Default unlimited bandwidth

[arranHarty123]

There is a risk that some node operators may not be aware of the default bandwidth setting, and this could impact network performance.

It feels like a better principle to allow a node to perform at 100% by default e.g unlimited bandwidth, and allow individuals to limit the bandwidth should they have issues e.g. limited residential connections.

[zhyatt]

As of V21 we plan to keep a bandwidth limit in place by default. If unlimited bandwidth was the default configuration, it would put additional risk of increased bandwidth costs on node operators who aren’t actively updating their bandwidth settings downward. By putting a lower bandwidth setting in place the potential throughput is lowered, and so we are trading off some throughput capabilities to reduce that risk of cost.

With V21 we anticipate throughput gains which open up capacity that, given the current adoption state of the network today, would only be used up in scenarios where spamming was the primary goal. The plan is to double the current bandwidth limit from 5MB/s to 10MB/s: #2787 . In addition, a burst threshold was added to allow for shorter-term increases in the limit, which can help reduce network dropping in certain periods where sustained high sustained rates aren’t present: #2645 .

These changes should provide a good level of throughput on the main network, far beyond what normal activity should be generating, while also providing some protection for nodes on certain providers from heavy bandwidth cost increases should sustained spam occur. We plan to continue monitoring throughput and limits going forward, and of course node operators can make adjustments themselves as needed in the configuration. We will keep this issue open and move to V22 for consideration next release.