Using TCP BBR with kernel-ml and Centos 7

nravis · 03-14-2018, 01:59 PM

TCP BBR is available from kernel 4.9 but CentOS 7.2 runs 3.10 kernel. I am not aware of when BBR will be available in a standard CentOS release but I have seen people suggesting using kernel-ml to enable BBR. I am wondering if there are any production nodes running in this way.
Any pointers would be helpful.

Emerson · 03-15-2018, 01:40 PM

Well, I do not have much to say, but since nobody replied ... my thoughts.
First, BBR was developed by Google if I recall correctly, to improve long distance connections. It won't do anything useful if your connections are a few hops.
Second, you could check out what kernel patches RH is applying to their kernel. Maybe you do not need any of those. If this is the case then you can get the latest vanilla kernel from kernel.org and live happily ever after.