Gateway Mode Performance Troubleshooting

This document provides a troubleshooting guide for performance issues when using Surge Mac in gateway mode.

Common Issues

Please first rule out the following common issues:

  • Wireless Network

Please be sure to use a wired connection, as connecting the gateway device wirelessly will significantly impact performance.

  • MTU Settings

Do not configure Jumbo MTU. Although Surge fully supports Jumbo MTU, many devices may still have issues with Jumbo MTU. Please turn off Jumbo MTU at least during the troubleshooting phase.

Performance Troubleshooting Steps

  1. External Network Performance Test

First, you should test whether the external network speed meets expectations. Turn off Surge on the gateway device and run various speed test tools, such as SpeedTest and WiFiman. If the external network speed is below expectations, please troubleshoot the router, switch, and Ethernet cable, and contact your ISP for assistance.

  1. Internal Network Device Link Test

You should test the link speed between the internal network devices and the gateway device, using tools like iperf3. To avoid the complex interference of wireless networks, it is recommended to use wired devices for testing. The bidirectional speed should reach 900Mbps+ in a gigabit network.

  1. Gateway Device Performance Test

Turn on Surge on the gateway device, create a new blank configuration to avoid interference, and run various speed test tools again. The test results should be consistent with the results in Step 1. If the results are lower than expected, monitor the system's CPU usage during the test. Surge has excellent performance optimization and is unlikely to encounter device hardware performance bottlenecks on Mac devices produced within the last 5 years (in gigabit networks). If you confirm it is this issue, try reinstalling the operating system and testing again.

  1. Proxy Performance Test

If you are using an encrypted proxy, configure the proxy in Surge, use global proxy mode in combination with speed test tools, and perform speed tests again. The results of this step are limited by two factors: proxy server bandwidth and gateway device performance. Similarly, Surge has excellent performance optimization and is unlikely to encounter device hardware performance bottlenecks on Mac devices produced within the last 5 years (in gigabit networks). If you confirm it is this issue, try reinstalling the operating system and testing again.

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