bandwidth monitoring / control needed.

[scottatwittenberg]

i work at a small non-profit.

we need software or affordable hardware that can monitor the bandwidth that each computer is using and set limits for each computer, or pool of ip addresses or something..

we have a cisco layer 2 firewall, i guess that can't do it. the DHCP is being managed by a 2k3 server.. so this is proably where would have to install some software..

somethign that can be had for cheap from techsoup is a plus.

 

[MorfiusX]

Firewalls gnerally work at layer 3 and up.

Are you wanting to throttle bandwidth on the internal network, or throttle access to the internet?

 

[scottatwittenberg]

we need to throttle access to the internet

 

[MorfiusX]

You could implement QoS inside of the network, but that will only affect internal performance. You need a device that can prioritize outbound traffic. Many of the Linux firewall distros can do this in some fashion. IPCop has an Advanced QoS mod. I just use the prioritization fetures of Endian. A Cisco PIX does not have nay QoS features. I'm an not sure about the ASA line of firewalls. But either way, the only "cheap" solution I can think of would be to use a Linux firewall in addtion (in front of or behind) the Cisco firewall, or replace it completely.

 

[Teecee]

You could implement QoS inside of the network, but that will only affect internal performance. You need a device that can prioritize outbound traffic. Many of the Linux firewall distros can do this in some fashion. IPCop has an Advanced QoS mod. I just use the prioritization fetures of Endian. A Cisco PIX does not have nay QoS features. I'm an not sure about the ASA line of firewalls. But either way, the only "cheap" solution I can think of would be to use a Linux firewall in addtion (in front of or behind) the Cisco firewall, or replace it completely.

ASA does do QoS. Another option is to buy a packshaper box like a netenforcer or packetshaper. Google them.