NetLimiter (or similar!)

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ballistyx

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Topic # 30999 1-Mar-2009 00:07

There was a thread last month discussing bandwidth/usage control, and I find myself asking the same question. (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=18594)
I know the topic may have been broached 'once or twice' previously, but in essence, this is a request for help with NetLimiter!
I've got NetLimiter (Pro 2.0.10) but am having trouble getting it to access the other PC on the network. Both PCs in my test are running under Administrator privileges, network is usable and permissions seem OK, but it won't connect to the other machine. At the moment, my best option is to run NL independently on each, and total the usage manually.
Reason I am so keen to monitor the usage is that my satellite connection (WirelessNation) only updates the usage every 48 hours, and I don't want to go over my max and have to pay for the next 48 hours worth!
I know I have a couple of other options;
- run internet via a server machine and read usage from that BUT I've finally got my network architecture stable and connected and don't really want to have to work it all out again!
- use monitoring software that reads the modem or router itself BUT neither my modem nor router is SNMP capable which I understand to be necessary for this sort of software

Current network is modem > router > my PC, & other PC over wireless

I really like the concept of NetLimiter (plus, I've already forked out!) and in theory, it should do exactly what I need it to, but it's just a little frustrating for now. It doesn't lose the records with shutdowns etc, and it's good to actively monitor separate apps' bandwidth.

SamF & halfbaked, if you're watching, I know you both have at least a passing familiarity with NL, so I'm hoping you might have a suggestion for me.
It won't automatically recognise another PC on the network and even if I add one manually, it constantly tells me "Access is Denied". Where am I going wrong??

If I can sort this without having to redesign my network or spend even more money on upgrading a router or something (anybody know just how much it costs to get satellite??? Don't ask.) I'd be thrilled.
Cheers.

Regs

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Reply # 198578 1-Mar-2009 00:17

is there a firewall program running on the second pc? if so then try deactivating it and test again. You may need to open a port to allow it to work

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ballistyx

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Reply # 198579 1-Mar-2009 00:31

Thanks Regs.
I've added NL as an Exception to Windows FW - maybe I should also add the exe for the Service as well?
But yeah, I'll give it a go without firewall and take it from there. Then I'll have to hunt down what's being blocked lol!

Funny that the NL documentation never mentions this possibility (but maybe not, as docs are very limited and not quite in perfect English). Is there a way to determine what port the app would be using if I need to allow it?

SamF

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Reply # 198755 2-Mar-2009 13:09

Hey Ballistyx,

To be honest, I've never actually tried the remote client access feature, but I'll try my best to help you out!

Do you have the NL software running on both the main 'server' and the remote 'client' PCs?

Sam.

ballistyx

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Reply # 198847 2-Mar-2009 22:56

Thanks for getting in touch Sam :)

Update: Not sure

ballistyx

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Reply # 198848 2-Mar-2009 22:56

OK, keyboard doing weird things.

Thanks for getting in touch Sam :) Yep, app is installed on both PCs

Update: Not sure what I did differently, but it now works. May have been a restart thing after allowing firewall exceptions. Or maybe not . . .

One thing to be aware of if anyone will be using NL to monitor usage over multiple PCs - it DOES NOT total the traffic, but simply shows each computer's own usage. So I still have to add them to get an idea of what I'm using.
Apart from that, it's great at specifying exactly what app is using the bandwidth, and keeps running totals instead of only showing traffic since app was last started.

I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to keep an eye on things, but as pointed out in other threads, not perfect if you want to track a dodgy flatmate as it can still be stopped on the client machine.

One slight niggle for me - it only counts calendar months in the stats, and my ISP account runs from the 25th, so there's a bit of manual labour in figuring out exactly what I'm using. Still, after a couple of months I should have a fair idea of my usage and I won't find myself getting stung for overage :)

Thanks for coming!

Regs

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Reply # 198871 3-Mar-2009 01:51

ballistyx:

I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to keep an eye on things, but as pointed out in other threads, not perfect if you want to track a dodgy flatmate as it can still be stopped on the client machine.

I'm not familiar with the product, but can it be used with a network card in 'promiscuous mode' to sniff traffic off a hub or mirrored switch port?

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SamF

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Reply # 198942 3-Mar-2009 12:16

Glad you got it working!

Odd / disappointing that it doesn't add traffic for all clients tho... Still V3 is coming out 'soon' so maybe that will have that function. Meanwhile, you could drop the NL developer a line, he seems to be pretty friendly and open to ideas.

ballistyx

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Reply # 199010 3-Mar-2009 18:09

Regs, none of my research indicated that NL could work with a promiscuous NIC. I know that one of the apps I looked at did, but darned if I can remember which!

Sam, I may have been expecting a bit much for it to total the traffic, when essentially it is designed to throttle bandwidth rather than volume. However, it would be a more attractive app for people if it could control both :) I should make that suggestion.

Regs

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Reply # 199044 3-Mar-2009 20:34

ballistyx: Regs, none of my research indicated that NL could work with a promiscuous NIC. I know that one of the apps I looked at did, but darned if I can remember which!

there are a bunch of apps that do, but they are not all as user friendly as the NL product sounds.

e.g.
Microsoft Network Monitor
Ethereal
Wireshark

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SamF

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Reply # 199054 3-Mar-2009 21:01

Ballistyx, I've just taken another look at the NL website and noticed that it is capable of exporting stats to disk automatically. This may help you to collate the totals and also work with your '25th is the end of the month' problem. Excel is very flexible

Just a thought...

Also, on the 'network wide' monitoring front; I actually have a setup like this using a Linksys Router with DD-WRT installed on it which is feeding data to RFlow Collector which gives gateway based, per IP monitoring. However, this doesn't give you a per-application / port breakdown (at least not without exporting the data to a database first).

I've been looking out for a free/cheap program which handles network wide traffic monitoring better than this option for quite some time now, but so far haven't found anything suitable.

SamF

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Reply # 199056 3-Mar-2009 21:12

Hmm, maybe the export feature isn't that useful after all. I just tried it and it exports as a bunch of XML files, not anything particularly useful like a .CSV or anything... There are ways of dealing with data in this format (automatically or manually), but they're hardly ideal...

Sorry to get your hopes up : (

ballistyx

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Reply # 199074 3-Mar-2009 22:59

I can specify a particular period to show stats for, however. (Stats, Date, Other...) and set that from 25th-25th. Then a quick add-up in my head over the two nodes would help I guess :)

I'll keep hunting for something that will total traffic, but will hang on to NL anyway as it's nice to reassure myself that Skype (for example) isn't hogging my allowance. I heard some horror stories of Skype using up to 1GB/day piggybacking someone's broadband!

I've also suggested volume controls to NL's devs as surely people are more concerned about their limits than they are about not having enough bandwidth. Or is that just here in NZ where we still have caps??