Saturday, December 22, 2007

Thunder/Xunlei FAQ

Q: Why my Xunlei’s speed unstable? From 100KBps can drop to 2KBps or flashing?

A: Remember that you are staying in Malaysia. Nothing is called as stable here. Reason for a such a sharp drop of speed suddenly is because you download a file, there will be always a slight pause between data transfers. So, because of zero data transfers, the speed will sudden drop significantly. Unlike other torrent clients that people claimed to be stable. This is because the creator set the download digit to increase and decrease slowly unlike Xunlei. I think this happened to all over Malaysia. Anyone can confirm this?

How to do an experiment on this?

Well, install BitComet or other similar torrent clients. Install Xunlei. Start BitComet. Then, you connect to any fast torrents that make you download at 40KBps~200KBps. Let it run for 2 minutes after reaching the desired speed. Now, unplug your Ethernet cable. See how slow the speed drops. Now, try the same process on Xunlei. Do the same experiment. After the experiment, can you tell me the difference?

Q: Why Xunlei doesn’t seem to work on private trackers but work on public trackers?

A: Most private trackers does not allow Internet Explorer nor other browsers to “read” the tracker data. Because of security purposes, most of the private trackers will not allow a browser to view it. Since Xunlei is using a fake http header. The private tracker will think that you are using a browser to view the data thus disallowing you to connect to the tracker.

How to do an experiment on this?

Install BitSpirit. Add a private tracker torrent. Click Extensions & Proxy. Go to User-Agent, define it as Internet Explorer 5.x. . Click Ok to continue. Start downloading. Look at the network log. Normally after 2~3 minutes, the tracker will return an error “Connection aborted, you cannot use a browser to connect a tracker” (something similar) You will get something like that and I cannot remember the exact sentence they use.

How do I know either I can access the tracker using a http header?
Connect the trackers using a browsers. You will see the difference yourself


Q: How do I seed a completed file?

A: Go to the downloaded section. Right click the torrent that you want to seed, choose 开始共享上传 in Chinese or Start Seeding in my Translation.

Q: How do I know how many MB I’d seeded for a file?

A: See the log below. Click on 基本信息 in Chinese or Basic Info in my Translation. The fifth option 本次上传 in Chinese or Uploaded in my Translation. That shows your current uploaded size. The sixth option 累计上传 in Chinese or Total Uploaded in my Translation. That shows how much you had been uploading for that file.

Q: What is the difference between Xunlei and BitSpirit/FlashGET since BitSpirit/FlashGET can fake http header?

A: BitSpirit/FlashGET connects to TRACKER using http header but did not connect other PEERS using http header! So, because BitSpirit/FlashGET did not connect to other peers using http header, you will also be victimised for the throttling. Xunlei connects to both TRACKER and PEERS using http header. Thus, the connection is not throttled.

Q: How do you resume a download from another client to Xunlei or otherwise?

A: About the resuming download on Thunder, I have zero idea how to do it since both clients is using different way to set a file. Switching clients between BitSpirit, UTorrent and BitComet is allowed because all these 3 clients is using the same way of keeping the incomplete file (perhaps more clients is using the same way)

Whereas Thunder aka Xunlei is using other way of keeping the incomplete file. Thus, there will be no solution for this as for current.

Q: How do I tweak the settings to download fast?

A: There are a few ways to reach…

  1. Do port forwarding if you are under router.
  2. Disable UPNP. (works with latest version)
  3. Set TCP to 80 or 8080 or 21 because no other browser is using other port.
  4. Set upload limit to 80% of your original upload. eg. 512 package should set 25KB
  5. Set your TCP half connection to more than 256.
  6. Download 1 file at a time.

Q: Does Xunlei connect to international peers/seeders? [A question asked by someone in LYN]

A: Of course it connects International Peers/Seeders.

If you wish to copy and paste any of my work all I ask is a link back here and credits. Feel free to do whatever you please after that.

Content and credits goes to http://blog.scuforum.net