Advice needed: How to track employee internet usage.

So glad thats not my boss, I can't imagine a day without internet.
 
Conradl said:
I use Untangle at several customer sites and it is very good....
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+1 We use this at our Offices in Cape Town serving 150 users via it, blocking p2p, pretty good reporting and easy as hell to set up.

If you are more advanced, you can dig into it's posgre db and even get logs on actual connections they made, ie. ssh sessions, remote desktop sessions ect. Though no need for that because the reporting is pretty good by itself. Oh and it is free as logn as you dont integrate it into your Active Directory system.
 
pfsense and zeroshell is your best options if you need something easy.

You could also use squid with AD using this setup. This also shows how to set up access based on groups in AD.

This also looks promising.
 
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Smoothwall worked for me.

What I did was to disable all outgoing, and only enable web, ftp, vpn and the services which was needed the most.

Then I installed URL Filter to block pr0nz and other nasty sites. Dansguardian will also do the same, and is a better choice.

Then I installed SARG and can see who's not keeping within fair use guidelines.

There is also a feature (used with URL Filter) where you can block facebook (and others) during certain times of the day.

So you have a wide range of choices to choose from :D
 
DaBump said:
Good morning MyAdsl'ers! I need some advice! We are about 15 people in our office, and everybody connects to a wireless ADSL/router that provides an internet & lan connection. Unshaped office hours bandwidth is quite expensive, and every now and then somebody misuses their rights of having an internet connection at work. I'm looking for a a freeware application / solution to track usage, so that I can determine who the culprit is thats stealing our bandwidth. Any ideas? :confused:

Thanks, DaBump
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GFI Webmonitor .... Load it onto a server or windows work station. Assign Static IP addresses to all the PC's then you could see what sites and for how long people are on.
 
chrissy said:
So glad thats not my boss, I can't imagine a day without internet.
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+1000. Im looking at this guy, and think, geez, he must have difficulty finding employees. I mean who wants to work at a place where you are constantly monitored, your emails, internet etc?? This OP sounds paranoid. Just get uncapped and be gone with it. Happy employees are productive employees. And NO, I dont mean that ppl must sit on the internet / facebook etc all day, but God, if its my lunch hour, I am going to google, facebook or read the news.
 
Obelix said:
Only if you let someone bully you into believing that. You dont need anyone's consent or permission to monitor them while they are on your premises.
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lol, gotta love the ignorant people. ;)

I've been part of a couple of hearings regarding similar issues in the past. While they don't have to give you permission, you're not allowed to do it without them knowing about it.
 
Tbh, you don't even need to tell them, just add something like Untangle that block whatever people is abusing the bw with, and tada you don't have to struggle through a legal route.

Once P2P, and most social websites are blocked, you should see a difference. What will happen though, those employees that wasn't spending their time being productive, will just find something else to be unproductive with.
 
Get a proxy that can do monitoring,

Spend a bit of money and get Wingate 7 when it comes out (you can request the beta from them and it is really awesome) you will have to also get a log parser to go with it if you want detailed logs but the time line works quite well. money well worth spending.
 
Niccia said:
+1000. Im looking at this guy, and think, geez, he must have difficulty finding employees. I mean who wants to work at a place where you are constantly monitored, your emails, internet etc?? This OP sounds paranoid. Just get uncapped and be gone with it. Happy employees are productive employees. And NO, I dont mean that ppl must sit on the internet / facebook etc all day, but God, if its my lunch hour, I am going to google, facebook or read the news.
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Oh here we go....unfortunately staff do not have the self discipline to do ALL their social internet browsing DURING LUNCH. That is why internet abuse at the workplace is a world wide phenomenon and waste billions. But we as employers do not dare to block internet usage...then we are tyrants.
 
Roger.Wilco said:
I agree. A good sysadmin never bothers with monitoring and checking up what users are doing. Just block what you don't want them to access.
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True dat...Untangle or Spiceworks and problem solved. I say Facebook and Twitter at home on your own dime and time. At work you work. And lunch is spent in the cafeteria or wherever...NOT at the desk.
 
DaBump said:
Good morning MyAdsl'ers! I need some advice! We are about 15 people in our office, and everybody connects to a wireless ADSL/router that provides an internet & lan connection. Unshaped office hours bandwidth is quite expensive, and every now and then somebody misuses their rights of having an internet connection at work. I'm looking for a a freeware application / solution to track usage, so that I can determine who the culprit is thats stealing our bandwidth. Any ideas? :confused:

Thanks, DaBump
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Simplest solution: Use the windows hosts file to block youtube.com, facebook.com and whatever news/sport sites you can think of.
No software needed.
Here a 3 links that should be able to help you out:
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Hosts-File-in-Windows
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/44143-how-use-hosts-file-block-websites.html
http://allthingsmarked.com/2006/08/28/howto-block-websites-using-the-hosts-file/
 
ZeroAlpha said:
Simplest solution: Use the windows hosts file to block youtube.com, facebook.com and whatever news/sport sites you can think of.
No software needed.
Here a 3 links that should be able to help you out:
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Hosts-File-in-Windows
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/44143-how-use-hosts-file-block-websites.html
http://allthingsmarked.com/2006/08/28/howto-block-websites-using-the-hosts-file/
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That is probably the worst advice to give for this type of problem.
1. Are you going to run around to 15 computers and update a host file?
2. How many entries do you think that hosts will have before the employees stop using internet during office hours for non-work-related stuff?
3. How are you going to stop the employees who delete, edit or overwrite the host file?
4. How are you going to know that some of the employees actually bypassed your 'security'?
 
+1

That suggestion is just mental.

The only real solution is to install a proxy. (This will do blocking, reports, allow you see who's abusing the net etc)
 
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