Program for tracking the speed of the Internet. Monitoring traffic in the local network
There are a lot of programs for accounting traffic in the local network: both paid and free, which differ greatly in functionality. One of the most popular Open Source programs is SAMS. It runs on the Linux platform in conjunction with Squid.
SAMS requires PHP5, we will use Ubuntu Server 14.04. We will need Squid, Apache2, PHP5 packages with modules.
Internet traffic accounting in linux local network
Let's try to figure out how it works.
Squid distributes the Internet, accepting requests on port 3128. At the same time, it writes a detailed access.log. All management is done through the squid.conf file. Squid has a wide range of Internet access control capabilities: access control by addresses, bandwidth control for specific addresses, groups of addresses and networks.
SAMS works by analyzing the logs of the Squid proxy server. The traffic accounting system in the local network monitors the statistics of the proxy server and, in accordance with the specified policies, makes a decision to block, unblock or limit the speed for the Squid client.
SAMS Installation
Installing packages.
apt-get install apache2 php5 php5-mysql mysql-server php5-gd squid3
Download and install SAMS
wget https://github.com/inhab-magnus/sams2-deb/archive/master.zip
unzip master.zip
cd sams2-deb-master/
dpkg -i sams2_2.0.0-1.1_amd64.deb
Installing the web interface
dpkg -i apache2/sams2-web_2.0.0-1.1_all.deb
We make changes to the /etc/sams2.conf file.
DB_PASSWORD=/MySql password/
Launch SAMS
service sams2 start
Setting up Squid
Making changes to the /etc/squid3/squid.conf file
http_port 192.168.0.110:3128
cache_dir ufs /var/spool/squid3 2048 16 256
We enable logging and rotation of logs with storage for 31 days.
access_log daemon:/var/log/squid3/access.log squid
logfile_rotate 31
Stop Squid, create cache.
service squid3 stop
service squid3 start
For the purity of the experiment, we configure one of the browsers to work with the proxy 192.168.0.110 through port 3128. Having tried to connect, we get a connection failure - Squid does not have access rights to the proxy configured.
SAMS initial setup
In another browser, open the address (192.168.0.110 - server address).
http://192.168.0.110/sams2
He will tell us that he cannot connect to the database and will offer to install.
Specify the database server (127.0.0.1), login and password from MySql.
The initial configuration of the traffic accounting system is completed. It remains only to configure the program.
Monitoring traffic in the local network
Log in to the system as an administrator (admin/qwerty).
It is worth saying right away about user authorization. 
In the Squid branch, open the proxy server and click the "Proxy server settings" button below.
The most important thing here is to specify your IP address in the addresses of folders and files, where necessary, otherwise the proxy server will not start.
The essence of all changes in the SAMS settings is that they are written to squid.conf. sams2deamon runs in the background, which monitors changes in the settings that need to be made to the configuration file (you can also set the tracking interval there).
Fill in the "User" and "IP address" fields. As a username, take the same IP (IP of the computer, not the server!). In the "Allowed traffic" field, enter "0", that is, without restrictions. All other fields are omitted.
A new acl will be added for this IP address and permission to work through Squid. If the config was not changed automatically, go to the proxy branch and click the "Reconfigure Squid" button. Changes to the config will be made manually.
We try to open any URL in the browser. We check the access.log and see the requests processed by the proxy. To check the operation of SAMS, open the "Users" page, click the "Recalculate user traffic" button below.
Using the buttons below to manage statistics, you can get detailed information on the statistics of user visits to pages.
In the last 10-15 years, Internet expenses have been added to the usual expenses of the company. In order to properly budget for Internet traffic, you need to know its monthly consumption. Traffic accounting is one of the most important responsibilities of a system administrator.
The head of a company of any size must be aware of the amount of resources consumed by his organization, how much money is spent and where, how much electricity is consumed, what are the costs of telephony, etc. In the last 10-15 years, another item of expenditure has been added: the Internet. In order to properly budget for Internet traffic, you need to know for sure what its monthly consumption in the company is. Therefore, traffic accounting http://www.10-strike.com/rus/bandwidth-monitor/- one of the most important duties of a system administrator, who is responsible for counting traffic, saving it, which includes continuous control over the fact that the amount of traffic allocated to the company, for example, weekly traffic does not exceed the established limit.
To save money, more and more organizations are switching to the use of unlimited Internet access packages, but the importance of traffic accounting does not decrease from this. So, for example, in the network, a periodic drop in the speed of the Internet connection is possible, for which there can be many reasons: from an unscrupulous provider or an employee downloading large files during working hours, to the fall of any of the network interfaces. And the low speed of the Internet or its absence for modern business is fraught with a decrease in the quality of services today and the loss of partners and customers tomorrow.
Depending on the security policy, traffic accounting can be implemented in the following ways:
- Using SNMP protocol(Simple Network Management Protocol). The advantage of this method is that there is no need to install additional software on users' computers. In this case, the traffic accounting program is installed only on the system administrator's PC, and on remote computers it is only necessary to correctly configure the SNMP service, which is not at all difficult for a specialist. This protocol allows you to account for traffic, firstly, on computers running Windows and Linux, and secondly, on network printers, switches and other network devices. Therefore, the system administrator also has the opportunity to control the operation of the active network equipment of the company. Often, by default, the SNMP protocol is disabled in the OS and it needs to be installed and configured.
- Via WMI services(Windows Management Instrumentation), which is an alternative to SNMP. This method of traffic accounting, like the previous one, does not require the installation of any additional modules on controlled computers. However, this method is only suitable for Windows OS.
- If the company's security policy prohibits the use of SNMP and WMI services, then the system administrator can take advantage of traffic accounting through agent installations to remote computers, which are usually attached to the traffic accounting program. If the agent is implemented as a service, then it reads all traffic values imperceptibly for the user and without loading the computer.
- The next way is to account for traffic through NetFlow protocol, which was developed by Cisco and is designed to collect information about IP traffic within the network. The principle of its operation is to accumulate all statistics about transmitted IP packets in a special buffer, and then to process it. The most important advantage of this method is the ability to keep track of traffic in large companies with a complex and geographically distributed network. True, it should be noted that this method of traffic accounting can be implemented only in networks where there is equipment that supports the NetFlow protocol, and it must be admitted that it is quite expensive.
- Another method is to count network packets using sniffer or traffic analyzer. This method allows you to find out the IP address of both the sender and the recipient, which means you can see what the organization's resources are spent on. It is important to know that in networks with a large amount of transmitted traffic or high bandwidth, this type of traffic accounting may give some errors.
Some traffic accounting programs (http://www.10-strike.com/eng/bandwidth-monitor/) allow you to configure their reaction to certain events, for example, to exceed the set limit of consumed traffic or to drop a network interface. Thanks to this, the system administrator responds to these events faster and troubleshoots problems with minimal loss of time and effort. But the most important task of the traffic accounting process is the ability to always be aware of current expenses, on the basis of which you can carefully plan your budget in the future, as well as draw objective conclusions about the work of the organization's employees.
- Easy to set up!
- Real-time consumption charts.
- Control all devices from one PC.
- Notification when the limit is exceeded.
- Support for WMI, SNMPv1/2c/3 and 64-bit counters.
- Determine who is downloading and from where.
- Check the provider!
"10-Strike: Traffic Accounting" is a simple program to control traffic consumption on computers, switches, servers in the network at the enterprise and even at home (3 sensors can be monitored for free in the trial version even after the 30-day trial period has expired). Monitor volumes incoming and outgoing consumed traffic on computers throughout your local network, incl. when accessing the Internet.
The program constantly collects statistics from network hosts on incoming and outgoing traffic and displays in real time the dynamics of changes in the data transfer rate on network interfaces in the form of graphs and tables.
With our accounting software, you can detect dishonest users who spend a lot of Internet traffic in your organization. Violation of labor discipline by employees leads to decrease in labor productivity. The simplest analysis of traffic consumption by employees' computers will allow you to find the most active network users. When using WMI sensors, you do not even need to install anything on network computers, you only need an administrator password.
Unfortunately, in our country Internet traffic for legal entities is not yet cheap everywhere. It often happens that excessive Internet activity of users (often unrelated to the workflow) leads to overspending organizations to pay for the connection. Using our program will help prevent unexpectedly high Internet bills in the enterprise. you can customize notification for the consumption of a certain amount of traffic networked computers over a period of time.
You can observe graphs of the speed of incoming and outgoing traffic computers and network devices on the screen in real time. Can be promptly determine who spends the most traffic and kills the channel.
The program monitors the traffic consumption on network computers constantly and can notify you when certain conditions are met, which you can set. For example, if the amount of traffic consumed by any computer exceeds a specified value, or the average information transfer rate for a certain period is above/below the threshold value. When a given condition is met, the program notify you in one of the following ways:
- displaying a message on a computer screen;
- sound signal;
- sending e-mail messages;
- writing to the program log file;
- entry in the Event Log of the system.
In addition, the traffic accounting program can execute certain actions when conditions are met: run the program, execute a VB or JS script, restart the service, restart the computer, etc.
As the monitoring program works accumulates traffic consumption statistics network computers. You can at any time find out who and how much traffic consumed at any time, what data transfer rates were achieved. Traffic download/upload speed charts, as well as traffic consumption tables, can be built for any period of time or date.
Awards
In February 2015, the English version of the program earned the award - the finalist of the "Network Computing Awards 2015" competition of the popular British magazine "Network Computing" in the nomination "Product of the Year for IT Optimization" (IT Optimization Product of The Year).
When you purchase a license, you will receive a subscription to free software updates and technical updates. support for one year.
Download the free 30-day trial now and try it out! Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/7/8.1/2012/10/2016 are supported.
Hello blog site readers! Many users are thinking about having their own Internet traffic counter on their computer, or you can call it differently - Internet traffic control, which could show how much traffic you spend. The Internet has long been available in all parts of the planet, but not everyone has unlimited access yet.
Users who are satisfied with the Internet with limited traffic are always surprised at how quickly the available limit is gone. In principle, nothing surprising: many users have a large number of programs installed on the computer that are updated in.
Users do not even notice how they watch the next video on youtube.com and exchange files with their colleagues or comrades.
Do not be afraid: this problem is easily solved. To account for and control traffic, there is a specialized program - Networx. It is she who will “tell” you that it’s enough to sit on the Internet and it’s time to remember your limit, which is not infinite.
On the site you can download the installation file of the program and the Portable version. In this article, we will analyze the installation version of the program.
To download the program, go down the page and click on the "Download NetWorx installer" button. We are waiting for the download.
Installation Networkx
Run the file we just downloaded. Click "Next".
We agree with the license of the program, check the box "I accept the agreement" and click "Next".
In the next window, leave the default installation path. Click "Next".
Click "Next" again.
In the next window, you can leave or remove the "Desk Band" - an add-on that visually shows traffic in real time. For those who are bothered by extra icons on the control panel, it is better to turn it off.
In my case, I uncheck "Install an optional NetWorx Desk Band extensional (as show below)". Click "Next".
Click "Install".
The installation of the program is completed. We press "Finish".
Immediately after installing the program, a window with settings will open. Select the Russian language (Russian) and click "Next".
Choosing an Internet connection: you need to select through which network adapter you connect to the Internet. We press "Forward".
We click "Finish".
Now you will have a program icon in the tray that looks like a diagram.
Double-click the left mouse button to click on the chart. This will open the main window.
As we can see, the program has a nice and intuitive Russian interface. And, importantly, the program calculates traffic quite accurately. With it, you can get Internet traffic reports: both daily and weekly, as well as monthly.
The program allows you to open / save the results in Excel, as well as in the form of visual graphs.
NetWorx is not only a great program for seeing Internet traffic accounting, but it also has an interesting point in the form of setting a quota.
This means that the program can be configured in such a way that when the traffic is exhausted, the program will automatically notify you about it.
How to set up a quota
For clarity, it is worth disassembling the process of setting a quota. To do this, right-click on the icon and select "Quota ...".
In my case, the quota is already set: I set a limit of 50 megabytes, and when using traffic within 85% of 50 megabytes, a message will appear on the screen that the quota is coming to an end.
With this message, we will be notified when we should limit ourselves to the use of the Internet in order to avoid losing money!
You thought I wouldn't show the settings? Of course I'll show you: click the "Settings ..." button.
The program has a speed measurement function with which you can measure incoming / outgoing traffic. To start the measurement, click on the green triangle.
I recommend this program to all users who have access to limited Internet. With it, you can control your traffic in any direction: both incoming and outgoing.
For a number of reasons, I installed the program on Windows XP. But whoever has Windows 7 installed should not worry, since this program works stably and without failures in any system.
See you soon, dear friends!
These are programs that allow you to track active connections across all network interfaces.
Modern tools for detailed and detailed traffic monitoring, as a rule:
- are fairly affordable;
- allow you to limit the speed of each connection separately;
- give a clear picture of what files and programs load the network and what speed they need to have;
- allow you to determine the sources of the highest traffic consumption.
The program will help you determine your priorities when using the network.
Today, there are many similar utilities for monitoring and planning traffic consumption.
CommTraffic
This is a program for controlling Internet traffic both in the local network (it monitors the Internet activity of several clients at once) and on a personal computer using a modem connection. Accounting and statistics of work on the Internet will be displayed in the form of bandwidth graphs. They show the amount of outgoing, incoming and total traffic.
The program can be configured for almost any tariff plan, which is based on the set volume, takes into account the time of day and connection time. The CommTraffic utility is equipped with:
- convenient indication;
- accurate calculation of costs;
- the possibility of notification in case of overspending.
Besides, it is simple and convenient to use. Once you set a traffic and time limit that corresponds to your tariff plan, you will receive notifications with a sound signal or a message to the specified address when you approach the set limits.
Program for monitoring Internet traffic Network Meter
A network information collection application that allows you to monitor all network adapters installed in the system. It also provides detailed statistics about outgoing and incoming traffic. To get started, set up the downloaded program the first time you run it. To do this, specify what data you want to see in the main window, and the adapters that Network Meter will "monitor".
Minimize the utility window to the notification panel so that it does not take up space on the desktop. Even in this state, the application continues to work in the background.
The program will build graphs of the consumption intensity of the network connection in real time. It is not overloaded with unnecessary interface elements and settings. The graphical shell of the utility is clear and simple. You can also see with it:
- Internet session duration, MAC address and IP;
- connection type;
- cable throughput to the maximum.
By downloading Network Meter, you will get a fairly compact, simple and free tool. Great for monitoring traffic and viewing information about network equipment.
Internet traffic counter Simbad Traffic Counter
The utility keeps records of incoming and outgoing traffic, and also calculates, according to the tariff of your Internet provider, its cost. The display of consumed traffic is carried out in various values (gigabytes, megabytes, kilobytes). In addition, the application keeps statistics. It will automatically detect the modem connection, display the time spent on the Internet. This program for monitoring Internet traffic practically does not consume system resources and has a small size. Supports work with a large number of protocols.
Net Activity Diagram App
Net Activity Diagram, a program for monitoring traffic and Internet speed, monitors the Internet and network activity of a computer.
Produces:
- tracking all established connections;
- output of various warnings in the form of a message;
- traffic analysis for specified periods of time.
The current network activity is displayed both in a separate window and on the taskbar. In addition, the Net Activity Diagram service tracks statistics independently for each port and provides the ability to monitor each type of traffic separately.
The programs are quite flexible. It informs the user in cases of exceeding or approaching the established limits.
Traffic accounting using Internet Connection Counter
This program for monitoring Internet traffic will allow you to take into account the cost and time spent on the Internet, the total amount of traffic consumed. Supports various types of connections: Dial-Up, ADSL, LAN, GPRS, etc.
With this utility, the user can:
- use several Internet provider tariffs at the same time;
- get acquainted with the statistics on the traffic used;
- customize the appearance of the application.
In addition, the application will show all active connections, synchronize the system clock and export a report to Excel format.
Traffic saving program
HandyCache will allow you to significantly (3-4 times) through caching. The next time you visit the site, the application will help you not to download it from the Internet. In addition, you can view these sites and without an Internet connection, offline.
To get started, you need to install HandyCache and specify it in your browser as a proxy server. After that, all browsers you have installed will use the HandyCache cache. The default settings of this application are suitable for users in most cases.
The utility is equipped with flexible settings to control a variety of parameters. Can load files from cache depending on HandyCache file type or URL. And if necessary, it will download files from the Internet in case of a constant version update. Before that, the program will check their version and only then make a decision about accessing the download source.
The utility is convenient in that to search for any previously used data, you do not need to find them again. Just look in the cache for a folder with the same name as the site name. In addition, this Internet traffic control program for Android is ideal.
Clear and accurate accounting of money
As well as time and traffic can be exercised using the application StatistXP. The program for monitoring Internet traffic will allow you to comfortably and economically use the network. 10 launches are given for the trial period. And for further use, the utility is equipped with the option of prepayment and Internet cards.
The program implements:
- notification when connected and disconnected by voice;
- accounting of time, money and traffic with connection statistics by months and years;
- there is detailed information.
BitMeter II - software for monitoring Internet traffic
This utility is a traffic counter. In addition, it is equipped with a wide range of tools for collecting and monitoring network connections.
In the main window of the application in real time, you can see a graph of outgoing and incoming traffic. To quickly calculate the time spent on downloading, there is a special calculator.
The application supports the installation of warnings about exceeding the limits of the maximum traffic limit and Internet connection time.
Some features of the program:
- Customizable settings and alerts when the speed drops to a set level or when a certain amount of data is downloaded.
- Monitoring and recording of uploads and downloads. This will allow you to see how much traffic was used during a specific time period.
- Screen stopwatch.
- Good help file.
- Convenient customizable appearance.
- Ability to selectively monitor network cards.
