feat(proto): Send NAT probes with off-path PATH_RESPONSE by flub · Pull Request #619 · n0-computer/noq

flub · 2026-04-28T15:34:51Z

Description

When we are NAT probing and we are sending a PATH_RESPONSE as a
client, we include a PATH_CHALLENGE. This ensures that if the peer got
through the firewall first that the client immediately gets through as
well and can open the path. Speeding up NAT traversal.

Breaking Changes

n/a

Notes & open questions

Closes #570.

Also fixes an oversight from before: we were still consuming CIDs for
off-path responses. For now we want to not do that.

Change checklist

Self-review.

When we are NAT probing and we are sending a PATH_RESPONSE as a client, we include a PATH_CHALLENGE. This ensures that if the peer got through the firewall first that the client immediately gets through as well and can open the path. Speeding up NAT traversal.

github-actions · 2026-04-28T15:37:46Z

Documentation for this PR has been generated and is available at: https://n0-computer.github.io/noq/pr/619/docs/noq/

Last updated: 2026-05-05T15:12:47Z

github-actions · 2026-04-28T15:45:57Z

Performance Comparison Report

7cfc0018e775207437c71994fa78917968acc949 - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5741.9 Mbps	7834.1 Mbps	-26.7%	97.5% / 99.0%
medium-concurrent	5502.3 Mbps	7875.2 Mbps	-30.1%	96.2% / 97.9%
medium-single	4095.4 Mbps	4635.4 Mbps	-11.6%	97.2% / 99.0%
small-concurrent	3853.6 Mbps	5235.0 Mbps	-26.4%	98.1% / 100.0%
small-single	3586.6 Mbps	4724.4 Mbps	-24.1%	96.3% / 98.4%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	3188.8 Mbps	4036.8 Mbps	-21.0%
lan	782.4 Mbps	810.3 Mbps	-3.4%
lossy	69.9 Mbps	69.8 Mbps	~0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 23.8% slower on average

---

4d1c1d829f489884dab4678353e8c3fa4f42e5fc - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5940.6 Mbps	7825.6 Mbps	-24.1%	97.5% / 98.9%
medium-concurrent	5375.9 Mbps	7902.5 Mbps	-32.0%	96.3% / 97.9%
medium-single	3876.8 Mbps	4748.8 Mbps	-18.4%	96.8% / 98.7%
small-concurrent	3856.9 Mbps	5304.2 Mbps	-27.3%	96.7% / 99.3%
small-single	3561.1 Mbps	4826.7 Mbps	-26.2%	96.1% / 98.3%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	2929.7 Mbps	4065.1 Mbps	-27.9%
lan	782.4 Mbps	810.3 Mbps	-3.4%
lossy	69.8 Mbps	55.9 Mbps	+25.0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 25.7% slower on average

---

6ca0d9ba4ad9de2cf6fb037503792c18f8ce544f - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5654.8 Mbps	7841.8 Mbps	-27.9%	94.6% / 98.8%
medium-concurrent	5513.9 Mbps	7956.6 Mbps	-30.7%	94.7% / 100.0%
medium-single	4208.7 Mbps	4749.3 Mbps	-11.4%	97.0% / 150.0%
small-concurrent	3825.8 Mbps	5249.0 Mbps	-27.1%	100.1% / 155.0%
small-single	3579.6 Mbps	4805.3 Mbps	-25.5%	93.1% / 102.0%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	3002.9 Mbps	4132.0 Mbps	-27.3%
lan	782.4 Mbps	810.3 Mbps	-3.4%
lossy	69.8 Mbps	69.8 Mbps	~0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 25.1% slower on average

---

ce60db700b6e5dd087227b2e121ea07d5c5351b1 - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5865.0 Mbps	7918.0 Mbps	-25.9%	97.1% / 98.7%
medium-concurrent	5123.0 Mbps	7822.1 Mbps	-34.5%	96.4% / 98.0%
medium-single	4055.7 Mbps	4649.5 Mbps	-12.8%	96.2% / 98.6%
small-concurrent	3894.5 Mbps	5459.1 Mbps	-28.7%	97.8% / 99.8%
small-single	3654.5 Mbps	4775.6 Mbps	-23.5%	96.3% / 98.6%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	3095.2 Mbps	4091.2 Mbps	-24.3%
lan	782.4 Mbps	810.3 Mbps	-3.4%
lossy	69.8 Mbps	55.9 Mbps	+25.0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 25.4% slower on average

---

81f3e7a4adbebb91f76dad189c08f73316432588 - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5595.1 Mbps	7956.7 Mbps	-29.7%	96.9% / 98.6%
medium-concurrent	5446.3 Mbps	7666.2 Mbps	-29.0%	97.7% / 99.0%
medium-single	4191.1 Mbps	4469.5 Mbps	-6.2%	96.7% / 98.7%
small-concurrent	3880.1 Mbps	5106.8 Mbps	-24.0%	97.9% / 99.8%
small-single	3560.0 Mbps	4584.1 Mbps	-22.3%	95.8% / 98.0%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	N/A	4065.1 Mbps	N/A
lan	N/A	810.3 Mbps	N/A
lossy	N/A	69.9 Mbps	N/A
wan	N/A	83.8 Mbps	N/A

Summary

noq is 23.9% slower on average

---

ca3086d5fc19c286b74da1409245d5e0e75215b8 - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5666.1 Mbps	7909.0 Mbps	-28.4%	97.4% / 151.0%
medium-concurrent	5538.0 Mbps	7854.1 Mbps	-29.5%	97.1% / 149.0%
medium-single	3966.3 Mbps	4581.8 Mbps	-13.4%	91.9% / 101.0%
small-concurrent	3858.2 Mbps	5167.7 Mbps	-25.3%	94.3% / 102.0%
small-single	3507.5 Mbps	4850.3 Mbps	-27.7%	94.5% / 102.0%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	3088.3 Mbps	4016.4 Mbps	-23.1%
lan	782.4 Mbps	822.3 Mbps	-4.9%
lossy	69.8 Mbps	69.8 Mbps	~0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 24.9% slower on average

---

885364d9a16438f9a5057c7e059fa9f29ef3aaf2 - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5686.8 Mbps	7816.3 Mbps	-27.2%	93.6% / 99.0%
medium-concurrent	5553.7 Mbps	7832.4 Mbps	-29.1%	94.2% / 100.0%
medium-single	3924.9 Mbps	4749.2 Mbps	-17.4%	95.0% / 101.0%
small-concurrent	3919.2 Mbps	5281.3 Mbps	-25.8%	98.6% / 153.0%
small-single	3584.9 Mbps	4847.2 Mbps	-26.0%	92.0% / 102.0%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	3142.2 Mbps	4050.8 Mbps	-22.4%
lan	782.4 Mbps	810.3 Mbps	-3.5%
lossy	69.8 Mbps	55.9 Mbps	+25.0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 24.7% slower on average

---

4fd19674f23aff6daa0a555211282316fab33874 - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5896.9 Mbps	7937.4 Mbps	-25.7%	97.4% / 98.8%
medium-concurrent	5823.5 Mbps	7609.2 Mbps	-23.5%	96.2% / 97.9%
medium-single	3591.6 Mbps	4658.8 Mbps	-22.9%	96.1% / 98.6%
small-concurrent	3853.4 Mbps	5194.5 Mbps	-25.8%	97.4% / 99.7%
small-single	3525.6 Mbps	4752.3 Mbps	-25.8%	95.9% / 98.0%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	3058.6 Mbps	4037.1 Mbps	-24.2%
lan	782.4 Mbps	810.4 Mbps	-3.4%
lossy	69.9 Mbps	55.9 Mbps	+25.0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 24.1% slower on average

---

4a5a299c5a612a93d1c50136630aebe69389f5e8 - artifacts

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Scenario	noq	upstream	Delta	CPU (avg/max)
large-single	5956.9 Mbps	7893.4 Mbps	-24.5%	93.7% / 99.0%
medium-concurrent	5347.3 Mbps	7809.0 Mbps	-31.5%	93.3% / 100.0%
medium-single	3881.6 Mbps	4749.4 Mbps	-18.3%	94.3% / 102.0%
small-concurrent	3809.0 Mbps	5271.4 Mbps	-27.7%	99.4% / 154.0%
small-single	3603.5 Mbps	4732.5 Mbps	-23.9%	90.2% / 98.0%

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Condition	noq	upstream	Delta
ideal	3089.1 Mbps	4028.6 Mbps	-23.3%
lan	782.4 Mbps	810.4 Mbps	-3.4%
lossy	69.8 Mbps	69.8 Mbps	~0%
wan	83.8 Mbps	83.8 Mbps	~0%

Summary

noq is 24.9% slower on average

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-29T07:52:16Z

+        // off-path PATH_RESPONSE. No need to schedule any retries for this, if NAT
+        // traversal is taking place then this remote is already is being probed with
+        // retries, this only speeds up a successful traversal.
+        if self


can we test this?

I'm not entirely sure what you wanted tested. But I've added a test that I kind of wanted. It turned out better than I expected, so thanks for the prompt.

thanks, yeah that test is what I was thinking, just making sure there is a test that if I would delete your new code it would fail 😅

Co-authored-by: Philipp Krüger <philipp.krueger1@gmail.com>

flub requested review from dignifiedquire and matheus23 April 28, 2026 15:35

n0bot Bot added this to iroh Apr 28, 2026

github-project-automation Bot moved this to 🚑 Needs Triage in iroh Apr 28, 2026

matheus23 approved these changes Apr 29, 2026

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Comment thread noq-proto/src/connection/mod.rs Outdated

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 29, 2026

View reviewed changes

flub and others added 2 commits April 29, 2026 12:25

typo

4d1c1d8

Co-authored-by: Philipp Krüger <philipp.krueger1@gmail.com>

Add a test, it's ok i guess, better than i though

6ca0d9b

flub requested a review from dignifiedquire April 29, 2026 15:03

flub moved this from 🚑 Needs Triage to 👀 In review in iroh Apr 29, 2026

flub added this to the iroh v1.0.0-rc.0 milestone Apr 29, 2026

matheus23 approved these changes Apr 29, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread noq-proto/src/tests/multipath.rs Outdated

flub and others added 6 commits April 30, 2026 10:13

typo

ce60db7

Co-authored-by: Philipp Krüger <philipp.krueger1@gmail.com>

Merge branch 'main' into flub/challenge-with-response

81f3e7a

Update the patch if one is already there

ca3086d

something simpler, i just need it to work

885364d

single line

4fd1967

what do i have to do?

4a5a299

flub added this pull request to the merge queue May 6, 2026

Merged via the queue into main with commit 058aaab May 6, 2026
38 of 39 checks passed

flub deleted the flub/challenge-with-response branch May 6, 2026 08:18

github-project-automation Bot moved this from 👀 In review to ✅ Done in iroh May 6, 2026

Conversation

flub commented Apr 28, 2026

Description

Breaking Changes

Notes & open questions

Change checklist

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Performance Comparison Report

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

Raw Benchmarks (localhost)

Netsim Benchmarks (network simulation)

Summary

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dignifiedquire Apr 29, 2026

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