In determining the best settings for ktorrent, would the settings chart found here: http://www.azureuswiki.com/index.php/Good_settings
be the best way to determine these things. Or is their a better way to work out the optimal settings for ktorrent?

Thanks!

that's a neat chart.

my completely nonscientific method for best settings for bittorrent is purely through trial and error. i prefer to use about half of my available bandwidth and use the other half for regular tasks (email, surfing, whatever...). if you're just uploading / downloading a few files here and there it's no big deal. if you're seeding a lot of files then settings and which client to use will become a factor. a guy in my LUG likes rtorrent. it's fast. i prefer ktorrent. it works well. what are you trying to do? give up the details and i bet one of the torrent gurus with speak up.

Right now, on the torrents I am downloading, they appear to upload faster than they are downloading. Maybe that is a good thing. I am basically new to this, you tell me?

But I was thinking it would be nice if the they would roar in faster, and then I could just let them seed until they go over 1. What I mean is, my share ratio while downloading these admittedly slower and older torrents that have fewer seeders, is like 1.3 to 1.6.

Maybe I am just too impatient???

I did see a more recently introduced torrent that downloaded fast with a share ratio of .69, which is now seeding. So, maybe everything is fine as it is....

Basically, I am running with the defaults that were already set when I installed ktorrent, except I did change the upload slots from 2 to 3 and I increased memory usage from low to medium, although I'm not sure if that changed anything at all. Ha!

quick question, do you have the proper ports opened, as listed in the settings? the answer is probably yes, but i have to ask. also, do you have a zero in your downloads setting or did you put in a value, if a value, what is it?

nevertheless, your downloads should generally be faster than your uploads, though this is not always true. to test this, pick a very popular torrent, like maybe fedora 7. you know, some torrent where there's a real lot of peers and seeds. your downloads should be maxing out. let us know what happens.

I have tested it on a more popular torrent and that seemed to come down pretty fast ending in a share ratio of .62 before seeding. Maybe I am just asking if my results are optimal for the slower torrents I am downloading or if anyone sees anything in my settings that would be a good to change...?

I have both a firewall and a router. I have all the proper ports opened in both, although I see there is something about 8080 under WebInterface. Should I set that up to be forwarded also?

My connection tests out at:
15,815 kbps download (kilobits/sec)
1,477 kbps upload (kilobits/sec)

My ktorrent settings are:
444 = DHT <--------------------------------------Forwarded 444 port
0 = Queue Manager
0 = Maximum Seeds
120 = Maximum connections per torrent
800 = Global connection limit
0 = Maximum Upload Rate
0 = Maximum Download Rate
6881 = Port <---------------------------------------Forwarded ports 6881 to 6969
4444 = UDP Tracker Port <--------------------Forwarded 4444 port
3 = Number of Upload Slots (default was set at 2)
0.00 = Maximum Share Ratio
enabled = Keep seeding after complete

One of the three torrents that are presently downloading, that was at 1.60 is now at 1.50 share ratio and has:
Leeches = 56(73)
Seeders = 5(11)
Average Up Speed = 23.8 KB/sec
Average Down Speed = 15.9 KB/sec
Downloaded = 5.59 Gig
Uploaded = 8.37 Gig
Size = 7.51 Gig

All my other torrents are of similar numbers, except for the one popular torrent that had seeders and leeches in the 1,000's.

Thanks for your thoughts -

I have tested it on a more popular torrent and that seemed to come down pretty fast ending in a share ratio of .62 before seeding.

mmmnnn... that's bizarre and something's wrong. i personally have never encountered such a problem but here's a guess or two.

1) something in your config is screwed up. but from what you've said, i don't know what. maybe a more experienced ktorrent user will speak up.

2) your isp is being a lame **** and slowing down bittorrent traffic. i personally only use encrypted traffic. this can be set in ktorrent preferences. have you tried this?

you seem to have the ports set up alright. tcp, udp and one for dht. i don't think you want the :8080.

Leeches = 56(73)
Seeders = 5(11)
Average Up Speed = 23.8 KB/sec
Average Down Speed = 15.9 KB/sec

again, that's screwy. your down speed should be blazing. are you a member of a LUG or something? are other geeks using the same ISP as u having similar problems with downloads? if not, then it's a config problem.

my $0.02.

I have both a firewall and a router.

do you mean an external router, like a linksys device? what are your speeds without this device? like if plug directly into your modem?

Thanks for your input eric235u! I really appreciate it. And it's nice to know that there really is something bizzare or wrong....and it's not just me wanting to play with all these new controls!

I am on ComCast. Everyone else that I know is on a different service.

I have never had the option of encryption before. I need to research it really to see what it is. I had been a bit worried maybe it slows things down so I left it alone. But I will now enable it and leave it that way.

Here is my custom port forwarding in my firewall: 5000:5016/udp 5020:5023/udp 2043/udp 6881:6889/tcp 6969/tcp 6881:6889/udp 6969/udp 7070/tcp 1720/tcp 30000:30010/tcp 2043/tcp 4444/udp 444/tcp 444/udp

My router is a D-Link 624 and sets between my modem and Computer, so yes, it is external and it has the same ports forwarded as my firewall. The D-Link Router has the ability to shove my computer into what they call a Demilitarized Zone....which, as I understand it, is the same as being connected directly to the ComCast Modem without the router in the way. I have observed no speed increase using this option.

I don't know what a LUG is, so, I am probably not a member of one.

Maybe it is my ISP? Is the encryption the only thing I need to do to get around some kind of load management they might have going?

And I suppose I should ask, if I am going to enable "Use Protocol Encryption", should I disable "Allow nonencrypted connections" also?

oh my god, information overload. i'll try to help...

And I suppose I should ask, if I am going to enable "Use Protocol Encryption", should I disable "Allow nonencrypted connections" also?

yes. go into settings => configure ktorrent => general, make sure 'use protocol encryption' has an X in the box and and 'allow unencrypted connections' has no X.

I am on ComCast. Everyone else that I know is on a different service.

comcast? i'm in boston and used to use comcast ( i use speakeasy now ). as far as i know, in most places they do not limit bittorrent traffic. so encryption may not matter, but i prefer to use it.

Here is my custom port forwarding in my firewall: 5000:5016/udp 5020:5023/udp 2043/udp 6881:6889/tcp 6969/tcp 6881:6889/udp 6969/udp 7070/tcp 1720/tcp 30000:30010/tcp 2043/tcp 4444/udp 444/tcp 444/udp

i'm a bit confused. that's a lot of open ports. if we are only talking about ktorrent, you don't need all that open. if i were you, i would close all those ports and then take a look at your ktorrent preferences. on the downloads section look at 'port' and 'udp tracker port'. then open only those ports in your linux firewall (i can tell u exactly how to do that for fedora, but i'm not sure what distro you're using) and forward those ports from your router to your pc. i suggest static internal ip addresses. also go to your ktorrent preferences 'general' and make sure 'use dht to get additional peers' has an X in it. also forward this from your router to your pc and open that port in your pc's firewall. your firewall / router **** should be straight now.

I don't know what a LUG is, so, I am probably not a member of one.

Linux User Group. i assume you're using linux. join a user group. if you don't know of one, join the one i belong to. blu.org. very, very, smart folks who are willing to help a thick skulled barbarian like myself. join the discuss mail list. mostly listen and learn. ask the occasional question. help another if u can. blah blah blah. but you should really find a local lug and join that.

if all of this fails we can always start from scratch. unistall ktorrent, delete any config files that may linger ( i don't know for sure what these are but we can find them damn it ), reinstall ktorrent.

hope my yapping is useful. :-)

All the other open ports are for other kinds of applications that require port forwarding to operate. I will close them in both the router and firewall. I just assumed ktorrent would only attempt to use it's own named dedicated ports.

As it is, for ktorrent I have dedicated: 6881:6889/tcp 6969/tcp 6881:6889/udp 6969/udp 4444/udp 444/tcp 444/udp

In ktorrent, that I can tell, the 6969 port isn't being used, but rather the 4444 port seems to have taken its place. 6969 is a leftover requirement of the bittorrent client I was using prior to moving to ktorrent. So, I will remove it also.

The linux I am running is Mandriva 2007 Spring.

Thanks for the info on linux user's groups! I think I will join one.

I just assumed ktorrent would only attempt to use it's own named dedicated ports.

you're right.

6881:6889/tcp 6969/tcp 6881:6889/udp 6969/udp 4444/udp 444/tcp 444/udp

this won't effect your slow downloads but there's no reason to have so many open ports. here's what i have.
6881 tcp
4444 udp
6881 udp and that's it!

i've seen some say not to have tcp and udp open on the same number but i have not had any problems doing so. but again, the ports are not really your problem.

The linux I am running is Mandriva 2007 Spring.

oh that's cool. i've always wanted to try out that distro. i'm not sure what package manager you have but it also couldn't hurt to make sure your version of ktorrent is the latest stable version.

i'm sorry we haven't fixed your problem. keep poking around, you'll figure it out. let us know if you get your download speeds working right.

I have never had trouble either with both udp and tcp of a port in use, but I have now altered mine to match yours....and it seems to be working just as well that way. Ha! I had thought that port 6881 was merely the first port in a series of 7 to 10 ports that bittorrent picks as it needs them, hence that is why I had forwarded them from 6881 to 6889.

I am running ktorrent 2.1.4.

I have been with Mandriva for about 5 years, every since their 8.0 version. I dumped Microsoft completely at that time because their OS **** me off once too many times. But, I have never really had time to get deep into linux....but I have picked up a tiny bit along the way. I just know it works great and makes me feel happy! -And finally, I have some control and it doesn't crash my hard drive and make me loose everything...and no viruses, etc., is pretty darn nice! (Mandriva uses rpms....so it is a Red Hat flavor.)

I tried a more active/recent torrent last night, and while it never topped 100 kb/sec, it still came in plenty fast and ended with with a share ratio of .24 before seeding. I can live with that. I'm just not sure why these other less popular files are going so slowly....but compared to the buggy client I was using before ktorrent, this is still a big step forward so I am happy!

Thanks for all your help!