Hello,
I am presented with a problem with my LAN configuration.
I've mentioned the problem with wi-fi networking in a previous thread.
Since that option was not available becoz of the cost of setup and administration was tremendous we here have decided to adopt a more conservative hard-wired method.
The thing is its a 2 Mb/s DSL line which is plugged into a hub and all the computers connect directly to a hub.
Most of the people here download torrents all the time which can cause the speed of browsing to be quite low at times.
What my question is that , is there any way to limit bandwidth for users so that a particular amount of bandwidth is always free at any particular moment.
We dont have a server. Also , it would be very hard to install software on each network user's computer. So is there any way to configure a hub so that it always allots only a particular amount of bandwidth to a particular user ??
Thanks guys for helping me time and again.
Regards
Drmac

I think that if you need to move to a switch for that, rather than a hub. the reason is that a switch is far more efficient at data transfer - a hub kindof sends all data everywhere and all pc's pick it up and ignore what is not thiers, whereas a switch employs packet sniffing to only send bandwidth where it is supposed to go.

http://www.networkclue.com/hardware/...s-vs-hubs.aspx

explains it well.

you want one with bandwidth monitoring. I could not recommend one, I do not know what your networking requirements are.

Yeah you need a router. Hubs are crap. Why a hub? thaught they died out in the nineties...

You can use a thing called QoS (quality of service)

Alternatively just change your it policy to not allow torrenting. If anyone gets caught, reprimand them. Thats what most businesses do.

I am guessing it is a varsity or similar. and a router is a switch that connects different networks together. they are all on the same network, so a straight switch should be fine. and BTW Wireless is cheaper to set up and implement (if you have a clue or two) IMHO

Technically thats a gateway or a bridge, although are technically right because by definition a router is these too

JB: I know, but for the purposes of it's all G.

(legal stuff I am adding to protect the DW community)

drmac: just so yoou know. Daniweb does not endorse any illegal activity, and it considers torrents as such. For that reason I would recommend that once your setup is sorted, you should add protocols to prevent torrent downloads. this can be done by adding torrent sites to your firewall block list. if you want to stop them at the entrypoint then you need either:
a router (has a firewall you can config)
or
to configure your connection to run through a proxy server that will filter the traffic. many sites do this free.

Dont be so quick to dive in. I dont warn peple until they mention music or something

There are many legal uses of torrents. Torrents are good for opensource projects for example as they save money on servers and bandwidth while following the open share and share alike philiosophy. Thats why youll find for most linux ISOs etc... the preferred download method is a mirror or bittorrent.

Hey guys thanks for your valuable insight...
Will check up on the info you guys have provided and get back.
special thanks to Hotmatrixxx... this is the second time u are taking out the time !
Regards
Drmac

hey JB. I guess I should have left it for you. I just wouldn't want to see a great forum shut down for something silly. and yes, that is an awesome application for torrents. Had wondered why you hadn't bitten, though. thx.

Yeah, no problem