Basic Usage Examples
Example 1: You have a network connected to the Internet through a Windows-based server. Users access the Internet through the server with ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) or NAT (Network Address Translation). You would like to limit Internet access speed for some or all users.
Install the Bandwidth Control Service on the Windows-based server and create rules with the Management Console. For example, if your network IP address range is 192.168.0.x and the server address is 192.168.0.1, your rules might look like this:
Rule #1:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: 10 KB/s
- Source: 192.168.0.2
- Destination: Any IP Address
- Interface: LAN
Rule #2:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: 10 KB/s
- Source: 192.168.0.3
- Destination: Any IP Address
- Interface: LAN
Rule #3:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: 10 KB/s
- Source: 192.168.0.4
- Destination: Any IP Address
- Interface: LAN
In this case, a rule has been defined for three specific users and each rule would have an appropriate data rate limit. LAN is the network interface connected to the local network (not to the Internet). Any other network users not covered by the rules would have Internet access without restrictions. If you need to restrict Internet access speed for a larger number of users, it might be more convenient to use rules that apply to source address ranges or create a rule with tracking turned on.
This set of rules applies to any connection from selected network users to any IP address. If users access the Internet through a proxy server then example 2 applies.
Example 2: You have a network connected to the Internet through a Windows server. Users access the Internet through the proxy server. You would like to limit Internet access speed for some or all users.
Install the Bandwidth Control Service on the Windows server and create rules with the Management Console. If your network IP address range is 192.168.0.x, your rules might look like this:
Rule #1:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: 10 KB/s
- Source: 192.168.0.2
- Destination: local host : proxy server port
- Interface: LAN
Rule #2:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: 10 KB/s
- Source: 192.168.0.3
- Destination: local host : proxy server port
- Interface: LAN
Rule #3:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: 10 KB/s
- Source: 192.168.0.4
- Destination: local host : proxy server port
- Interface: LAN
This set of rules applies to any connection from selected network users to the proxy server port. LAN is the network interface connected to the local network (not to the Internet). For access to the Internet through the server with ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) or NAT (Network Address Translation) example 1 applies.
Example 3: You have a network connected to the Internet through a hardware router or a DSL modem. You would like to limit Internet access speed for some or all users but you do not need to limit traffic within your LAN.
In this case you need to install the software on each network computer on which you would like to set an Internet speed limit. Only the Bandwidth Control Service needs to be installed on each network computer. You will be able to configure the system services remotely with the Management Console installed on a single workstation. If your network IP address range is 192.168.0.x, your rules might be as follows:
Rule #1:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: Unlimited
- Source: Range 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.0.255
- Destination: Range 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.0.255
Rule #2:
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
- Direction: Both
- Rate: 10 KB/s
- Source: local host
- Destination: Any IP address
The first rule permits unlimited access to the LAN while the second sets an Internet access speed limit. Alternatively, instead of making the first rule, enable the Ignore LAN traffic option in the global settings. This will reduce the CPU’s load and result in faster local file transfers.
If you do not want to install the software on each PC, there is another a solution. In this case you may need to place an additional PC with Windows and two Ethernet cards between the local network and the uplink (modem, satellite, router). Then install the software on this PC and configure it to use the internal bridging or a third-party NAT solution. After that, create your rules as per example 1.
Advanced Usage Examples
The examples below involve quotas and suspended rules. When you define a quota, besides a flat transfer rate and “Blocked” options, you can also choose “Suspended”. In this case, when the quota is used up, the rule will be suspended, which means it will be ignored until the quota is reset back. This feature has two useful applications as described below.
Multilevel quotas
For example, you could implement the following scenario: 80 MB download at full rate, then 10 MB at a reduced rate, after another 5 MB at even lower rate, and finally block the user completely. This can be done by defining three quotas and three rules as follows:
- Quota 1: Initial Rate: Unlimited, Reduced Rate: Suspended, Volume: 80 MB
- Quota 2: Initial Rate: 100 kB/s, Reduced Rate: Suspended; Volume: 10 MB
- Quota 3: Initial Rate: 10 kB/s, Reduced Rate: Blocked; Volume: 5 MB
- Rule 1: Source and Destination as needed, the rule is linked to Quota 1
- Rule 2: Source and Destination as needed, the rule is linked to Quota 2
- Rule 3: Source and Destination as needed, the rule is linked to Quota 3
In this case, provided that the rules are the same but linked with quotas 1, 2 and 3, these rules will come into effect sequentially. That is, Rule 1 will handle first 80 MB, Rule 2 will handle next 10 MB, and finally Rule 3 will let remaining 5 MB and then block the user.
“You have exceeded your quota” message
This might be useful for those who sell Internet access services to wired or wireless users and would like them to see a message (web-page) if they have used up their allocated quota. To do so, define a quota, for example:
Initial Rate: 100 kB/s, Reduced Rate: Suspended.
This will cause the software to skip the rule once the quota has been exceeded. Knowing this, you may define a ruleset as follows:
Rule 1. A regular rule linked with a quota to be consumed, which will later turn into the suspended state.
Rule 2. Redirect anyone to a web-page with a rule linked to a mapping.
Therefore, once the first rule is suspended, the second rule comes into play and the user will be redirected to a web-page of your choice. If the the quota is reset later, Rule 1 will come into effect again and the user can continue using the Internet.