• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Monitoring Software

X

-(Xyphox)-

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
6,518
One of my clients today asked me to look into getting some Monitoring software for their business.
The business is a Internet/Gaming Cafe with 20 LAN pc's with Wifi. The owner wants software that will map the network and show anyone using the wireless. Also wants to monitor bandwidth.
What are you guys using?
<Input here> :D
 
RoBo said:
What sort of hardware does he currently own?

Are all the computers connectived wirefree?

Have you considered a *nix router?

http://www.networkmagic.com/
Click to expand...

They are all custom built Gaming PC's with Linkysis Router/Switch. All the PC's are wired, but there is store wide Wireless which is cares about the most. Is people getting onto the wireless without paying
All the machines are Windows Xp, Also a Main Server, Server 2003, Also uses Deep Freeze, The server runs the Domain, and few gaming apps.
 
mogman42 said:
What are they running software-wise on their PC's?

This product looks interesting if they want to centrally manage and provide a unified interface/front end if they don't already.
http://www.smartlaunch.net/webpages/

A few monitoring tools that come to mind....

Look@LAN
http://www.lookatlan.com/

MRTG
http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/

Spiceworks
http://www.spiceworks.com/

Wireshark
http://www.wireshark.org/

OpManager
http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/opmanager/index.html
Click to expand...

Each PC has a standard image with every game know to man, Office, Internet apps, and few other standard Windows Programs.
They already use SmartLaunch, but i have never used the program. I dont know if that program to map, and monitor the network
 
So you need something like a logon page before you can access the network/interent?
 
Forgot to add, reason why i am looking at software,
I ran TheDude it mapped the network great, but it would not pick up the wireless clients.
Which is their main focus
 
RoBo said:
So you need something like a logon page before you can access the network/interent?
Click to expand...

They have a wep key, but they give it to people that pay to use inside the store, but if someone was to come in get the key one day, then sit outside the next and not pay
I am really open to any ideas, i have not had a lot of experience dealing with something like this, but i am sure there is some tip of software out there that will do what i am looking for. If they hit a logon every time, unless it uses a different password every time, the same problem would come up
 
This may be too simple for what your looking for but why not

1. Change the wep every day.


2. use mac filtering. So when someone pays to use the network you add their mac for how ever many hours they use. When they check out and pay up you remove them or just remove all at the end of the day and start from scratch tomorrow.


Its simple i know but sometimes simple solutions are best.
 
delemorte said:
This may be too simple for what your looking for but why not

1. Change the wep every day.


2. use mac filtering. So when someone pays to use the network you add their mac for how ever many hours they use. When they check out and pay up you remove them or just remove all at the end of the day and start from scratch tomorrow.


Its simple i know but sometimes simple solutions are best.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i am only consulting though, can someone with no Router knowledge do this easily. What i am looking for, simple easy Turn Key
 
-(Xyphox)- said:
Yeah, i am only consulting though, can someone with no Router knowledge do this easily. What i am looking for, simple easy Turn Key
Click to expand...

Changing a wep key is super simple and most routers/APs have the ability to set up mac filtering.. If you can use a GUI you can do that.. if you cant use the GUI on a commercial AP ( Linksys, netgear etc) then you should not be running a interent cafe... Its very simpe..

If you can tell me what AP they use i am sure i could find you instructions on the web.
 
-(Xyphox)- said:
Yeah, i am only consulting though, can someone with no Router knowledge do this easily. What i am looking for, simple easy Turn Key
Click to expand...


Yes, it's very simple.

All you would need to do is change the WEP daily. :)
 
Captive portal with password for the day, or each user. Depends on if your AP's support it. Or you may be able to do the same thing you would just need to segregate your wireless network, and put that network behind a captive protal.
 
moetop said:
Captive portal with password for the day, or each user. Depends on if your AP's support it. Or you may be able to do the same thing you would just need to segregate your wireless network, and put that network behind a captive protal.
Click to expand...

M0n0wall has a captive portal, and is point & click simple. You may want to get a second wireless AP that is just for wireless clients and put them on a unique subnet as suggested above, however you will need to know some basic networking/routing to get things setup initially.

ha! just saw your sig:
MBA, CCNA,CCNP,CCIE, CCAI, MCT, MCSE, CNE, CNI, A+, Net+, Security+, SSCP
Click to expand...

You should have no problems. Setup M0n0wall or one of the dozens of free linux routers with a captive portal on a PC with 3 NICs, one for wan, one wired lan, one wireless.
 
archivalbackup said:
M0n0wall has a captive portal, and is point & click simple. You may want to get a second wireless AP that is just for wireless clients and put them on a unique subnet as suggested above, however you will need to know some basic networking/routing to get things setup initially.

ha! just saw your sig:

You should have no problems. Setup M0n0wall or one of the dozens of free linux routers with a captive portal on a PC with 3 NICs, one for wan, one wired lan, one wireless.
Click to expand...

I have thought of setting this up, but its not my choice, its up to the owner, which is very unpc/router friendly. He has very little knowledge of how to do things, and i cant be there every day showing him this and that. What he is looking for is basically software he can run with one click of a button scans for anyone trying to use his wireless. He has the mind set of not changing anything, but if it comes down to it, just might have to. I have talked with him about the wep, i am worried of him messing it up when he changes it daily. I really dont think anyone os bounching off his single, but you never know.
 
-(Xyphox)- said:
I have thought of setting this up, but its not my choice, its up to the owner, which is very unpc/router friendly. He has very little knowledge of how to do things, and i cant be there every day showing him this and that. What he is looking for is basically software he can run with one click of a button scans for anyone trying to use his wireless. He has the mind set of not changing anything, but if it comes down to it, just might have to. I have talked with him about the wep, i am worried of him messing it up when he changes it daily. I really dont think anyone os bounching off his single, but you never know.
Click to expand...

errr ... WEP as a security / access control? There are programs that script-kids can use to break a static WEP in around 2 minutes (less if you have a powerful server to offload on).

WPA2 enterprise is really the only secure wireless encryption ... for now. Anyway, my point is that WEP keys should not be your authentication mechanism.

One thing that I have been playing with lately are Meraki mesh APs. Google pumped a ton of money into them and they are literally single point & click simple. They will allow you to setup authorized users, bandwidth limits for different SSIDs (so you can have a private network that gets more bandwidth), and even the 'pro' version will completely automate billing for selling your wireless. Worth a look: http://meraki.com/

edit: and it has a great page showing everyone connected, how much bandwidth they have used, and signal strength. Also has views for 24 hours, and maybe past month.
 
archivalbackup said:
errr ... WEP as a security / access control? There are programs that script-kids can use to break a static WEP in around 2 minutes (less if you have a powerful server to offload on).

WPA2 enterprise is really the only secure wireless encryption ... for now. Anyway, my point is that WEP keys should not be your authentication mechanism.

One thing that I have been playing with lately are Meraki mesh APs. Google pumped a ton of money into them and they are literally single point & click simple. They will allow you to setup authorized users, bandwidth limits for different SSIDs (so you can have a private network that gets more bandwidth), and even the 'pro' version will completely automate billing for selling your wireless. Worth a look: http://meraki.com/

edit: and it has a great page showing everyone connected, how much bandwidth they have used, and signal strength. Also has views for 24 hours, and maybe past month.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, i have been really busy and also really sick this last week. I will take a look at it today and test it out
 
At work we use something called RoomLinx to manage wireless access. I don't have time to look it up now, but it requires you to pay, and get 1 day to a week's worth of access time. Once you're time is up, it cuts you off.

EDIT: I just looked it up. http://www.roomlinx.com/ is what we use. However as you'll discover, it's more for Hotels. We use it for all of our wireless net access, but I don't think we actually use it in our Hotels... (we own a bunch of stuff, a theme park, 2 stadiums, and 2 Hotels/Resorts among other stuff).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top