Sharing Broadband between 8 users

Ok ,how is the way to do this,Got a 2Meg connection ,which runs to a 4
port modem/router then a patch to a 8 way hub, then Cat 5 cable to
RJ45 wall outlets.The more I read the less I understand.How do I
ensure that each "connection" runs about the same speed? Any non too
techie information most welcome,thanks

On 13 Nov 2004 06:02:34 -0800, (E-Mail Removed) (richard)
wrote:

>How do I
>ensure that each "connection" runs about the same speed? Any non too
>techie information most welcome,thanks

As described you will rely on ethernet collisions and the router's NAT
capabilities to figure it out. The outcome may not be "fair" - do you
find that speeds are differnet between machines ?

If you got a router with traffic management or shaping capability you
could control it, for example the Draytek Vigor 2900 says "The DrayTek
Vigor 2900's allow each of the four 10/100BaseT Ethernet ports to be
limited to a maximum throughput "

http://www.smoothwall.net/support/fa...s&id=84&view=y
is worth reading

www.netlimiter.com will allow you to limit a PC to a certain
bandwidth.

A standalone firewall, perhaps a Linux PC, could also do the job
http://www.ipcop.org/cgi-bin/twiki/v...raffic_Shaping

but first I would determine if the basic setup is actually working OK
:-)

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !

In article <(E-Mail Removed)> , "richard"
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> Ok ,how is the way to do this,Got a 2Meg connection ,which runs to a 4
> port modem/router then a patch to a 8 way hub, then Cat 5 cable to
> RJ45 wall outlets.The more I read the less I understand.How do I
> ensure that each "connection" runs about the same speed? Any non too
> techie information most welcome,thanks
>
If they're all generating the same sort of traffic they will all run at
the same sort of speed. If one of them is downloading a CD image from
an FTP site, another is checking multiple email acocunts, another is
playing an online game and another is web browsing then you'll find
interactions will occur which may have undesirable effects, and you'll
need to use some sort traffic shaping. The cheapest way to do this
properly is probably to use an appropriately configured Linux PC which
sits between your hub and router. You can also run software on the
client machines that will put a ceiling on their bandwidth use on a per-
application basis - obviously this is a bit crude but it does let you
prevent a single application from hogging bandwidth at the expense of
other users. The third option is to use Cisco or similar hardware which
provides traffic shaping, but that tends to be very expensive and no
easier to figure out than the Linux option.


Here's some stuff about Linux routing:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-
formats/html_single/Adv-Routing-HOWTO.html

which wraps, so use http://tinyurl.com/5cd7r instead


Here's a commercial Windows app that limits bandwidth on an individual
machine:

http://www.netlimiter.com/

Thank you ,now the more I read the more I understand. The 4 port modem
/router, does this mean 1/4 of the bandwith is available from each
port so a hub wired from one port would mean 2 computers served by
the hub would have 1/8 of avaliable? Or is it an interaction between
what each computer is doing.Would it be better to run all the
conections via a 8 port hub?Someone else had pointed me to the
Netlimiter programme, and that seems like it would answer the problem.
The network is in a shared student house with 2 download
fanatics,mostly email and viewing web pages for the others.

On 14 Nov 2004 10:38:09 -0800, (E-Mail Removed) (richard)
wrote:

> The 4 port modem
>/router, does this mean 1/4 of the bandwith is available from each
>port so a hub wired from one port would mean 2 computers served by
>the hub would have 1/8 of avaliable?

all of the bandwidth is available on all of them - you might be
transferring files at 80 Mbps from one port to the other and not using
the internet bandwidth at all.

> Or is it an interaction between
>what each computer is doing.Would it be better to run all the
>conections via a 8 port hub?

I think it would be better to have them all on the 8 port to make them
more equal, otherwise as you say two fed off one port may be
disadvantaged.

I don't know how different devices manage the excess of demand over
supply, if you start one download off then add another on the same PC
you see the frist one slow down.

It will be the interaction and how that is managed. A device designed
for quality of service would prioritise interactive stuff like web
browsing over background stuff like downloads, but that needs an
intelligent box like a firewall that is aware of the type of traffic
it is passing.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !

In article <(E-Mail Removed) >, "richard"
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> Thank you ,now the more I read the more I understand. The 4 port modem
> /router, does this mean 1/4 of the bandwith is available from each
> port so a hub wired from one port would mean 2 computers served by
> the hub would have 1/8 of avaliable?

No - each port can carry much more traffic than the Internet connection
can handle.

> Or is it an interaction between what each computer is doing.

It's about how the demands of all the machines are met. Basically
there's a queue of stuff waiting to go up and down the Internet
connection, and each item of data has to wait its turn. The problem is
that interactive data tends to come in are small but urgent packets,
while downloads are large and not urgent - unless you use a traffic
shaping system to let the urgent stuff through it then the other stuff
will get in the way.

> Would it be better to run all the
> conections via a 8 port hub?Someone else had pointed me to the
> Netlimiter programme, and that seems like it would answer the problem.

It's not an ideal solution, as it doesn't react to actual network use -
if there's no interactive traffic it makes sense to devote the full
bandwidth to downloading, but NetLimiter isn't that smart (although you
can schedule limits so for instance there's no bandwidth cap between
1.00AM and 7.00AM)

> The network is in a shared student house with 2 download
> fanatics,mostly email and viewing web pages for the others.
>
You could reserve bandwidth for interactive use by limiting the heavy
downloaders, but obviously you'd have to trust them not to cheat as the
software would be running on their machines. Much better I think to
sort out proper traffic shaping on a separate box.

In message <(E-Mail Removed) >, richard
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Thank you ,now the more I read the more I understand. The 4 port modem
>/router, does this mean 1/4 of the bandwith is available from each
>port so a hub wired from one port would mean 2 computers served by
>the hub would have 1/8 of avaliable?

No. Each port on a router or hub can potentially use all of the
available bandwidth.

> Or is it an interaction between
>what each computer is doing.Would it be better to run all the
>conections via a 8 port hub?

In such a small network it probably won't make much difference. If you
expect two PCs to swap data on the internal network instead of via the
Internet then you should put those on the switch. This really isn't
likely to be worth worrying about, so for simplicity put all of the
machines on the hub.



--
Bernard Peek
London, UK. DBA, Manager, Trainer & Author. Will work for money.

What did work was,running only two patch leads from the
modem/router,to 2 switches each with 4ports.Down load fan can use all
thtqa 2meg late at night while everyone else gets a fast connection
even if all online.Many thanks for all replies.

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 06:02:34 -0800, richard wrote:

> Ok ,how is the way to do this,Got a 2Meg connection ,which runs to a 4
> port modem/router then a patch to a 8 way hub, then Cat 5 cable to
> RJ45 wall outlets.The more I read the less I understand.How do I
> ensure that each "connection" runs about the same speed? Any non too
> techie information most welcome,thanks

Check out micronet SP883 bandwidth controller .. no idea if you could get
it in UK. But you can make sure each of the user can have equal bandwidth
...