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Server Setup - Pre-requisites

Disable hyperthreading on the BIOS/UEFI of your host system. Hyperthreaading is also known as Simultaneous Multi Threading (SMT) on AMD systems. Disabling this is very important for optimal performance of the XDP cpumap filtering and, in turn, throughput and latency.

  • Boot, pressing the appropriate key to enter the BIOS settings
  • For AMD systems, you will have to navigate the settings to find the "SMT Control" setting. Usually it is under something like Advanced -> AMD CBS -> CPU Common Options -> Thread Enablement -> SMT Control Once you find it, switch to "Disabled" or "Off"
  • For Intel systems, you will also have to navigate the settings to find the "hyperthrading" toggle option. On HP servers it's under System Configuration > BIOS/Platform Configuration (RBSU) > Processor Options > Intel (R) Hyperthreading Options.
  • Save changes and reboot

Install Ubuntu Server

We recommend Ubuntu Server because its kernel version tends to track closely with the mainline Linux releases. Our current documentation assumes Ubuntu Server. To run LibreQoS v1.4, Linux kernel 5.11 or greater is required, as 5.11 includes some important XDP patches. Ubuntu Server 22.04 uses kernel 5.13, which meets that requirement.

You can download Ubuntu Server 22.04 from https://ubuntu.com/download/server.

  1. Boot Ubuntu Server from USB.
  2. Follow the steps to install Ubuntu Server.
  3. If you use a Mellanox network card, the Ubuntu Server installer will ask you whether to install the mellanox/intel NIC drivers. Check the box to confirm. This extra driver is important.
  4. On the Networking settings step, it is recommended to assign a static IP address to the management NIC.
  5. Ensure SSH server is enabled so you can more easily log into the server later.
  6. You can use scp or sftp to access files from your LibreQoS server for easier file editing. Here's how to access via scp or sftp using an Ubuntu or Windows machine.

Choose Bridge Type

There are two options for the bridge to pass data through your two interfaces:

  • Bifrost XDP-Accelerated Bridge
  • Regular Linux Bridge

The Bifrost Bridge is recommended for Intel NICs with XDP support, such as the X520 and X710. The regular Linux bridge is recommended for Nvidea/Mellanox NICs such as the ConnectX-5 series (which have superior bridge performance), and VM setups using virtualized NICs. To use the Bifrost bridge, skip the regular Linux bridge section below, and be sure to enable Bifrost/XDP in lqos.conf a few sections below.

Adding a regular Linux bridge (if not using Bifrost XDP bridge)

From the Ubuntu VM, create a linux interface bridge - br0 - with the two shaping interfaces. Find your existing .yaml file in /etc/netplan/ with

cd /etc/netplan/
ls

Then edit the .yaml file there with

sudo nano XX-cloud-init.yaml

With XX corresponding to the name of the existing file.

Editing the .yaml file, we need to define the shaping interfaces (here, ens19 and ens20) and add the bridge with those two interfaces. Assuming your interfaces are ens18, ens19, and ens20, here is what your file might look like:

# This is the network config written by 'subiquity'
network:
  ethernets:
    ens18:
      addresses:
      - 10.0.0.12/24
      routes:
      - to: default
        via: 10.0.0.1
      nameservers:
        addresses:
        - 1.1.1.1
        - 8.8.8.8
        search: []
    ens19:
      dhcp4: no
    ens20:
      dhcp4: no
  version: 2
  bridges:
    br0:
      interfaces:
        - ens19
        - ens20

Make sure to replace 10.0.0.12/24 with your LibreQoS VM's address and subnet, and to replace the default gateway 10.0.0.1 with whatever your default gateway is.

Then run

sudo netplan apply

Install InfluxDB (Optional but Recommended)

InfluxDB allows you to track long-term stats beyond what lqos_node_manager can so far.

To install InfluxDB 2.x., follow the steps at https://portal.influxdata.com/downloads/.

For high throughput networks (5+ Gbps) you will likely want to install InfluxDB to a separate machine or VM from that of the LibreQoS server to avoid CPU load.

Restart your system that is running InfluxDB

sudo reboot

Check to ensure InfluxDB is running properly. This command should show "Active: active" with green dot.

sudo service influxdb status

Check that Web UI is running:

http://SERVER_IP_ADDRESS:8086

Create Bucket

  • Data > Buckets > Create Bucket

Call the bucket libreqos (all lowercase).
Have it store as many days of data as you prefer. 7 days is standard.<> Import Dashboard Boards > Create Dashboard > Import Dashboard Then upload the file influxDBdashboardTemplate.json to InfluxDB.

Generate an InfluxDB Token. It will be added to ispConfig.py in the following steps.

You may want to install a reverse proxy in front of the web interfaces for influx and lqos. Setting these up is outside the scope of this document, but some examples are [Caddy](https://caddyserver.com/), and Nginx [Proxy Manager](https://nginxproxymanager.com/)