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BGAN TCP Accelerator for Linux/SME ?

Offline fpausp

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BGAN TCP Accelerator for Linux/SME ?
« on: October 23, 2016, 09:42:18 AM »
A friend is working for an NGO and we spoke about to use SME for EMCOMM... They have BGAN Satellite Terminals in use. Inmarsat has a TCP Accelerator to optimize the Connection but only for Windows and MAC...


http://www.inmarsat.com/support/bgan-firmware/bgan-tcp-accelerator/


I would like to know if there is a possibility for TCP Acceleraton on SME-Server and how much work it would be ?


Viribus unitis

Offline mmccarn

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Re: BGAN TCP Accelerator for Linux/SME ?
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2016, 04:00:21 PM »
I found references online to version 1.0 of the accelerator that ran on RedHat Enterprise Server 3 (in 2007...) but since the page you link shows v1 of the mac software from Feb 2015 with a note that "version 2 is coming soon" (19 months later), I get the impression that pursuing this with inmarsat won't get you anywhere...

From digging through the v1 mac os archive, it looks like the software consists of a proxy server that runs on the local machine and a set of firewall rules to redirect traffic to the proxy.

At first I thought that simply enforcing proxying and caching at the SME server might help - but reading online this doesn't seem to be the case.  By default the cached objects are held back while the server checks with the original website to see if the cached content is still up to date - imposing the unbearable satellite latency even on cached objects. I was unable to find any succinct solution to this problem online.

I found some posts on Hughesnet webpages that imply that some satellite modems include a built-in proxy.  If yours does, you might get what you want if you configure a SME server to use the modem as the 'upstream proxy'.  There are some notes in the wiki about setting up an upstream proxy, but they were written for SME 7 - any items that involve creating template fragments should be reviewed carefully, as the affected functionality may have been incorporated into SME 8 or 9:
https://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Documentation:FAQ:Section01#Upstream_proxy_server_configuration

You might also be able to install the Inmarsat software on a windows box, then use the windows box as the 'upstream proxy' for your SME server...

Some of the solutions I found online indicate that a satellite proxy may need two pieces - one on each end of the satellite link.  It's unclear to me if this is used to alleviate the cache verification delays described above, or if its part of a separate, two-connection system (high-latency-high-speed satellite link for larger objects plus a low-latency-but-more-expensive link for control traffic such as web requests and cache verification).

If the Inmarsat software is part of a two-piece proxy (software on the windows box talking to a dedicated proxy server at Inmarsat), you may not be able to avoid using their software.

Offline fpausp

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Re: BGAN TCP Accelerator for Linux/SME ?
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2016, 05:41:55 PM »
Found an interesting Info about BGAN and Linux:


http://www.inmarsat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Inmarsat_Using_TCP_Accelerator_over_BGAN.pdf


Do you know something about the PEP Service ( “service PEP start | stop” )  ?


Viribus unitis


Offline mmccarn

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Re: BGAN TCP Accelerator for Linux/SME ?
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2016, 12:06:41 PM »
It looks to me as though 'PEP' is the name of the service for the BGAN accelerator itself.

That is, if you can find a linux installer for the accelerator, when you're done you'll need to use 'service pep start' to start it.