Router that can monitor bandwidth Per IP and/or MAC

[a2chris]

Hi all. I do work for a bunch of clients and a couple of them have expressed an interest in being able to monitor the bandwidth usage of all of the devices on their network. There has been a few times where the internet slows to a crawl. One has a 10Mb internet connection and up to 20 users and the other has a 60Mb internet connection with around 40 users. They both want to be able to see a listing of devices ranked by bandwidth usage. The closest I have seen is an ASUS AC66u that shows WAN, wired, and wireless bandwidth and connected devices but does not show the bandwidth for each device. Is there a router that will show this with a nice GUI interface that is easy to use since the client (office manager) will be monitoring it? I do not want log generated reports or anything too technical. We also cannot install anything on the users machines.(they are renting office space that includes internet) I would think in this day and age this would be something that router manufacturers would include. A bonus would be the ability to throttle bandwidth offenders. I am not against loading ddwrt or Tomato on a router if it can do it. I have an old dir655, a Asus rt-n12 and AC66u, a dual band TrendNet and a TP-Link 3500 or 3600 router to play around with. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[zentec]

I would opt for a managed switch. You can produce bandwidth graphs per interface with something such as Cacti. There are some inexpensive TP-Link managed switches that have SNMP. Besides the initial benefit of ease of graphing, some also support QoS and most have VLAN tagging.

Another option is Netflow, which is going to be 'spensive for both the software and the hardware on which to run it. But it is a nifty tool.

 

[Cloud200]

Depending on how valuable this is to the client, try looking at a paid option.

Something like a Meraki MX router or the NG firewall package from Untangle.

 

[a2chris]

I found the emulator for the ASUS AC87u and it looks like it supports it. I ordered one from Newegg to try it out. The combo with a Zyxel Docsis 3.0 modem is $230 ($180 after MIR)

 

[Samir]

I know the cisco rv series supports bandwidth limiting by IP and protocol, but it can't do reports.

 

[a2chris]

Thanks for the replies. This is something that is going to be monitored by the client (both are non-IT women in their 50's) so it has to be very easy to use. I was honestly surprised that more equipment does not provide this option. Anyway, I am happy to report that the AC87u shows real-time usage by MAC, IP, name, and will show the manufacturer of the equipment to help with identification. It will even break down that machines usage by protocol and website.. e.g. iTunes, Facebook, YouTube, etc. This is something that all higher end routers should provide IMO. My only complaints is that while it does show historical total bandwidth usage, it does not break that down by device. Also, in my test environment, it would routinely show one wireless laptop using more bandwidth than was availably (30Mb connection but computer using 95Mb) with no file sharing.

 

[Samir]

Thanks for the replies. This is something that is going to be monitored by the client (both are non-IT women in their 50's) so it has to be very easy to use. I was honestly surprised that more equipment does not provide this option. Anyway, I am happy to report that the AC87u shows real-time usage by MAC, IP, name, and will show the manufacturer of the equipment to help with identification. It will even break down that machines usage by protocol and website.. e.g. iTunes, Facebook, YouTube, etc. This is something that all higher end routers should provide IMO. My only complaints is that while it does show historical total bandwidth usage, it does not break that down by device. Also, in my test environment, it would routinely show one wireless laptop using more bandwidth than was availably (30Mb connection but computer using 95Mb) with no file sharing.

Thank you for updating your reply. It's good to know there's products out there like this that aren't the expensive enterprise-grade stuff.

 

[System Error Message]

mikrotik routerboards/routerOS can limit bandwidth per IP or protocol and can display them as graphs. They are inexpansive considering that they are an alternative brand in the enterprise/business area just like ubiquiti. The only downside is that the web based graphs on routerOS are approximates while the accurate graphs can only be read from an interface or such statistics tab from logging in via the GUI.

You can also use queuing in routerOS to ensure that all applications get the bandwidth they need. That means that file sharing can use all the bandwidth if no one else is using the internet but gets throttled down to the value you set when your internet bandwidth is full of other uses.

If you use authentication in routerOS you can view per device statistics.

There is a live demo for routerOS.

 

[Samir]

mikrotik routerboards/routerOS can limit bandwidth per IP or protocol and can display them as graphs. They are inexpansive considering that they are an alternative brand in the enterprise/business area just like ubiquiti. The only downside is that the web based graphs on routerOS are approximates while the accurate graphs can only be read from an interface or such statistics tab from logging in via the GUI.

You can also use queuing in routerOS to ensure that all applications get the bandwidth they need. That means that file sharing can use all the bandwidth if no one else is using the internet but gets throttled down to the value you set when your internet bandwidth is full of other uses.

If you use authentication in routerOS you can view per device statistics.

There is a live demo for routerOS.

Thank you for the post! MikroTik seems to make some impressive products. I'm already looking at their hardware for an upcoming VPN upgrade.

 

[System Error Message]

a mikrotik CCR is very fast even with thousands of queues. I've seen screenshots of them working at wirespeed with 25,000 queues, each generated using a script based on their users. Their queues have less penalty than firewalls. As long as each machine appears in the interface list (you would need to implement hotspot or radius 802.1x authentication for this or PPP or VPN) you can see their stats and graphs. Some of their models have LCD screens that can show colourful graphs. Their long term graph statistics are approximated though but if you want to monitor real time they are accurate.

 

[Samir]

a mikrotik CCR is very fast even with thousands of queues. I've seen screenshots of them working at wirespeed with 25,000 queues, each generated using a script based on their users. Their queues have less penalty than firewalls. As long as each machine appears in the interface list (you would need to implement hotspot or radius 802.1x authentication for this or PPP or VPN) you can see their stats and graphs. Some of their models have LCD screens that can show colourful graphs. Their long term graph statistics are approximated though but if you want to monitor real time they are accurate.

That's pretty amazing for such a reasonably priced device. I'm just mainly interested in them as an alternative to the Zyxel products I was going to upgrade from our Cisco rv and Netgear FVS routers.