Adequate bandwidth is essential for successful cloud implementations. Everyone knows that. And large companies have the resources and tools to measure, sniff, tabulate, and even control bandwidth usage at the device level.

But what about SMBs? How can they measure their bandwidth usage, make sure they are buying the right amount, track down any bottlenecks or problems causing excess usage...

I started thinking about this a few months ago, when our home network (more devices than many SMBs have...) started bleeding bandwidth. Rogers was unable to determine the source of the escalated usage. They can only measure at the cable modem end, or the entire LAN usage. Nothing down to the MAC or IP address level. Turns out there were 2 large email messages sitting in my daughter's outlook outbox, that kept failing being sent, as they were too large. When a computer automatically tries to resend every 15 minutes, bandwidth usage can really rack up.

Since then, off and on, I have looked into tools to measure the internet traffic (upload and download) for the devices on our network.

To no avail.

I thought this would be relatively easy to do.

I tried using Networx - has to be loaded on each computer, and can only be monitored locally, so I can't see everyone's usage. Nor can I see the usage of non-computers (network printer, TV), and I can't separate out internet usage from network traffic.

I went upscale, and tried the trial version of PRTG Network Monitor. I am a computer engineer (ok, out of date, but still...), and I couldn't figure it out. Seems really powerful, lots of stuff, but can't do a simple measurement of internet usage. Ok, I bet it can do that, but I haven't a clue how to do so, their support couldn't answer my question on how to do it, and they don't have a manual. Then I tried Look@LAN. Still can't get the information.

All I want to do is sit at my laptop, and measure everyone's internet traffic. I want to figure out who, if anyone, has a leaky computer that is chewing up our bandwidth.

Any brilliant solutions anyone? For an easy to install, easy to use solution that will measure internet traffic by Mac address for all devices on a network? I am happy to test it out for you!

Cheryl

Have you looked at Wireshark? It's free.

Also there's an article here about a product called NetStat Live that claims to monitor traffic.

Thanks, Lynn. I checked these out - not sure if wireshark can do all of the monitoring from one computer, as it was too complicated for me to figure out.

NetStat Live looks good, but cannot measure from one central location, and cannot measure daily, only monthly.

Any other thoughts??

Thanks again,

I haven't used Wireshark, so can't tell you (my ISP gives me 30GB/month, much more than most).

I've written about a guy who teaches it tho, and many other things, using YouTube videos. The link to his vids is in the story.

www.itincanada.ca/index.php?cid=0&id=16218

Tony loves answering questions and doing new videos, so if you ask, he may do a vid to show you how to measure residential bandwidth.

Thanks, Dave - I read the article - very interesting. And I checked out his videos.

I will follow up on this.

Cheryl