Monitor Network usage per user??

Jonny Two Shoes

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Hi to all :)

I know this has been discussed before however I would like to try another solution if possible.

Is there an easy way to limit and/or accurately monitor exactly how much bandwidth each user uses. I.E how much of the cap each user is using up.

Our home network is a bit of a mess as we have some wireless connections, some going through a switch connected to the wireless router. Some plugged directly into the wireless router via cable.

Wireless router is however connected to the ADSL modem so all have internet access through internet gateway.

What software would make it easy to determine each user and their usage. We would preferably like to keep it to one account so bridged mode is not an option. Also with money being a bit tight any freeware is welcome.

At the mo we using costaware and SASA ADSL stats from here but the two are contradicting one another.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Ideally you could set up a proxy using IPcop or smoothwall on a dedicated machine.

Or you just make everyone have their own ADSL account and run the router in bridged mode.
 
Thanks Bwana. Any other suggestions also welcome. I could try IPcop but firstly have little experience setting a proxy server and also don't have Linux available.

Smoothwall appears to be a trial.
 
still be able to play hl2dm / css / bf2142 on a proxy server ? dont think so... proxy = cache, website logging = bad = builds up usage, so total_usage is also not acurate.

you can always load RouterOS onto a machine and have a Radius server doing the accounting for you. It will cost you, but it works beautifully....

It would be very nice for some 'guru's' to change some of the source code in the netgear dg834g adsl router, so on the connection statistics page, it will show your ip + usage, and not just pppoe + usage. if also possible, upload the log every hour to you via email, csv file, excel, voila.

i wonder if those opensource guys who did the cisco linksys routers have done something like that ? search around mate...
 
Also cant really afford to convert any of our machines to a dedicated server as they are all in use. ie smoothwall requires one to format a partition and install as though it were an OS, wtf :)

I cant believe its so hard to find software which does something so useful and potentially very common. lol

Anyway Im still searching although I have downloaded around 200meg of programs and all are completely useless :(

Is there nothing out there that will just monitor the gateway by using its ip address and simply log all traffic from the network through the gateway. As it is this would be so easy as we use dynamic ip's assigned by the linksys wireless router from 192.168.1.101 to 192.168.1.108. I know exactly which PC's use each IP so all I need to know is which ones use the gateway and how much. Simple concept but wondering if possible :( something that just monitors your internet gateway and logs all local IP's and usage on a daily/hourly/whatever basis
 
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OMW!!!

Found this program called MING Network monitor....this is exactly what Im looking for. Only thing is its not freeware :(

I would happily pay for something like this but alas I have no credit card facility or any ability to pay for something online.

However this app monitors every PC on the LAN, tells you their exact internet or lan or both usage. Hell it even tells you the websites they have visited....awesome program!!!

Now to search for something a little more simpler and freeware-ish.
 
I'm currently running a ClarkConnect box for routing / network shares. The web reports on it are only web, not internet usage, so P2P is not tallied.

does Smoothwall report TOTAL usage?
Ideally I could set 1GB limits per user/IP, and it would then activate throttling...
 
Proxy

Pitty you cant sneak a standalone server cos I believe sensornet is quite usefull and easy to set up.
Oh yes, I also think its free.
Cheers
G
 
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If sensornet does not require one to format your partition then I might give it a try. As it is we are using one of our PC's as a fileserver so no harm in loading a few other dedicated programs on it.

I will look into this sensornet. Thanks guys for your help, really appreciated :)
 
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