We've wrapped up the Meshoween network abuse test  :-). 
If you participated and have any specific observations, please pass them along to me (orv.beach@gmail.com) and they'll be rolled them into the report on the test. 

tl;dr - it went pretty well - a few surprises.

Updated date: Saturday, October 30, 2021 - 20:55


Network Test Saturday, October 30th

As an AREDN network grows in size and/or complexity, it will eventually encounter a packet storm that would pretty much cripple its traffic-carrying capabilities until the storm fades out, which could be hours.  (The writers of the OLSR mobile routing protocol probably never envisioned it having to handle networks of the size amateurs are creating.)  This is significantly limiting the growth and performance of our networks.

Recently released nightly build 571 provides a substantial amount of resistance to these storms.  As a test of the network's robustness (or not) Saturday October 30th at 9 a.m. local we'll attempt to link as many AREDN networks together as possible.  

We did a 'test test' earlier in the week on the West Coast when the Southern California and Bay area networks were linked.  Node counts got up to a bit over 800 and few reports were received, so we're ready for Saturday!

Test preparation

Prior to Saturday's test, it's recommended that in order to protect your node(s) that you upgrade them to the latest nightly build (599 as of this writing).  This is especially important on nodes that pass data through (as opposed to being an end-point on a network).  

Also prior to Saturday, establish some baseline performance measurements on your network.  Suggestions are:

  • Quality of VOIP phone calls
  • iperf throughput...
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Updated date: Thursday, October 28, 2021 - 11:22


Meshoween is in a week!

Folks, next Saturday is Meshoween, where nasty packet storms strike terror into the most experienced ham network user :-)

Seriously, we'll be linking up big and small networks to see how our ham radio networks handle huge routing table broadcasts.

If you haven't yet updated your node(s) to nightly build 571 (or later), please seriously consider doing so.  It will  help your node fight off any scary packet storms!

Monitoring instructions will be promulgated a day or two prior to Meshoween.

Updated date: Saturday, October 23, 2021 - 17:31

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Announcements


Hurricane Season Approaches

It is US National Hurricane Preparedness Week! Are you prepared for this year’s hurricane season? Are you ready to assist others by providing high-speed communications when the commercial facilities are not available?

As a 2019 Call for Code Program Supporter, the AREDN team asks you to watch how Call for Code 2018 winner Project Owl piloted their mesh network solution to help communities in Puerto Rico https://ibm.co/2UUv1Ge 

We plan to host a discussion on deploying an AREDN mesh network in Puerto Rico during Hamvention in our booth #1001. Please join us and contribute your ideas.

There is another way to help in creating a cleaner, safer and healthier environment for the worst hit communities and a chance to win $200,000 USD. Enter the 2019 Call for Code challenge https://ibm.co/2DINsrC


AREDN Supports Call for Code 2019

Do you want to help improve disaster communications?
Do you want to use your AREDN network as a foundation for solutions to improve disaster relief efforts?
Do you develop computer applications and want to help improve disaster communications? AREDN asks you to make a difference with your code.  

AREDN is a 2019 Call for Code Program Supporter. Join Call for Code in building solutions to improve disaster relief efforts and a chance to win $200,000

This year's Call for Code program decided to add an emphasis on healthcare needs in the lead up to and aftermath of natural disasters. The program's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Daniel Krook writes "Specifically, we’re calling on developers to create solutions that address the following aspects of healthcare:

  • Food and water safety
  • Medical supply distribution
  • Tracking and halting disease epidemics
  • Access to medical health records
  • Mental health
  • Serving vulnerable populations

We based our healthcare...

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