Which connection type is best

Hi,

I’m wondering which connection type is best for speed?

HTTP, TCP, Server UDP, Direct TCP, or Direct UDP?

Thanks

Here’s the official recommendation:
https://simple-help.com/kb—whether-to-use-udp-or-http-when-registering-a-remote-access-service

I haven’t benchmarked HTTP vs UDP but in my experience UDP almost always works and seems snappy. In a few oddball cases that I never really dug into, I had to use HTTP.

The short answer is Direct UDP, followed by Direct TCP.

The long answer: A normal connection (TCP, HTTP, Server UDP) will relay your connection from your computer (where the technician app is installed) through your SimpleHelp server and then on to your client machine. That’s ok if your SH machine has the horse power and it’s only a couple connections. But if you use one of the “Direct” connections, your SH server will still initiate the connection, but then the connection will switch to a direct internet connection between your computer and the clients. This leaves the SH open to accept more work without using resources while also giving you the best connection peer to peer.

Thanks for the answers, is it possbile to set the default to Direct UDP? Everytime I connect to a machine, it automatically goes to TCP

UPDATE - I found where to change the default, under group properties, but even after updating that, the connections are always TCP

Some more interesting reading on the subject (not that it completely clarifies it):
https://simple-help.com/kb---how-do-i-enabled-direct-connections-to-improve-session-speed
https://simple-help.com/kb---troubleshooting-poor-performance-or-connection-drops-in-unstable-sessions

If you go to “Configure” on one of the machines in question, what is listed under SimpleHelp Servers section? HTTP, UDP, or HTTPS?

Once you are connected to a computer, pull up the connection settings for the session, there is a pin button next to the connection type.

To add some more info from the page:
https://simple-help.com/server-requirements

I just want to add a bit of context to the information everyone has contributed here that might not be clear, particularly to newcomers.

There are two cases where there is the option of using UDP or some other connection type - one is in the session and the other is when the remote access service is sharing with the server.

In the case of the remote access service, you can have it use HTTP, UDP, or HTTPS. In all cases the data sent to the server is securely encrypted so HTTPS is required only if the network requires it. UDP is more scalable than the other two so if you have enough control of the network to use it or you have a very large number of machines (many thousands, tens of thousands or more) then you will want to consider using it, but whichever you use you won’t generally see any performance difference as this is just how the remote access service is sharing things like monitoring data with the server.

In a session (I’m pretty much reiterating what people have said here but I’ll add it for completeness) you also have the option of choosing a connection type including UDP and this can affect how well the session runs for you. These are the options available in the panes above the chat panel on the right hand side. Broadly speaking:

  • HTTP is useful for restrictive networks that don’t allow TCP (e.g. everything has to go through a proxy)
  • UDP options are useful when the connection has very high latency or has some packet loss
  • Other than those two cases TCP will probably give the best results but you can also try them out and make your own judgement as sometimes network software can prevent specific options from working well
  • Using either UDP Direct or TCP Direct will mean data doesn’t go through your server and use up your bandwidth allowance on it (if this is a consideration for you)

thanks :slight_smile:

1 Like

@Anthony - well summarized, thank you.

1 Like