Subject: Re: bandwidth regulator using Linux
From: nathan r. hruby (nhruby@arches.uga.edu)
Date: Thu Jan 31 2002 - 11:33:34 MST
On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Mr Bear wrote:
> My friend has a baby (small) wireless network based on 802.11b.
> One of the users on the network has taken to hogging the
> entire bandwidth out to the internet.
>
> Is there a way to take a Linux box and put it between the
> network and the internet and limit bandwidth to specific IP addresses ?
> If so, what Linux application is required to do this ?
>
Yes. Recent linux kernels incude support for traffic shaping, which is
what you want, it will also have to serve as a gateway / IP MASQ router.
Use Google to look for the HOWTO's and relevent documentation
This should get you started:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Traffic+Shaping+Linux
I might add, that a better way to solve the problem is to talk to the
offending users and ask them to ease up on the network usage -- perhaps
explaining how WiFi works and that it is a shared bandwidth technology. If
that serious a problem and the user is unresponsive to your requests or is
unwilling to be a polite network neighbor, change the WAP key and don't
give then the new onem perhaps even for a day and take some stats on how
the network improved and show them to the offending user.
This is a human/user based problem, and the only way to *really* fix it is
to deal with the user, not the problem, which is really just a symptom.
You'll probaly find that the user is unaware that he/she is using as much
bandwidth as they think, or something else (MS-based worm, cracked
computer on the offending users 'net, etc..) is causing the bandwidth
usage.
Also, your Access Point might also allow you to restrict traffic to
certian ports or restrict access to specfic times of day (my linksys
WAP/cable router will do both). Thus removing another machine on your
netowrk to possibly cause problems later on down the line.
-n
-- ...... nathan hruby - nhruby@arches.uga.edu computer support specialist department of drama and theatre http://www.drama.uga.edu/ ......
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