Why is compression not recommended?

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A_Pickle
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Why is compression not recommended?

Post by A_Pickle » Fri Sep 11, 2020 8:31 pm

Hey all, per https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/w ... tedOptions (which was updated 5 weeks ago as of this post), the `--comp-lzo` and `--compression` directives are slated to be deprecated, with only the ominous message "Compression is not recommended and is a feature users should avoid using" adding further clarity. Is the `compress` directive still supported?

As an intermediate user and administrator, can I ask why compression is not recommended? If I recall correctly, `--comp-lzo` used to be in the sample server config files, and my immediate thought is that compression probably IS pretty useful as far as minimizing traffic sent down the line and maximizing bandwidth. It generally seems like a trading CPU time for network performance is worthwhile, so why am I wrong here?

Just wondering about the design decision made by the OpenVPN team. Thanks all, I love the product. :)

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Pippin
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Re: Why is compression not recommended?

Post by Pippin » Sat Sep 12, 2020 5:49 am

I gloomily came to the ironic conclusion that if you take a highly intelligent person and give them the best possible, elite education, then you will most likely wind up with an academic who is completely impervious to reality.
Halton Arp

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