How much bandwith pcs are using

Hello,

I am not really how to formulate my question; I mean, I have a network of around 50pcs (computer lab, classes, staff, etc.) having access to the internet... (through routers, bridges, etc.).

I care to know how much bandwith each pc is taking when students, staff, are online; I mean, i've been told that I can have a server and install a certain application that can do the job; any idea about that 'application'; can it work on windows XP or 2003 server?

Pls advise.

Thank you

 

I am not sure what you are asking.
Are you not concerned about bandwidth , or are you concerned that bandwidth be available for certain applications or all students ?
It of course depends what they are doing.
Browsing does not use much in sum yet bittorent does >
You can limit bandwidth with certain programs or a smoothwall linux firewall.
Routers as well with advanced functions can do this also.

 

How is your network designed? Is it a single point of connection to internet?
Many firewalls or routers have this sort of logs. What device is sharing internet?(the gateway)

But yes you can install Microsoft ISA server on a w2003 server to see live traffic and logs. But this is also a firewall, router, proxy, and vpn server
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/prodinfo/features.mspx

There is probably some freeware you can use to do just what you seek, but I don’t know any. But you probably have to install this on a computer with 2 nics placed between gateway, and network. So you will have to do some redesign on network. Don’t think it’s possible to just install a program on a random machine, and see all the traffic going out on internet. If that is possible I would like to know as well

 

Yes if its onley hubs. But he mentioned bridges and routers, so he probably got segments in his network. But putting a hub second-to-last exit point on network is very possible no matter how its designed. Remeber we did it in a cisco lab once, and it works great.

 

You can use web proxy, firewall, and router logs to analyse usage data. With the firewall and router options, the units have to be in line with the internet connection.

However, a proxy can be any unit on the network. Either browser settings or client software diverts all web traffic to the proxy. However, it is usual practice to also put the proxy server in line with the internet connection.

There are also specialist software packages that monitor usage via a client running on each PC.

ISA server is Microsoft's solution and can act as a Firewall and/or Web proxy.

It can be more difficult to set up firewalls and routers to log individual user usage as they often don't know about users. However, you can usually fairly easily log usage by IP address, which can be matched to individual computers.

 

I'm using NetLimiter Pro for my home network. Not sure how it holds up with a large network like yours. it records how much bandwidth is used on each PC on the network and you can also set limits to each PC or individual applications