Hi,
I'm sorry if a question like this has already been answered. I have searched this forum but cannot find a definitive answer.
My home network includes:
Netgear router
Windows 2012 Server
2 desktop PCs (Win8.1)
4 laptops (Win8.1)
2 Android phones
1 Android tablet
What I would like to do is get an idea of Internet usage of each device on my network.
What is the difference between choosing Monitor my router rather than this computer in the Settings screen and installing Networx on each device on my network and choosing Synchronise usage data with other Networx instances on the network.
I'm just looking for an example setup for my kind of network if someone can help please.
Thanks
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Measure Internet usage on each device in the network
Started by tpmo
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tpmo
Measure Internet usage on each device in the network 27 May 2014, 12:13 |
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Re: Measure Internet usage on each device in the network 27 May 2014, 13:16 |
Admin Registered: 18 years ago Posts: 3 519 |
With NetWorx you basically have got two options:
1. Install NetWorx on every computer on your network. This can only be done if all your computers are running Windows. While NetWorx can only monitor traffic on the computer where it is installed, instances of NetWorx can talk to each other so that each instance is synchronised and shows the actual overall usage.
2. If your router supports so called SNMP protocol, you can monitor all traffic via your modem/router. This however will not give you a per-user usage breakdown and the monitoring computer must be continuously on to poll the router and collect usage data. Check your router's documentation with regards to the SNMP support.
Apparently in your case you can't install NetWorx on those Android devices, which do not support regular Windows applications. So you can either monitor all the Windows machines individually and omit Android devices' usage, or you can try monitoring the router, but this will only give you a total number, not per device.
1. Install NetWorx on every computer on your network. This can only be done if all your computers are running Windows. While NetWorx can only monitor traffic on the computer where it is installed, instances of NetWorx can talk to each other so that each instance is synchronised and shows the actual overall usage.
2. If your router supports so called SNMP protocol, you can monitor all traffic via your modem/router. This however will not give you a per-user usage breakdown and the monitoring computer must be continuously on to poll the router and collect usage data. Check your router's documentation with regards to the SNMP support.
Apparently in your case you can't install NetWorx on those Android devices, which do not support regular Windows applications. So you can either monitor all the Windows machines individually and omit Android devices' usage, or you can try monitoring the router, but this will only give you a total number, not per device.
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Re: Measure Internet usage on each device in the network 27 May 2014, 23:32 |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 241 |
Perhaps a combination of Networx instances could be used assuming the server is always ON and the router supports SNMP reporting
Windows 2012 Server - "main PC" always ON to monitor router: installed instance of networx plus a portable instance of networx to monitor router
2 desktop PCs (Win8.1) - installed instance of networx
4 laptops (Win8.1) - installed instance of networx
2 Android phones
1 Android tablet
Use the sync option for the windows machines, then manually subtract that total Windows usage from the router total usage to get the aggregate of the Android devices. Depending on the time-of-day that the Android devices are used the 'Hourly Rates' tab in the Usage report may allow a finer detail of Android usage, i.e. if the phones are seldom used, then the tablet will be 'credited' with the greatest usage. But if all 3 Android are used in the same Hour, there's no way to distinguish the usage by device.
In my experience, the usage totals for a non-router interface are slightly different than the router interface totals, the router being more accurate which could require the use of an 'adjusting factor' for the non-router interfaces, you'd have to experiment when none of the Android devices were being used to calculate the factor. Again, I found that the factor could vary between about 10 - 12%, i.e. specify 1.10 for 10%, etc.
This would provide enough information to get a reasonable idea of usage by device if all you want to know is whether the Androids are using a lot or just a little of your bandwidth compared to the Windows devices.
In the end, the router totals will be closest to your ISPs billing if you can use SNMP/UPnP to access the router.
J
Windows 2012 Server - "main PC" always ON to monitor router: installed instance of networx plus a portable instance of networx to monitor router
2 desktop PCs (Win8.1) - installed instance of networx
4 laptops (Win8.1) - installed instance of networx
2 Android phones
1 Android tablet
Use the sync option for the windows machines, then manually subtract that total Windows usage from the router total usage to get the aggregate of the Android devices. Depending on the time-of-day that the Android devices are used the 'Hourly Rates' tab in the Usage report may allow a finer detail of Android usage, i.e. if the phones are seldom used, then the tablet will be 'credited' with the greatest usage. But if all 3 Android are used in the same Hour, there's no way to distinguish the usage by device.
In my experience, the usage totals for a non-router interface are slightly different than the router interface totals, the router being more accurate which could require the use of an 'adjusting factor' for the non-router interfaces, you'd have to experiment when none of the Android devices were being used to calculate the factor. Again, I found that the factor could vary between about 10 - 12%, i.e. specify 1.10 for 10%, etc.
This would provide enough information to get a reasonable idea of usage by device if all you want to know is whether the Androids are using a lot or just a little of your bandwidth compared to the Windows devices.
In the end, the router totals will be closest to your ISPs billing if you can use SNMP/UPnP to access the router.
J