[request] Server Network Monitor Tool

[raduking]

Is there a tool available that can do the folowing:

having a server from which the internet connection is comming into the local network

installing it on the server gives you full control over the network:

- be able to restrict trafic for local IPs

- be able to monitor all traffic for local ips

- restrict ports for specific local IPs

preferably free

thank you :blush:

[raduking]

no one ?

[+BudMan MVC]

IPcop would seem to suite your description.. Or any of the other firewall/router/gateway type distros.. Clarkconnect, M0n0wall, smoothwall, devil-linux, etc.. etc.. All the examples I gave of these are FREE..

What kind of monitoring are you looking for? I know for sure that IPcop can be setup to give you bandwidth usage per IP on your local lan, even by port if you want.. Some examples of what you want would be helpful in pointing you in the right direction..

Also, any soho broadband router (~$50 US) could be used to restrict inbound ports to inside machines from the internet.. As to how much monitoring info they give? That would depend on the model..

If your looking to monitor and control traffic between machines on your local lan.. between themselves and NOT in and out of your network to the internet.. Your going to want to look to a managed switch, that at a min provides layer 3 if not layer 4 if your looking to create ACL "access control lists" between machines on your lan..

[raduking]

thanx alot

is there something similar for Windows Server 2003 ?

[+BudMan MVC]

2003 can act as a gateway device, right out of the box using RRAS "routing and remote access" http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003...as/default.mspx

But I would think - ISA server would be what your looking for I do believe;

Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 is the advanced stateful packet and application-layer inspection firewall, virtual private network (VPN), and Web cache solution..

But Dude it SURE ain't FREE.. nor even cheap.. For home use, I would HIGHLY suggest a main stream broadband router.. there are plenty to choose from (linksys, netgear, dlink, smc, microsoft, belkin, etc.).. I am quite sure there is one that would provide the features your looking for.. for a very reasonable price.. Or if you have some PC hardware you would like to dedicate/use.. one of the many FREE linux distros could provide you will more than you would ever need in serving/controlling/monitoring access in and out of your home network..

That said.. windows XP also provides a method of sharing out your public connection to other machines on your home network.. with ICS.. Again, some "details" of what your looking to do.. that is not already provided for in your OS would be helpful..

XP using ICS can restrict access in and out of your network, using the performance monitors - you can monitor traffic to and from specific machines..

I would suggest you familiarize yourself with the Features/Functionality your OS already provides.. before looking to some server class OS.. or 3rd party software? More likely than not.. you have the means to accomplish what your looking to do already..

I would be happy to help you figure how to do anything specific.. but you have not given any details of EXACTLY what your looking to do..

[raduking]

thank you for your answer and I will give you the details and my network config:

i have 1 win2k3 server comp with 2 network cards that shares the internet connection to 4 other computers with XP on them.

I want to be able to limit (from the server) a certain computers trafic for example not to be able to download with more than 5k/sec

and at the same time to be able to see the traffic it does on all ports and such...

I want to be able to set trafic limit for example to give one computer from the LAN the limit of for example 6GB download...

these are the main things I want to acheive...

[raduking]

can I contact you on MSN ?

[+BudMan MVC]

limiting traffic for machines on your network.. or bandwidth shaping I do not believe can be done right out of the box on 2k3, you would need the ISA server..

here is how it was done in the 2000 version ISA - should be simular in the 2004 version, etc.. too lazy to dig up the docs for you..

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...Q302875&sd=tech

ISA would also allow you to monitor where a user goes, etc.. and limiting what they can access, etc.. But like I said - it aint FREE ;) If you want to do this FREE.. then as I suggest many of the linux distros can do this right out of the box..

[raduking]

I got win2k3 from the MSDN subscription... I wonder if they ship ISA server... i'll check

[+BudMan MVC]

I know you can download ISA with a universal MSDN subscription - yeah thats great for testing it.. But that does not allow you to put it into production.. And it aint FREE dude..

I will remind you of what you said in your first post;

"preferably free"

Doing what you want in the windows world is not going to be anywhere close to free! ;) Does not matter what MSDN subscription you have - a MSDN subscription does ot buy you unlimited software use in a production setup. But I can give you like 3 linux distros off the top of my head -- all FREE that can quite easy do what you want.. Clarkconnect, IPcop, Smoothwall.. To be honest any distro can do what you want - but if you want simple, and ready to go out the box.. then these 3 distros I know for a fact will suite you needs.