Restricting clients sharing ADSL connection

Hi all,

I have a small home network on desktops running XP pro over ethernet. My
desktop is the server for the rest. Now my lad is into these online games
and when I want to use my pc I find the life is being sucked out of my ADSL
connection and he leaves me with virtually nothing.

The time has come to restrict user bandwidths on the network that are
sharing my ADSL connection. The question is...is it possible and if so how
do I do it?

Thanks

Mark

"Mark" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cm65sl$qdv$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi all,
>
> I have a small home network on desktops running XP pro over ethernet. My
> desktop is the server for the rest. Now my lad is into these online games
> and when I want to use my pc I find the life is being sucked out of my
> ADSL
> connection and he leaves me with virtually nothing.
>
> The time has come to restrict user bandwidths on the network that are
> sharing my ADSL connection. The question is...is it possible and if so how
> do I do it?
>
> Thanks
>
> Mark
>

I think this may have been discussed before.

Two solutions - either add a Linux box for your router or get a piece of
software like http://www.netlimiter.com/


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In article <cm65sl$qdv$(E-Mail Removed)>, Mark says...
> Hi all,
>
> I have a small home network on desktops running XP pro over ethernet. My
> desktop is the server for the rest. Now my lad is into these online games
> and when I want to use my pc I find the life is being sucked out of my ADSL
> connection and he leaves me with virtually nothing.
>
> The time has come to restrict user bandwidths on the network that are
> sharing my ADSL connection. The question is...is it possible and if so how
> do I do it?
>
Online games DO NOT suck the life out of an ADSL connection. For
example, Counterstrike transmits and receives no more than 5k/second,
1% of a 512k connection.


--
Conor

Opinions personal, facts suspect.

Conor wrote:

> Online games DO NOT suck the life out of an ADSL connection. For
> example, Counterstrike transmits and receives no more than 5k/second,
> 1% of a 512k connection.

He didn't say what speed his connection was. Some ADSL providers do
256K or even 128K. (Incidentally the speeds mentioned are in Kilobits,
not Kilobytes).

Since CounterStrike can easily use 8-9KB/sec downstream on a busy
server, It's entirely possible that this could put a major drain on a
lower-speed ADSL connection.

--
Ben Cottrell AKA Bench

"Mark" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cm65sl$qdv$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a small home network on desktops running XP pro over ethernet. My
> desktop is the server for the rest. Now my lad is into these online games
> and when I want to use my pc I find the life is being sucked out of my
> ADSL connection and he leaves me with virtually nothing.

It's unusual for games to use much bandwidth, but if you limit the bandwidth
you are likely to render the game unplayable. The more usual problem is the
reverse, ie browsing the web or downloading is not affected much but
destroys the game.

Alex

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Ben Cottrell says...
> Conor wrote:
>
> > Online games DO NOT suck the life out of an ADSL connection. For
> > example, Counterstrike transmits and receives no more than 5k/second,
> > 1% of a 512k connection.
>
> He didn't say what speed his connection was. Some ADSL providers do
> 256K or even 128K. (Incidentally the speeds mentioned are in Kilobits,
> not Kilobytes).
>
> Since CounterStrike can easily use 8-9KB/sec downstream on a busy
> server, It's entirely possible that this could put a major drain on a
> lower-speed ADSL connection.
>
Sorry, don't agree. Online games are designed to be playable on 56k
dialup.

Personally I'd be looking for Spyware/Trojans etc on his kids machine.



--
Conor

Opinions personal, facts suspect.

I realise they are designed to play over a 56k connection but when he's
running a halo server for eight + people you run into trouble. Were getting
slight off the topic here guys. I jst want to know how to restricted network
and ADSl bandwidth to clients.

Thanks

Mark

"Conor" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Ben Cottrell says...
> > Conor wrote:
> >
> > > Online games DO NOT suck the life out of an ADSL connection. For
> > > example, Counterstrike transmits and receives no more than 5k/second,
> > > 1% of a 512k connection.
> >
> > He didn't say what speed his connection was. Some ADSL providers do
> > 256K or even 128K. (Incidentally the speeds mentioned are in Kilobits,
> > not Kilobytes).
> >
> > Since CounterStrike can easily use 8-9KB/sec downstream on a busy
> > server, It's entirely possible that this could put a major drain on a
> > lower-speed ADSL connection.
> >
> Sorry, don't agree. Online games are designed to be playable on 56k
> dialup.
>
> Personally I'd be looking for Spyware/Trojans etc on his kids machine.
>
>
>
> --
> Conor
>
> Opinions personal, facts suspect.

Conor wrote:

>>He didn't say what speed his connection was. Some ADSL providers do
>>256K or even 128K. (Incidentally the speeds mentioned are in Kilobits,
>>not Kilobytes).
>>
>>Since CounterStrike can easily use 8-9KB/sec downstream on a busy
>>server, It's entirely possible that this could put a major drain on a
>>lower-speed ADSL connection.
>>
>
> Sorry, don't agree. Online games are designed to be playable on 56k
> dialup.

Playable, yes, but they also take advantage of extra bandwidth when
available. also, in half-life/cs, the quantity of data sent by the
server is dependent on the number of players in the game. (users have
the option to cap their recieved data rate, so that the server will not
flood them out of the game under 56k)

--
Ben Cottrell AKA Bench

"Mark" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cm7svl$5cn$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I realise they are designed to play over a 56k connection but when he's
> running a halo server for eight + people you run into trouble. Were
> getting slight off the topic here guys. I jst want to know how to
> restricted network and ADSl bandwidth to clients.

If running a server severely impacts your use, the chances are that the
upstream is saturated; that's not good for the game either. You should try
to alter network parameters in the game. Reducing the number of clients is
an obvious solution.

Restricting bandwidth is good for limiting file download/upload speeds, but
it doesn't help (overall) when the bandwidth is "required", as it is in this
case. It will give you bandwidth but force the above solution anyway.

For limiting bandwidth, the only solutions I know of are those mentioned by
Graham Watson. The latest firmware for my router (Speedtouch) also claims to
support rule-based rate limiting and prioritising, from what I can see it's
more like Linux than NetLimiter in terms of features and complexity of
configuration.

Alex

In article <cm7svl$5cn$(E-Mail Removed)>, Mark says...
> I realise they are designed to play over a 56k connection but when he's
> running a halo server for eight + people you run into trouble.

Ah, the goalposts have changed. He's gone from playing online games to
running a server. Fair enough, can't argue with that.

--
Conor

Opinions personal, facts suspect.