Router problems -> Bandwidth allocation, help required!

Mulder · 31 Jan 2006 at 19:18

Hi there.

We've got a 10mb cable line going into a NAT router which then feeds into a 4 port gigabit switch. From there it goes to 2 different PCs, one upstairs, one down. Problem is, when one PC is using something like Napster, edonkey etc the other PC essentially loses its net connection. Should the switch allocate appropriate bandwidths to each PC? If not, what do we need to do to get the bandwidth shared equally? Cheers.

T180985 · 31 Jan 2006 at 19:27

no it wont allocate bandwidth it will just let one pc take up as much as it wants and then the other can take whats left, there are several aplications that allow bandwidth management however i would recomend getting something like a nescreen 5xt firewall

Mulder · 31 Jan 2006 at 19:32

T180985 said:
no it wont allocate bandwidth it will just let one pc take up as much as it wants and then the other can take whats left, there are several aplications that allow bandwidth management however i would recomend getting something like a nescreen 5xt firewall

The router at the moment is a NAT firewall, how would your suggestion help? Do you have the names of any programs? Cheers.

T180985 · 31 Jan 2006 at 19:36

well it says its a firewall but it more than likely isnt a proper one, whats the make and model? basically i have one of these firewalls which sits behind my adsl router. i can define each pc by either MAC or IP address than allocated a maximum bandwidth allocation and set bandwidth priority. it will also allow you to block certain ports e.g. the ports certain file sharing applications use.

Mulder · 31 Jan 2006 at 19:42

It's a Netgear FR114P Cable / DSL ProSafe Firewall with Print Server. We wouldn't want to block ports so people couldn't download. That's not the idea, and they would just change the ports anyway.
We just want to make it so that when one PC is downloading, the other one can still check email / browse the net etc.

At the moment the other PC just loses internet completely.

tolien · 31 Jan 2006 at 20:06

Swapping it for something like a Linksys WRT54GS would possibly be a good idea, you could at least get some kind of QoS running.

That said, both machines should still get some kind of (slow) internet connection. It's possible the router's going nutty because the P2P clients are opening too many connections.

carpmaster · 31 Jan 2006 at 20:32

tolien said:
Swapping it for something like a Linksys WRT54GS would possibly be a good idea, you could at least get some kind of QoS running.

That said, both machines should still get some kind of (slow) internet connection. It's possible the router's going nutty because the P2P clients are opening too many connections.

A wireless router? Why?

They don't have wireless cards do they?

tolien · 31 Jan 2006 at 20:34

carpmaster said:
A wireless router? Why?

Nothing to do with the wireless. Trivial to turn it off.

Everything to do with the abundance of non-OEM firmware that'll happily do QoS, without having to set up a fairly big bulky linux box (or part with £££ for a more expensive bit of kit).

Didn't see them mention they had wireless cards?

Didn't see me mention anything about using the wireless component of it?

carpmaster · 31 Jan 2006 at 21:09

Could you explain a little further. You mean the Linksys WRT54GS wireless router is a good choice because there is plenty of unofficial firmware which you can overwrite the original with and this will enable you to do QoS? What is QoS and how does it work?

tolien · 31 Jan 2006 at 21:13

carpmaster said:
You mean the Linksys WRT54GS wireless router is a good choice because there is plenty of unofficial firmware which you can overwrite the original with and this will enable you to do QoS?

The original does it too.

What is QoS and how does it work?

Quality of Service.

CoXeY · 1 Feb 2006 at 13:29

10mb cable line

Is this NTL by any chance? If so what modem do you have?

I had the 120 model which could not handle the full 10Mb and when one machine was downloading a full speed other machines would have connectivity issues - upgrading to a 250 modem resolved my problems...