Comandante Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I am in urgent need of software that can be used to limit bandwidth to all computers on a local area network connected via a router. Preferably this software could be controlled from a single ('main') pc where I could set all necessary restrictions. I've been looking around but didn't find anything useful, if anyone has anything to suggest... feel free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Wont the router itself do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 Not that I could figure out. There is no option available. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 What type of router is it? make/model. Do you have another computer with 2 network cards? You can also get tiny linux firewall/gateway devices that are a bit bigger than ethernet plug + socket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 The router is Netgear WGR614 v4 (http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/wgr614v4.asp) and I didn't find any options to limit bandwidth or anything like that... but there are some options that I don't quite understand so if you think it has it then tell me where to look I do have another 3 computers, 2 are on wireless g and 2 are wired (including this one). How can I setup that tiny linux gateway of yours and how could I use it to monitor bandwidth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted April 8, 2007 Author Share Posted April 8, 2007 I still didnt' figure out anything, anyone got any other ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnF Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 You can only do what your after at the router in this scenario. The reason for this is that all the PC's are connected to the router independently in much the same way they are connected to the electric supply. To exercise control of bandwidth usage you need all routing to pass through at least one device that has the ability to provide you with the control. In your situation, assuming you want to keep the router, you will need to create a new gateway to the router. That gateway can then control access to the router. One method to achieve this would be to install a proxy server on your network. You would have to check that it could provide all the other functionality you needed first. The proxy server would be the gateway to the router. You may also need to configure your DHCP server to provide the correct gateway address to clients. This software for example... http://www.zensoftware.co.uk/wingate/ ...should do exactly what you need. You should be aware though that all traffic will pass through that machine the hosts this software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted April 8, 2007 Author Share Posted April 8, 2007 I see. Does that also mean that the gateway device would need to be turned on all the time? If that's the case then it's not feasible for me. Do you know any software that can be used to limit the bandwidth on each individual pc and also be protected by a password or something so that users can't change the limit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 I see. Does that also mean that the gateway device would need to be turned on all the time? If that's the case then it's not feasible for me. Yes, otherwise the other computers would not be able to access the internet. Do you know any software that can be used to limit the bandwidth on each individual pc and also be protected by a password or something so that users can't change the limit? I know of software that allows you to limit the bandwidth, but none which requires any kind of password-protection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnF Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 It would mean the gateway computer would have to be on for any Internet access. Have a look at this... http://www.softperfect.com/products/bandwidth/ ...it may be what you want. EDIT: Soryy, that won't do it either. You need something like NetNanny or the type of software that some schools use. I'll keep looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted April 8, 2007 Author Share Posted April 8, 2007 Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate. I've been looking for stuff for a while, I've used softperfect's bandwidth limiter but it's a bit buggy I think, even when it's closed it does something to the connection to slow it down, had to uninstall it as it wasn't that practical either. Good try from softperfect though. I'm looking into limiting bandwidth on each individual client, sounds like only reasonable solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnF Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 You say the gateway PC can't be on all the time. With Wingate it would have to be on for Internet access but it could be left just on the logon screen; nobody would have to log on as it runs as a service. As for client side software. Do the clients use file and printer sharing? If they do then any software has to be good enough to recognise traffic to the gateway as opposed to traffic on the LAN subnet or you may loose file and print sharing facilities once the limit is reached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 You say the gateway PC can't be on all the time. With Wingate it would have to be on for Internet access but it could be left just on the logon screen; nobody would have to log on as it runs as a service. I just realized that I could use another computer (unused) as gateway , the question is, how good would this machine have to be, in terms of hardware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Gateways can, generally speaking, be really really crappy. They don't do anything taxing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 500mhz with about 256MB of ram, would work fine. It's not as if it's got to run a graphical interface. We've got an ultra small computer now with similar spec running IPcop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnF Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I just realized that I could use another computer (unused) as gateway , the question is, how good would this machine have to be, in terms of hardware? System requirements for Wingate... http://www.zensoftware.co.uk/wingate/requirements.asp Like Klaynos says, you don't need much power to do it. It will need two network cards though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 Damn it, I just realized there isn't enough space in my room for an extra computer, and I also don't feel like increasing our electricity bill by an extra pc that will run 24/7 for the sole purpose of controlling bandwidth. I think I'll go with the idea of limiting speed on each individual client, the only thing is that I can't find suitable software. By all looks of it I might need to make something in vb myself.. unless there is something out there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnF Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Damn it, I just realized there isn't enough space in my room for an extra computer, and I also don't feel like increasing our electricity bill by an extra pc that will run 24/7 for the sole purpose of controlling bandwidth. I think I'll go with the idea of limiting speed on each individual client, the only thing is that I can't find suitable software. By all looks of it I might need to make something in vb myself.. unless there is something out there.. If this is for in your house then isn't there a PC that is always in use when others are? The PC I am using now is nearly always on if there is anybody else that might want to use it or another one in the house. If I were to use gateway software I'd put it on this one. It doesn't place a significant load on a powerful PC anyway. Worst case would be that if my son wanted to use another PC in the house he would have to switch mine on first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 Yes it's for my house, but the thing is, there are 4 members of the family who use 4 computers in the house heavily! There are 2 computers that are almost always turned on, my brother's and mine. However I don't think it'll be a good idea to set my pc as gateway because I've experienced huge load before I had a router as all internet traffic was going through my pc (I tend to play online games often and I noticed I had immense lag due to my pc sharing IC.), thus the reason why I bought the router in the first place My brother's pc is way too unreliable to be used as anything at all and I don't want to put the load on my pc again since I still play online. I also noticed a bit of lag when I play DVDs or movie files from my hdd and I linked this to the network activity since it disappeared after I installed a router. I had hub previously. Thanks for the suggestion though. I hope to figure something out before "unknown users" drain our bandwidth allocation yet again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
younglewis Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 What computer OS are your computers in lan? if they are Windows os, try LAN Spy Monitor, it can monitor all computer s on lan easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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