How to obtain cleanest/fastest network path

[Xplaced]

I'm trying to establish as open and clear a path as I can from my home network to the 'net. The point behind it is to make sure the path from my gaming consoles to their online services is as open as possible, with as little security in the way as possible.

I'm not too concerned with security. So far I'm running wirelessly (I have to, unfortunately), and I have disabled SPI on the Firewall (since NAT is already in place).

I have also placed one of the consoles in the DMZ, so it should be as open as possible. I do see Type 2 when running the network setup, which should be fine (it's a PS3). Also when I run MW2 on my Xbox, it states the NAT type is Open, which I believe means there's nothing in the way of the game performance.

I'm wondering if there are any other tips or tricks for making sure my consoles have the clearest path possible to their services. I don't want to just blindly open ports, but as long as I open necessary ports on the unit that isn't in the DMZ, it should be open as well correct?

Any other settings anyone can think of? Just wanting to make sure there is as little in the way as possible between the consoles and their 'net services they connect to so I can minimize lag/problems.

Thanks.

 

[Nothinman]

Why would you disable SPI? I'm sure that'll end up breaking something eventually...

I think you're looking at the wrong things, the largest problem with regards to speed and latency will be wireless itself. Not anything security related.

 

[Xplaced]

I've read about SPI causing problems with consoles, and since it's basically an extra security layer on top of NAT, I figured I would just disable it. From what I understand it mostly protects against DOS attacks to the WAN port of the router. I don't think anyone will be DOS attacking my router, but who knows.

So far the connection seems noticeably snappier when loading web pages and stuff like that with the SPI disabled. I haven't seen any problems at all with it off so far. Maybe it's mental. 🙂

My mindset is to simply clear out anything that could get in the way of the connection between the consoles and their 'net destination.

The other part is putting one console in the DMZ and then forwarding ports to the other one. We have two PS3s and we play the same games behind the same router. 90% of the time it works fine, other times we have trouble joining the same games. I don't know why it would work sometimes and not others. The oddest thing is it seems to work best (lately anyway) when both consoles are just behind the router with no ports open and no DMZ setup. Doesn't seem like that would logically provide the best results.

 

[Nothinman]

SPI is for more than just security, it's why things like FTP work through NAT as well as they do. It's possible that your firewall lumps other shit in with the state engine though.

 

[imagoon]

In most cases, enabling uPNP makes the console work best. Disabling SPI does nothing really when it comes to consoles. Wireless is your problem. Shaving a tenth of MS is pretty useless when wireless is typically in the 10's of MS and is widely variable.

And yes the "snappy" is mostly mental. The NAT open means NAT is translating ports back to the console, it has no effect on the "time to process."

 

[JackMDS]

All of this stuff from the Internet Modem to the computer is Totally BS based on Ignorance.

What counts in such situation is the contribution of each component to the variance.

Human Reaction time is about 200-400ms with SD of 50ms.

The Internet past the Modem typically goes through 6 to 12 hops that at best are 10ms per hop, with a total 80 - 120 at best and SD of 40ms.

So if one think that few MS between the modem and the screen (that are not even detected by the human biological sense4) makes any different, it is probably a gamer that looks for excuses.


😎