Version 2.9 preview

This is correct! Andrew not change the "about window" to version 2.9b. But the new features works! Don't worry with this...

Andrew Said

"Ability to specify different upstream/downstream rates in a single rule. To do so, simply enter the rates separated by a colon. For example, 100000:50000 means 100000 bps for incoming flow, 50000 bps for outgoing flow. "

Andrew, can you also do this in the Quotas? Ie set up a quota with different rates that rules would use?

Andrew,

I cannot set P2P to block utorrent. Given 2-3 minutes, it always breaches past the smoothwall and allows the user to download. The reason i acquired your software was specifically to block P2P whilst allowing regular traffic through!

Encryption is not even enabled in Utorrent, making me think your P2P filter is not working whatsoever.


Direction: Both
Rate: Blocked
Protocol: P2P
Source: Range: 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255
Destination: Any
Interface: LAN (the one connected to the local network)

^ i used this setup, as you suggested earlier.

as an update it appears to block connections to the trackers, making it harder to torrent but not stopping it entirely.
I still managed to get 50KB/s download rates.

Tony,

I have tested the dual rates seperated by a colon in quota's and it works fine for me. It runs really well and makes managing total sum quotas for one filter much easier.

To whoever orginally suggested that idea, good one


Gavin.

2.9 is looking great.

Is it possible to add the following features at some point?

1)Email notification of reaching quota or rate changes ( as per user gateway function in 2.7)

2)A Quota "upgrade" option that resets at the end of the selected period.

Application eg.

I have users on regular 5G per month or 10G per month etc. These plans are called 5G Plan and 10G plan. When they reach their quota I sell them upgrades in lots of say 1G or 5G. So as an example a user that is on a 10G plan has requested an a 5G would have a total of 15G for that month.

I currently have to remember to allocate the additional download and then put it back at the begining of each month. So I created plans called "5-6G upgrade plan" ,"5-7G upgrade plan","10-11G upgrade plan","5-10G upgrade plan", "10 - 15 upgrade plan" etc

When I see them at the begining of the month the names remind me to put back the original contacted plan.

It would be great if the Upgrade plan reset at the end of the period, in my case begining of the month to the original quota. Hope this makes sense.

Makes sense to me Tony.

eg: Being able to specify both a default quota and current quota on a per filter basis. So you can change the current quota, but have it automatically reset to the filters user specified default quota at the end of the month?

That sounds like a good idea. Andrew?

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Andrew, can you also do this in the Quotas? Ie set up a quota with different rates that rules would use?

This has already been done (although not documented). You can use a colon to specify dual rates, for example 100000:50000 for the initial rate and 50000:25000 for the reduced rate.

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I cannot set P2P to block utorrent. Given 2-3 minutes, it always breaches past the smoothwall and allows the user to download.

There is no absolutely 100% efficient method to eliminate P2P activity on the network. The P2P detection engine does it job (provided that all the P2P protocols are enabled in the BWM's settings), but there is no guarantee that it will always detect 100% of P2P connections.

You can reduce or eliminate its use by enforcing a reasonable limit on number of connections, or long/large data transfers while the normal applications can still work properly.

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Is it possible to add the following features at some point? 1)Email notification of reaching quota or rate changes ( as per user gateway function in 2.7)

Yes, e-mail notifications will be included in v2.9 as there are many requests for this feature.

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A Quota "upgrade" option that resets at the end of the selected period.

Possible. Yet not sure how diffucult it is to implement though...

thank you andrew, your suggestion about limiting connections is a very good idea.

One feature request i'd like to make is a new type of rule.
At the moment we can set global rules (everyone is covered) or individual rules (but we have to manually ID them, mac address, IP addy, group etc)

The problem here say, is that i want people on my network but only limited speeds. I set a 64Kb/s limit each way... but ALL the users share that unless i manually ID them. I'd like the option to set '64/64' and heave EACH user have that, as opposed to sharing a global pool.

Not sure if you get the idea, let me know if i need to explain better.

Ok i thoguht of a better way - when setting a rule, have it "combined" or "per user" (where user is each IP/MAC address in the group, etc)

I could set a rule such as

IP group
192.168.0.0
192.168.255.255

512Kb/64Kb

and have an option "total" or "per user" - total means all users share that bandwidth, whereas "per user" each IP address in that range has that amount each.

With the new dual rate setting do you think the following would be possible to compliment this new feature:

If I specify a quota of 64000:256000 as the initial rate, and try to set a reduced rate of 64000:64000 or just 64000, it says the reduced rate must be lower and won't accept it. Is it possible to have that warning box that pops up have an "ignore" option? Or is it hard coded that it must be a reduced rate?

Gavin.

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Mussels

I could set a rule such as

IP group
192.168.0.0
192.168.255.255

512Kb/64Kb

and have an option "total" or "per user" - total means all users share that bandwidth, whereas "per user" each IP address in that range has that amount each.

Thanks, I got the idea. Basically the current implementation works as "total", i.e. if you cover a range with the rule and set a limit, it is shared among those within the range. It could be useful to have an option "per user" to give every user within the range that limit individually.

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Gavin

If I specify a quota of 64000:256000 as the initial rate, and try to set a reduced rate of 64000:64000 or just 64000, it says the reduced rate must be lower and won't accept it. Is it possible to have that warning box that pops up have an "ignore" option? Or is it hard coded that it must be a reduced rate?

Strictly speaking the reduced rate doesn't have to be less than the normal rate. This will be fixed in next build. At this time you can bypass this restriction by entering 63999:64000 for example

Andrew: i'd like to thank you for responding so promptly to this thread. it would be a nightmare to try and learn this programs ins and outs without your assistance.

These features/ideas discussed in this thread, do you think they'll make it into 2.9 or 3.0? Do you have a (loose) ETA for 3.0?

Sugestion to BWM:

Be able to put domains in fields - SEE PICTURE

How would that work? Would that be some kind of DNS lookup when you enter the rule, or would it regularly check the DNS?

I've often thought this could be a good feature, but I'm unsure as to how Andrew would implement it, given the multitude of dynamic DNS type sytems for load balancing and suchlike?

Well, this is quite possible. As BWM sees all the traffic flowing through the network interfaces, it is possible to parse DNS replies 'on-the-fly' and maintain a cache of the ipaddress-to-domain pairs. For domains with multiple IP addresses this will also work. For example, if BWM sits between the users and the Internet. A user opens www.google.com. Apparently, a DNS request and subsequent reply comes through BWM, so BWM can remember this. Now the user talks with Google using that IP address from the DNS reply and BWM can detect that it is actually www.google.com.

Thank you for your ideas and suggestions guys

The ability to be able to set a penalty speed rather than % would be good, because, for e.g., 10% of 300k is still 30k which adds up when users are going for it.

Penalty speed will remain set in percentage, but the lowest possible value will be 1% in the next build of BWM. This should be sufficient for all practical purposes.