Help with capping bandwith

[quanger]

Hi guys. I have a mind boggling problem that is driving me nuts. Here is the deal, I want to use netlimiter to cap the download speed of my roommate. He is hogging the bandwidth. This is what I am trying to do:

Cable modem --> Wifi router --> my laptop(wifi) + my desktop(rj45)

then from my desktop's 2nd NIC -> hub -> roommate's pc.

So basically I have successfully set my network so that my roommate's pc is connected to my desktop via a hub. My desktop obviously has 2NIC.

I tried to set netlimiter on my desktop so I can cap the upload\download speed of my roommate's pc.. I have set the limit to 30k down\15k up in all categories inside netlimiter (LAN, Network, My computer). So I test to see if the cap works using my laptop (connected to the hub via rj45 obviously) and the cap does not work. But my desktop pc is capped (which is what I want for both my desktop and the roommates pc).

At first I had trouble getting any internet connection when I plugged my laptop to the hub but I figured it out when I selected bridge-connection in my desktop.

I guess what I am trying to do is use my desktop as a gateway\router to control my roommate's bandwith.

 

[_DW]

Might be a dumb question, but why do you want to use your desktop as a gateway\router to control your roommates bandwidth when you could just use your router as a gateway\router to control your roommates bandwidth via QoS rules?

 

[quanger]

how do you use qos rules? im not sure my router supports qos rules. do you have any further info on it? thanks

 

[_DW]

Use a web browser to go to your routers internal IP... for example mine is http://192.168.1.1

This will allow me to log into the router configuration page.
From there, all routers are different, but you should be able to find QoS rules somewhere in there.

What router are you using? I might be able to be more specific if it is a router I am familiar with.

 

[quanger]

im using a belkins router. i have done some research but not able to find out much. will the qos rule allow me to limit that one specific pc?

 

[_DW]

If you don't know your routers IP address for whatever reason, go to Start>Run and type "cmd" click ok. In the command window, type 'ipconfig' (without the quotes). The information shown from that command should include a "default gateway" which should be the IP to your router.

 

[_DW]

yes... most QoS rules will allow you to specify a MAC address, so even if his IP changes due to DHCP, he will still have the same MAC for the NIC he is using.

 

[quanger]

Yep. i can figure out what my roomate internal ip is. i dont think my router has support for qos. theres no information or such feature. im not sure if qos will do the trick. to keep it simple, i just want to cap that specific pc to 30kb down, 15kb up.

 

[_DW]

Well, it appears you are correct and Belkins firmware does not include QoS (lame) but I think you should be able to set up netlimiter to do what you want... what exactly was the problem with using netlimiter?
Also, your router may be a supported model for dd-wrt which is what I run on my linksys and will never go back. http://www.dd-wrt.com - visit and see if you can flash the firmware on your router if you are interested. If not, then lets work on getting netlimiter set up correctly.

I have no experience with that app, but I can DL it and play along

 

[_DW]

Is there an option in netlimiter to specify a NIC?

 

[quanger]

There is not It only specify one NIC. and that is LAN. I assumed that LAN is the NIC that connects to the hub but capping its U/L does not work,

 

[quanger]

the problem i believe is that in order to get internet connection for computers plugged into the hub, i had to bridge both NIC in windows on my desktop. Otherwise I couldnt get the internet to work if I did not bridge the two LAN card.

 

[quanger]

I just received an email from staffing at netlimiter. unfortunately netlimiter needs to be installed on specific computers in order to limit the bandwidth. I dont think my roommate will really appreciates that. Netlimiter 3 will be due in 2months.

 

[_DW]

You shouldn't need to bridge them... u are using windows built in ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) right?

From external forum:

Bridging is taking two seperate physical networks, and allowing them to become one "logical" network. You can't use it to give other computers internet connections, but you could use it to join two LANs together without having to do routing.

 

[_DW]

In that case... check out http://bandwidthcontroller.com/

See if that will work for your scenario.

 

[quanger]

hmm. i couldnt figure out how to get the internet to work fo my hub without bridging....any ideas? i think it has to be dhcp enable or some sort?

 

[_DW]

I always just enabled ICS and it worked fine.

Anyways, this sounds like what you are looking for... as it references your exact environment:
http://www.softperfect.com/products/bandwidth/manual/examples.htm

Give it a shot and let us know

 

[quanger]

Thanks. I will uninstall net limiter and try this out. Thanks.

 

[quanger]

Hmm. I am having a hard time networking itself. Trying to connect my desktop -> hub so that pcs connected to the hub has internet. I couldnt find the ICS option anywhere. hmm

 

[_DW]

ICS should be in the advanced tab of the properties page for a specific NIC.