Question

Throughput between my local device and Digital Ocean droplet is low

Posted on December 15, 2023
DigitalOcean Droplets Networking
Asked by Raptcha

Hello,

I have spun up a shared-regular CPU type droplet that is hosted in the same city as me. I have a 1Gbps internet connection at home, a very capable firewall appliance and PC with 2.5GbE intel i226-V NICs. I get around 950 Mbps download and upload speed by doing a regular speedtest on my local device.

I have tested the network speed of the droplet itself using Speedtest-CLI and got pretty decent results (Download - 3800Mbps | Upload - 1800Mbps). However, when I host iperf3 server instance on my local machine and setup a client instance on my droplet (Basically testing download throughput), I only get about ~700Mbps. And reversing the setup for an upload throughput test, I get only about 350Mbps. . What could be the issue here? Is there something I can do about this? Is it a limitation with the droplet?

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Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• December 17, 2023

Hey there,

The difference in throughput between your local device and your DigitalOcean Droplet, despite both having high-speed internet capabilities, could be due to a variety of factors.

The path your data takes through the internet can significantly impact throughput, even if the server and client are in the same city.

Run MTR: mtr is a powerful tool that combines the functionality of traceroute and ping. It can help identify where packet loss or latency issues are occurring along the route.

To use mtr, run:
```
mtr -rw [Droplet IP]
```
This command provides a report on the network route from your local machine to your DigitalOcean droplet.
Analyze Route Changes: Pay attention to any nodes in the route that have high latency or packet loss, as these can be indicative of network congestion or suboptimal routing.

You can also try adjusting your testing methodology to get a better picture of the issue.

iPerf3 Adjustments: Experiment with different iPerf3 settings to optimize the test. For instance, increasing the number of parallel client threads can provide a better picture of maximum throughput.

To run iPerf3 in parallel mode, use:
```
iperf3 -c [Droplet IP] -P 10
```
This command initiates a test with 10 parallel threads.
Vary Test Conditions: Change the duration of the test, and if possible, test at different times of the day to account for potential peak times.

If the above steps don’t reveal any clear issues or solutions, reaching out to DigitalOcean’s support might be necessary. They can provide insights into any potential Droplet-specific limitations or network issues in their data centers.