Network Traffic Log
- by Chris Becke
Background - On my "home" network I have a Linksys WTR45GL router providing my internet access as well as a wireless AP.
Connected I have
* 2 Windows PCs (wired)
* At least one laptop (Wired)
* Some 802.11 enabled handheld consoles (PSPs)
* A Nintendo Wii
* Some windows XP pcs used by the people in the granny flat.
Where I live, South Africa, well, 1Gb worth of monthly cap is, while not expensive, costly enough that I'd like to be sure that all the bandwidth used by devices on my network is ... well ... legitimate and not the result of neighbors parasiting my wireless, malware or just the result of "liberal" download policies in my software.
I got the Linksys WRT45GL on the understanding that there were custom firmwares (DD-WRT and Tomato) that allowed bandwidth tracking, but there doesn't seem to be any facility to get a log of traffic that can be examined to see (a) which local devices were the biggest consumers of bandwidth and (b) what they were connected to.
What tools are there for logging traffic such that, when it gets to that OMG moment in the month when all my bandwidth is gone, I have a chance to find out what the hell used it all up (and hopefully attempt some corrective action).
