Limiting server upload/download bandwidth on Linux VPS using WonderShaper

Note: Recently, someone asked the author how to limit the upload bandwidth of a server, so the author decided to share a script called WonderShaper that was frequently used before. In terms of principles, a more detailed explanation found online is that WonderShaper uses tc to define traffic adjustment commands and uses QoS to handle specific network interfaces. Outgoing traffic is placed in queues of different priorities to achieve the goal of limiting the outgoing traffic rate, while incoming traffic achieves the goal of rate limitation through packet loss. It is quite convenient to use, so those who have the need can learn more about it.

Usage#

Project Address: Click to visit

For installation, you can directly use the software package, but the versions are not very new, so here we will directly pull the latest source code from Github.

1. Install Dependencies

# Debian/Ubuntu system
apt install -y make git

# CentOS system
yum install make git -y

2. Install WonderShaper

git clone https://github.com/magnific0/wondershaper.git
cd wondershaper
make install

3. Set Speed Limit

# Usage command
USAGE: wondershaper [-hcs] [-a <adapter>] [-d <rate>] [-u <rate>]

OPTIONS:
   -h           Show this message
   -a <adapter> Set the adapter
   -d <rate>    Set maximum download rate (in Kbps) and/or
   -u <rate>    Set maximum upload rate (in Kbps)
   -p           Use presets in /etc/conf.d/wondershaper.conf
   -c           Clear the limits from adapter
   -s           Show the current status of adapter
   -v           Show the current version

First, check the network card:

# Here are three commands that can be used to check the network card, it is recommended to use the first one
ifconfig
ip addr
route

For example, if you want to limit the speed of the eth0 network card, use the following command:

# Limit upload bandwidth to 10M
wondershaper -a eth0 -u 10240
# Limit download bandwidth to 10M
wondershaper -a eth0 -d 10240
# Limit both upload and download to 10M
wondershaper -a eth0 -d 10240 -u 10240
# Clear the network card speed limit rules
wondershaper -c -a eth0

Then we can test the speed using the following command:

wget -O speedtest-cli https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sivel/speedtest-cli/master/speedtest.py
chmod +x speedtest-cli
./speedtest-cli

This is the speed test before limiting the speed:

Speed test after limiting upload/download to 10M:

Auto Start on Boot#

Generally, after setting the speed limit rules, if the server is restarted, the speed limit rules will be automatically invalidated. Therefore, here we need to make a slight configuration to make it take effect automatically on boot. Here are two methods.

1. Using rc.local
This is the simplest method for setting auto start, but Debian 9 and Ubuntu 17+ do not have the rc.local file, so those using these systems need to configure it first.

1. Add rc-local.service, the following is a complete command, copy and run it together
cat > /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=/etc/rc.local
ConditionPathExists=/etc/rc.local
 
[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start
TimeoutSec=0
StandardOutput=tty
RemainAfterExit=yes
SysVStartPriority=99
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

2. Create the rc-local file, the following is a complete command, copy and run it together
cat > /etc/rc.local <<EOF
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.    
EOF

3. Add permissions and set auto start on boot
chmod +x /etc/rc.local
systemctl start rc-local
systemctl enable rc-local

Finally, add the startup command to the rc.local file using the following command:

# CentOS 7 system
echo "wondershaper -a eth0 -d 10240 -u 10240" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local
chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.local

# CentOS 6, Debian, Ubuntu systems
echo "wondershaper -a eth0 -d 10240 -u 10240" >> /etc/rc.local
chmod +x /etc/rc.local

Modify the speed limit command accordingly.

2. Using Systemd
Since the configuration file for Systemd was provided during installation, it is convenient to use it. However, this method is only applicable to CentOS 7, Debian 8+, Ubuntu 16+, and so on.

Since the default configuration file called at startup is /etc/conf.d/wondershaper.conf, edit this file first:

nano /etc/conf.d/wondershaper.conf

It should look like this:

[wondershaper]
# Adapter
#
IFACE="eth0"

# Download rate in Kbps
#
DSPEED="10240"

# Upload rate in Kbps
#
USPEED="10240"

The parameters are the network card, download limit, and upload limit respectively. After making the modifications, use Ctrl+x and y to save and exit.

Then start and enable auto start on boot:

systemctl start wondershaper
systemctl enable wondershaper