Monitoring web access with home network equipment

[Guest]

Hello.

I am looking for home/consumer network equipment that allows me to monitor
Internet activity (web access, file downloads, chat, etc....) using network
equipment. I've found most PC-based firewall/privacy to be difficult or
unreliable for a number of reasons, and with wireless PSP's and DS's it gets
even more difficult to manage at the device level. If there something at the
network level that provides at least ramdom sampling of activity identified
by IP/MAC address?

Thanks in advance -- Dave

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Hi

In order to monitor/control a Network in the manner that you want to you
need to be able to access a central spot in the Network where all the
traffic passes through.

In a Peer to Peer Network such a spot would be in the Network Switch (or the
Switch in the Cable/DSL Router). Entry Level Hardware does not provide such
a capacity (Hardware that provides it start at the $500 level).

If the topology is a server topology (Like with Windows 2003) it can be done
via software in the server.

Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Guest]

Another option is to route the Internet traffic through a proxy server; Jana
Server has good logging options, in fact we used it to bust a porn-surfing
clique on one site.

The savvy user could get round this by removing the proxy settings, but most
people wouldn't know how to. Besides, if you deny access to the router from
their IP, then they have no choice but to use the proxy.

 

[Guest]

Are you talking about a proxy server via software on a PC? If so, how much
of a performance hit would I take on a 1.5MB cable connection? Can this be
improved if the PC uses a dual-port network card -- one port to the cable
model and the other port to a hub? Are there any dual-port network cards
optimized to be used in conjunction with proxy server software?

Thanks - Dave