Monitoring Internet Usage on LAN

zAbbo

I`m looking for an app that will monitor internet usage on a 50 pc LAN. I want an app that will discover users on the LAN, and only monitor there internet usage.

I`m not looking for packet sniffers or anything, just a simple app that will show the top niternet users etc.

sirlinux

You need to use a proxy server, and force your users to use it, or else put ina transparent proxy. Squid will do the job, http://www.squid-cache.org/

zAbbo

we have a Sat Modem > router > hub > users.

Not going back to using a proxy

sirlinux

A proxy wouldnt be a step backwards, if anything it would speed up web access for users, if you have a spare old pentium box about you could make it into a transparent cache, you would get a log of web usage and speed up web access for users. Do it right and your users wont even know it's there, they wont have to change a setting.

Sleipnir

have a look at Websense
Trend also have a cheaper one but the reporting is crappy. Only support U.S. date format so if you're system has european date format all the reports are schewed but you can take a look anyway
Trend

Gerry

So how do you suppose you can discover the top internet users without using a proxy, and without packet sniffing of some sort? A squid proxy is free, and you can easily run a script against the log file to find out who is using the web most.

iano

If you want an out of the box solution, then the AIM (Advance Internet Monitor) product from Oak Telecom may be what you are looking for.

Details and downloadable demo at: http://www.oak.co.uk/AimPage.htm

Supplied in Ireland by Bandwidth Telecommunications (info@bandwidth.ie, 01-8110200)

I've used it and it is pretty good for keeping tabs on who is surfing what.

towbar

An Irish solution....


Iontas offer a application monitoring tool (Resource Focus) that looks at all application usage including internet with detailed web reporting. Big advantage over server based tools is that it knows exactly how long the site is used so if you open internet site and then a word document proxy and server solutions assume you are still on internet site, Resource Focus because it is a desktop agent knows that a new application has opened so it gives a much more accurate picture.

Very easy to use all web based reporting. Ideal for internet and application managment in a network environment. It even works for laptops and computers not accessing the internet through the companys gateway.



www.iontas.com

Jaden

We use Squid in here on a 100+ user LAN. With it's caching used correctly, internet useage is greatly improved. Particularly when someone downloads an already cached file, and gets 4 Megs a second or so transfer!

I run squid on a P3 450 with 192 Megs of RAM. As long as you keep your cache size at about 40 times larger than your RAM amount, you'll be fine. I use Webmin to log into the Squid PC, and Calamaris to analyse the logs. It will do exactly what you want to do, and more. Ad and site blocking is a God Send, and very easy to do in Squid.

If you get stuck, I'd be more than happy to help you out. I'll even send you my squid.conf file.

If your still not happy about using Linux proxying, try Sambar. It's free and useful as a proxy. It is windows, and takes about 20 minutes to set up. It will alos log what you want.

In Summary, proxy good.

Zab

What sort of router are you using?

And that Iontas software is blatantly spying on your employees. Is this what you want to do, or do you want to analyse the traffic going to and from the internet?

Zab.

zAbbo

It`s a SMC Barricade router, I`m new here, doing part time techy stuff. We used to use CProxy on a p2 64mb ram machine, which wasn`t really set up right, so the router is a more reliable. Although if it was up to me, a linux box as a proxy is what i`d want to mess with.

So in short if i was to setup a Linux box, what do i need, what distro what setup etc.

I could use an old p2 400mhz machine and fill it with ram, 2 network cards etc.

The reason i was againts proxies is that the one we used here was crappy and messed up a lot, a fair bit of our business relies on internet access

sirlinux

If you really just want an out of the box solution and dont want to go configuring much look at smoothwall (www.smoothwall.org) or ipcop (www.ipcop.org) and you will be up and running in 20 minutes, just swop your router out for the box leave giving the new box the same IP address as your router, your users will never know, obviously put your router on the other side of teh box. In Smoothwall or ipcop just turn on squid and and transparent cache, hang on a few days (hours even?) and youll see some nice web usage statistics. If you want to set up a full linux box give yourself a day or two and try redhat or mandrake.

towbar

Zab,

Quick question

Surely if you are going to monitor internet via proxy or server or whatever then essentially you are spying. In this case is it not reasonable to install software that:-

1) the employees knows is there because they see a visible icon

2) is accurate - rather than based on requests thru proxy looks at actual usage - how many of us inadvertently open the wrong page only to close it immediately or a pop up opens in the background that we dont even know is there

3) gives employee credit for all work rather than just picking on the non productive element the internet

4) provides the employees with a measn to review the data stored on them


Companies worldwide on monitoring internet and email usage without employees knowing. Picking a different technology to make it more difficult for employees to know that it is been monitored and less accurate is not doing the employees a favour!

Anyway interested in a poll?

Zab

towbar,

bazH asked for an application that would give him top internet users. He didn't even ask for details of which websites were accessed, but we'll presume that he wants them.

That Iontas software is full on "spy on your employees" software. It tracks everything you do on your desktop, producing graphs of what applications you were using at what time. If I recall correctly, it can even take desktop snapshots and rolling movies (doesn't seem to mention this on the website at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it was there before).

I don't think that such Orwellian tactics are necessary to know what your employees are up to. There are usually many factors that indicate when an employee isn't doing their bit.

Anyway, my presumption was that bazH was more interested in knowing exactly what was happening with there internet connection, rather than trying to enforce policy etc.

Zab.

Jaden

BazH,

Download the IPCop ISO (same as Smoothwall, but better documentation).

Get it Here

It's a version 1.3 Fix 2 (Download the fixes later).

Burn the ISO, pop it onto a PC (P2 400 is fine). Make sure there are 2 network cards in the PC.

Setup will wipe the hard drive - we warned. Setup lauches a wizard, what you want is a RED + GREEN setup. The Green interface is the network card that faces onto your LAN. The IP of this will be (generally) your default gateway on your LAN pcs.

The Red side is the untrusted zone, that faces the internet. The settings for this will be the same as the SMC device was.

After setup completes (you can turn on DHCP if you want, that way your default gateway will be set).

Reboot when it asks , uplug the monitor keyboard and mouse (no longer needed). Using a browser, logon, and configure away.

Tip: Join the mailing list - it's damn good.

zAbbo

Thanks for all the information lads, i think i will go down the Linux route, altho this wont be for a month or 2, seems easy enuff to setup.

sceptre

PCW have a comparison test in the current (Sept 2003) issue of content filtering software for intahweb through a LAN. Not quite what you're looking for but might be worth a looksee.

Capt'n Midnight

if you have a half decent firewall it should be able to report stats.. even if it is only syslog stuff...