Internet problem

A

avk

Senior Member
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Mar 1, 2007
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Hi

I have recently taken over the running of a network at a school. The current setup uses a Windows Server 2003 setup with Windows XP Professional on the pc's. There are about 100 pc's on the network in a domain. The network is connected to a router through one of the switches, and in turn to a 4096 ADSL line.

My problem is that the only security (excluding anti-virus) is the firewall on the router.

I need some software to monitor the internet usage on the network. Is it possible? Or must I install a computer as a proxy server? I am looking for the cheapest possible solution to the problem. The cap limit is disappearing very quickly, and I would like to know where the problem is. Even if I could only narrow down the IP address where the most downloads are happening it would help. Somewhere along the line 2.5GB got lost in 3 days. And I would like to know where it went.

Can anybody give me a possible solution? Maybe it is as simple as installing a program? If at all possible I would like to get some free software.

Cheerz!
 
what router do you have?

no-cost solution would be to put a PC on a hub with the router, install a packet sniffer and see who is doing what.

you could set up a old PC as a proxy server/gateway running SmoothWall. Even an old P1-166 with 128MB RAM will cope. The PC does however need two network cards.

a better title will give more replies... perhaps "Stop internet abuse at school"
 
I looking after a very similar setup.

I'm using a PC with PfSense as router. With the Squid add-on, I enabled the anonymous proxy. I can track any usage by IP address.
 
Do you have academic licensing from MS? If so look at ISA Server....
 
Conradl said:
Do you have academic licensing from MS? If so look at ISA Server....
Click to expand...

We do have the School Agreement in place. But I don't have even the foggiest clue on how to use ISA Server.
 
If you do go with ISA server, you'll need something to provide a easy interface to the logs. ISA Lyzer will do that for you. Not sure what it cost these days. Might even be free for schools.
 
avk said:
We do have the School Agreement in place. But I don't have even the foggiest clue on how to use ISA Server.
Click to expand...

Which school is it, is it in Joburg? Do you work for the school or a company supporting the school? If its the former, then PM me and I can assist you with setting it up....

Of course, if the school is one of those 60k a month schools then I'm going to charge you ;)
 
Conradl said:
Which school is it, is it in Joburg? Do you work for the school or a company supporting the school? If its the former, then PM me and I can assist you with setting it up....

Of course, if the school is one of those 60k a month schools then I'm going to charge you ;)
Click to expand...

Thanx for that! I am in the Eastern Cape, and I am the head of the IT department. Unfortunately when it gets to the tricky stuff like this, I'm not totally clued up. But I'm learning.

I actually think I've cracked it. Gonna give it a whirl for a week and see what happens.

Thanx for the offer, maybe I'll take you up on it! And "no", not one of those R60k a month schools! :-)

Cheerz!
 
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