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performance-tuning.md

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Performance Tuning Guide

Quick Wins

  1. Use WireGuard (vs OpenVPN): 50-100% faster
  2. Enable Port Forwarding (if supported): 2-3x more peers
  3. Choose nearby servers: Lower latency, better speeds
  4. Increase Docker resources: 4GB+ RAM, 4+ CPUs recommended

VPN Protocol: WireGuard vs OpenVPN

WireGuard (Recommended)

  • Speed: 2-3x faster than OpenVPN
  • CPU Usage: 50-70% less CPU than OpenVPN
  • Latency: 20-40% lower ping
  • Modern Crypto: ChaCha20, faster on most hardware

Use WireGuard for: Mullvad, ProtonVPN, PIA, Surfshark

OpenVPN

  • Speed: Slower but more mature
  • Compatibility: Works everywhere
  • CPU Usage: Higher overhead

Use OpenVPN when: Provider doesn't support WireGuard, or compatibility needed

Docker Desktop Settings (macOS)

Optimize Docker Desktop for better performance:

  1. Open Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources

  2. Recommended Settings:

    • CPUs: 4-6 cores
    • Memory: 4-8 GB
    • Swap: 2 GB
    • Disk: 50 GB+

  3. Apply & Restart

Why It Matters

  • More CPUs = Better encryption performance
  • More RAM = More connections, better caching
  • More Disk = Prometheus metrics storage

qBittorrent Settings

Connection Settings

  1. Open qBittorrent → Settings → Connection

  2. Recommended:

    Global maximum connections: 500
Maximum per torrent: 100
Global maximum upload slots: 50
Maximum per torrent upload slots: 4

✅ Use UPnP/NAT-PMP: DISABLE (conflicts with port forwarding)
✅ Use different port on each startup: DISABLE

  3. With Port Forwarding:

    • Port will be auto-synced by gluetun-qbittorrent-port-manager
    • Don't manually change port

  4. Without Port Forwarding:

    • Increase max connections to compensate
    • Lower expectations for seeding

Speed Settings

  1. Settings → Speed

  2. Recommended:

    Global Download Limit: 0 (unlimited)
Global Upload Limit: 0 or set reasonable limit

Alternative Rate Limits:
- Use if you need bandwidth for other apps
- Set schedule for off-peak hours

BitTorrent Settings

  1. Settings → BitTorrent

  2. Recommended:

    ✅ Enable DHT
✅ Enable PeX
✅ Enable Local Peer Discovery
✅ Enable encryption: Require encryption (for privacy)
✅ Enable anonymous mode (for extra privacy)

Provider-Specific Tuning

Mullvad

Best Servers: Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland (low latency, high speed)

Optimal Settings:

VPN_TYPE=wireguard  # Much faster than OpenVPN
VPN_PORT_FORWARDING=on  # Enable on all servers
SERVER_COUNTRIES=Netherlands,Sweden

Expected Performance:

  • Download: 250-400 Mbps
  • Upload: 150-250 Mbps
  • Peers: 100-200+ with port forwarding

ProtonVPN

Best Servers: Plus servers (pm) in Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland

Optimal Settings:

VPN_TYPE=wireguard  # Faster than OpenVPN
VPN_PORT_FORWARDING=on
VPN_PORT_FORWARDING_PROVIDER=protonvpn  # REQUIRED
SERVER_COUNTRIES=Netherlands,Switzerland

Important: Use P2P-optimized servers for port forwarding

Expected Performance:

  • Download: 150-300 Mbps
  • Upload: 80-150 Mbps
  • Peers: 80-150+ with port forwarding

NordVPN (No Port Forwarding)

Best Servers: P2P-optimized servers in Netherlands, Canada, Spain

Optimal Settings:

VPN_TYPE=openvpn  # WireGuard support limited
VPN_PORT_FORWARDING=off  # Not supported
SERVER_COUNTRIES=Netherlands,Canada

Compensating for No Port Forwarding:

  1. Increase max connections in qBittorrent (500-1000)
  2. Use well-seeded torrents
  3. Be patient with peer discovery
  4. Consider switching to Mullvad/PIA if torrenting is priority

Expected Performance:

  • Download: 200-350 Mbps (but fewer peers)
  • Upload: 100-200 Mbps (but limited connectivity)
  • Peers: 30-60 (limited without port forwarding)

Troubleshooting Slow Speeds

1. Test VPN Speed

# Run benchmark
./scripts/benchmark-vpn.sh

# Check results
cat benchmark-results.json

2. Check VPN Connection

# Verify connected to VPN
docker exec gluetun wget -qO- https://api.ipify.org

# Check Gluetun logs
docker logs gluetun | tail -50

3. Try Different Server

# In .env, try different country
SERVER_COUNTRIES=Netherlands  # or Sweden, Switzerland, etc.

# Restart
docker compose restart gluetun

4. Switch to WireGuard

# In .env
VPN_TYPE=wireguard  # Change from openvpn

# Restart
docker compose down && docker compose up -d

5. Check Docker Resources

# Check Docker stats
docker stats

# If high CPU/memory, increase Docker resources (see above)

Advanced Optimizations

1. Reduce Monitoring Overhead

If monitoring (Prometheus/Grafana) is using too much resources:

# Reduce Prometheus retention
# In docker-compose.yml:
prometheus:
  command:
    - '--storage.tsdb.retention.time=7d'  # Reduce from 30d

2. Optimize Backup Schedule

# Run backups during off-peak hours
BACKUP_SCHEDULE_HOUR=3  # 3 AM

3. Test Different VPN Protocols

# WireGuard (faster)
VPN_TYPE=wireguard

# OpenVPN TCP (more stable, slower)
VPN_TYPE=openvpn
OPENVPN_PROTOCOL=tcp

# OpenVPN UDP (faster, less stable)
VPN_TYPE=openvpn
OPENVPN_PROTOCOL=udp

Expected Performance Ranges

With Port Forwarding + WireGuard (ProtonVPN Plus, PIA)

  • Download: 200-400 Mbps
  • Upload: 100-250 Mbps
  • Peers: 100-300+
  • Seeding: Excellent
  • Latency: 10-30ms

Without Port Forwarding (NordVPN, Surfshark)

  • Download: 150-300 Mbps (limited peers)
  • Upload: 80-150 Mbps (very limited)
  • Peers: 30-80
  • Seeding: Poor
  • Latency: 15-40ms

With Port Forwarding + OpenVPN

  • Download: 100-250 Mbps
  • Upload: 50-150 Mbps
  • Peers: 100-250+
  • Seeding: Good
  • Latency: 20-50ms

Monitoring Performance

Use Grafana dashboards (if monitoring enabled):

  1. VPN Dashboard: Connection status, uptime
  2. qBittorrent Dashboard: Download/upload speeds, peers
  3. System Dashboard: CPU, memory, network usage

Access: http://localhost:3000

Summary: Quick Optimization Checklist

  • Use WireGuard (not OpenVPN)
  • Enable port forwarding (if provider supports)
  • Choose nearby servers
  • Allocate 4GB+ RAM to Docker
  • Disable UPnP in qBittorrent
  • Enable encryption in qBittorrent
  • Increase max connections (500+)
  • Test with benchmark script
  • Monitor performance with Grafana

Need more help? Check Provider Comparison or Troubleshooting Guide