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Partitioning Bandwidth Using Mac OS X?

dasboy has this query: "I was wondering if anyone knew of away to partition bandwidth amongst a group of computers running Mac OS X? I have a [few Macintosh machines] at home all on the same LAN and all on the same Internet connection. One of these machines is used by my daughter when she's home from school. The biggest problems happen when she begins downloading large files (I'll let you guess what she downloads <grin!>). I was wondering if there are any cool BSDish ways of constricting the amount of bandwidth her computer uses?"

61 comments

  1. Eep! by NegativeK · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll let you guess what she downloads

    I'll leave it up to everyone else with perverted minds to guess what _I_ thought of when I first read that.

    I feel like a bad person now.

    --
    This statement is false.
    1. Re:Eep! by Ponty · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, it's clearly illustrated recipes. Everyone knows that that's what God intended the Internet for. And the illustrations are very large. Where's your mind? Now I'm going to go enjoy my weiner that I've been working on all afternoon.

    2. Re:Eep! by joe52 · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, it's clearly illustrated recipes. Everyone knows that that's what God intended the Internet for. And the illustrations are very large.

      Recipes for making babies...

  2. Guess what she's downloading? by spooje · · Score: 2, Funny

    It was porn huh?

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  3. NICE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Woah... his Daughter is a total porno freak! YEAAAAAAH!
    Mingisback

  4. Porn :rolleyes: by isorox · · Score: 4, Funny

    The biggest problems happen when she begins downloading large files (I'll let you guess what she downloads

    4 posts so far, 3 implying she downloads porn. You did ask for it you know :)

    QoS on the router would be the best bet in my uninformed opinion. Other then that a download manager that throttles her bandwidth

  5. Wonderful by entrylevel · · Score: 5, Informative

    I haven't tried it yet (1.5Mbps is plenty for all those on my home LAN), but you might want to give Throttled a shot. Certainly not the easiest to use (no GUI), but it is open source and cross platform (Linux/BSD/OS X). Basically it runs a server process that you enables bandwidth throttling in your kernel's firewall. The configuration file is simple enough to understand and is quite flexible. You can change also settings while it is running by sending it signals using the not-so-aptly-named 'kill' command in the terminal.

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  6. try these? by RalfM · · Score: 5, Informative
    CarraFix might do the trick, or maybe Throttled X


    Ralf

    --
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  7. QoS by Iron+Chef+Unix · · Score: 4, Interesting

    QoS (Quality of Service) settings on your router might be the easiest method. I've never used it, but I know my LinkSys allows you to set priorities (High, Low) for either a specific LAN port, or a particular protocol. Assuming you know what program she is using, say LimeWire, you can also set a specific port (23, etc) to a low priority. I'd be interested to see what effect this has.

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    1. Re:QoS by Petronius · · Score: 2, Informative

      LimeWire has a built-in throttle capability (in case that's the app you're using).

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  8. IPFW by Quicksilver31337 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The simplest way to limit the amoutn of bandwidth she is using would be to throttle it using ipfw, the BSD firewall, you can use it either drop random packets by percentage in order to limit the bw she consumes as well as several other methods.

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  9. IPFW and Dummynet by Graff · · Score: 5, Informative
    You can do this by setting up a firewall in the Terminal. Follow the instructions posted here, replacing the contents of the rc.firewall.current file with the following commands:

    #!/bin/sh
    ipfw add 1000 pipe 1 ip from any to any
    ipfw pipe 1 config bw 300Kbit/s queue 50KBytes
    ipfw add allow ip from any to any


    Doing this should limit the connection to 300Kbit/s. If you want the connection faster or slower you simply need to change the 300Kbit/s number. 56Kbit/s should be approximately the speed of a 56K modem. The last number probably should be scaled appropriately to the first number, that is if you cut the first number in half then cut the second in half.

    To learn more about pipes and dummynet, read the manpages for ipfw with the following command in the terminal:
    man ipfw

    1. Re:IPFW and Dummynet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On any BSD, yeah. but not on Mac OS X ipfw implementation ;-(

    2. Re:IPFW and Dummynet by Graff · · Score: 2
      On any BSD, yeah. but not on Mac OS X ipfw implementation

      Granted I haven't tried this little trick (I haven't had a need to yet) but I'm pretty sure that pipes work under Darwin. Anyone have any experience with this?

      I have used the instructions on how to set up the firewall and I know that works just fine. I've been told that dynamic rules don't work properly in ipfw, but everything else seems to have no problem at all.
    3. Re:IPFW and Dummynet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I tried it to setup pipes with ipfw on 10.2.3 and there was no go!

      ipfw MacOS X != ipfw *BSD :-(

      Look at macos-x-server@lists.apple.com and search for pipe

    4. Re:IPFW and Dummynet by davey235 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I asked about this a while ago on darwinos-users: dummynet isn't in either darwin or OS X, regardless of what the man pages say. So the 'pipe' commands won't work.

      The response to my question is here

  10. Too bad by batobin · · Score: 5, Funny

    **sigh**

    This is the 4th young girl I've heard about this week succumb to the evils of Richard Simmons videos. Which is her favorite? The "Disco Blast Off", or the "Best of Latin Buns Burning"?

    Or is it....no....it couldn't be...."Getting Dirty with the 80s"? Oh, the humanity!

  11. What she downloads... by PKFC · · Score: 1, Funny

    She isn't studying that Ellen Feiss ad so she can win the 2003 North American Ellen Feiss Look-a-like bleep bleep bleep bleep Contest? You know the one where after the first round, like, half the contestants lose... which is kinda... a bummer...

    At least the girls (if there are any) in the contest are shaven... Unlike In Soviet Russia....

  12. altqd by schmaltz · · Score: 3, Informative

    is something I've used under OpenBSD for bandwidth throttling. Don't know if it compiles on OS X.

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  13. Huh? by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

    You have so many machines and she is downloading such large files that you actually need QoS on your home lan?? Wow.

    --
    Why not fork?
    1. Re:Huh? by Greedo · · Score: 2

      Well, obviously her excessive downloading of the latest Ricky Martin MP3s is interfering with her Dad's excessive downloading of Girls Gone Wild - Spring Break movies.

      --
      Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
  14. Umm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...have you tried talking to her about it? :)

  15. Bandwidth Throttling by Patrick+Lewis · · Score: 5, Funny
    One solution is to say GET OFF THE DAMN COMPUTER!

    Well, that's what my Dad would have done.

    --
    "If I am such a genius, how come that I am drunk and lost in the desert with a bullet in my ass?" --Otto (Malcom ITM)
    1. Re:Bandwidth Throttling by Chuqmystr · · Score: 1

      Yes, my dad would've said the same (but because the 'net as we know it now didn't exist back then this is all hypothetical) and I would've ACKed by grumbled something like "OK Dad" and then completely ignored him. Then he would've proceded to throttle me thereby throttling my bandwidth useage by proxy. I've never been any good at computer usage during a physical altercation. Thereafter he would simply have to issue the GET OFF THE DAMN COMPUTER command, I'd glady ACK and produce his desired result before he even completed his command and the much more difficult direct throttling method would be completely avoided.

    2. Re:Bandwidth Throttling by bsartist · · Score: 2

      the 'net as we know it now didn't exist back then this is all hypothetical

      Hardly!. My old VIC-20 had horrible RF shielding, so it borked up the TV reception (no cable!) pretty badly, creating these nasty interference patterns on the TV upstairs. The solution was simple: Whenever my parents wanted to watch TV, I had to turn the computer off.

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    3. Re:Bandwidth Throttling by sjwt · · Score: 1

      mine was fine, same room, same power socket..

      but it did have the overheating powerpack problem,
      couldnt run the powerpack for more then 2 hours..
      had to chuck it in the freazer for 10 mins..
      oh the fun old days,
      serioulsy though dose anyone make external
      none fan colled powerpacks for computers these
      days??

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  16. Assuming she's using P2P software... by vasqzr · · Score: 1


    Is there an option in the program to limit how much available bandwith it uses?

  17. Parental Responsibility by mcgroarty · · Score: 2, Troll
    (I'll let you guess what she downloads <grin!>)

    I assume you mean illegal MP3s. If you encourage your children to steal music and software, please be sure it's a conscious decision. Liability issues aside, you send a very clear message to your kid when you teach them that it's okay to pick and choose which laws they obey.

    1. Re:Parental Responsibility by addaon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A much better message than teaching them to blindly obey all laws! In the state I'm in, it's illegal for a person of legal drinking age to ferment legally obtained materials for the purpose of drinking. It's also illegal for me to drive down the main street more than three times in a single hour. Sodomy is straight out. If you don't pick and choose what laws to obey, you are begging to be lead by the nose... good for those who like latent dictatorships, not so hot for the rest of us. By all means, encourage your children to download (steal? not worth arguing) music... it's one of the easiest ways you have of making sure they have a backbone.

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    2. Re:Parental Responsibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know not all countries have stupid laws like that shithole america. Stop thinking about food and all the brown people you want to kill.

      Fucking Lardass

    3. Re:Parental Responsibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Liability issues aside, you send a very clear message to your kid when you teach them that it's okay to pick and choose which laws they obey.

      Right. The message you should send your kids is that Ted Kennedy, Trent Lott, Robert Byrd, Orrin Hatch and the other 572 'gentlemen' should decide what constitues moral action.

    4. Re:Parental Responsibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should his children (assuming we are talking about the U.S here) be concerned with local law, state law, federal law, or international law?

      Many people who were convicted at Nuremberg violated no German laws. Would his children, as good Germans, have been right to respect those laws too?

      If his children lived in 1850 would they have been moral to return fugitive slaves to their masters?

      Would it have been right for you to remove the front passenger airbag from you vehicle, when it was illegal to do so, in order to protect your child?

      I could give more current examples, but perhaps you should think about it.

    5. Re:Parental Responsibility by dnahelix · · Score: 1

      QUESTION AUTHORITY

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    6. Re:Parental Responsibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who was the dumb ass moder who sent this down to a troll? You may not agree with the statement however it is a valid point to make. Just because you don't agree with a comment does not make it a troller. If it did... well the Bush would be under a HUGE bridge.

    7. Re:Parental Responsibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Yes, ladies and gentlemen... the person above is equating copying MP3s with fighting the nazis.

      The terrorists have already won.

    8. Re:Parental Responsibility by mcgroarty · · Score: 1
      Yes, but when you attach that slogan to silly things like justifying theft, you weaken its legitimate usage.

      Question Authority and Live Responsibly and Respectfully of Others. Encouraging your children to steal for personal convenience seems incompatible with any kind of rational thinking.

    9. Re:Parental Responsibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I assume you mean illegal MP3s. If you encourage your children to steal music and software, please be sure it's a conscious decision.

      Exactly. Always interesting to see what happens when some schmo advocates downloading illegal MP3s among a group of professional musicians like myself who actually hope to make a living from their years of hard work.

      People who think music, art, information and so on "yearn to be free" are almost never the people who have spent their entire lives and considerable amounts of their own money trying to put themselves in a position to earn money from the fruits of their labor.

    10. Re:Parental Responsibility by PeePeeSee · · Score: 1

      Well I hope you can one day become sucessful and have all your hard work owned by some large company to use it at their will for whatever purposes they want even if that includes making a bunch of money off you and you making dick(oh yah that happens everyday!).

  18. Performing throttling per server by iso · · Score: 2

    I have a similar requirement, in that I would like to throttle a connection on a per-server basis (on OpenBSD most likely). i.e. I would like to allow 192.168.1.2 100kb/s and 192.168.1.3 50kb/s. Is this possible? How would it be done?

    - j

    1. Re:Performing throttling per server by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Upgrade to OpenBSD 3.2 -current, man pf.

      The altq configuration is now in the pf configuration and works like a dream.

      Please note, this can't control what speed data comes IN to your network, only what speed it leaves. But, with some work you can prevent her traffic from pushing yours out of the way.

      You would need some sort of queueing system on the far end of you DSL/Cable to control how fast stuff comes down to you. I doubt your ISP is going to let you stick an OpenBSD box at their datacenter.

    2. Re:Performing throttling per server by Clay+Caviness · · Score: 1

      > Please note, this can't control what speed data comes IN to your network, only what speed it leaves. But, with some work you can prevent her traffic from pushing yours out of the way.

      Well, ok, but remember that everything that's coming into one interface on your gateway is likely going out another.

      While the gateway itself has to deal with all incoming or outgoing traffic, you can easily set up queing up on the -internal- interface as well as the external and get throtting on the incoming traffic. Sorta.

  19. Missing the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    He said the problem is large file downloads -- i.e., downstream bandwidth. Throttling will limit upstream bandwidth, but there isn't much you can do locally about the amount of data hitting you from external sites...

    1. Re:Missing the point? by plastik55 · · Score: 2

      Couldn't you delay the ACK packets sent out from her side? That would effectively limit the download speed in most cases.

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  20. Linux Advanced Routing & Traffic Control HOWTO by pbulteel73 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since I'm not too familiar with OS-X I don't know if this will work, but this is probably close enough to what you are looking for. LINUX Advanced Routing HOW-TO It would be interesting (to me at least) to know if the same tools apply on OS-X.

  21. what you really want . . . by superposed · · Score: 4, Informative

    . . . is not bandwidth throttling, but rather packet prioritization. It will be unnecessarily restrictive (and not ideal for you either) to give her, e.g., 300 kbps at all times. It would be much better to give yourself all the bandwidth you want at any given moment, and give her whatever's left over. That way she could use the full bandwidth most of the time, but not interfere with your work at all in the rare moments when you need a lot of bandwidth. Unfortunately, this kind of prioritization between traffic from different hosts would have to happen in the router, so it's probably not available on your home network.

  22. Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a ridiculous over-simplification of a complex problem that philosophers throughout the ages have wrestled with.

    Probably the most well known in the West is Socrates' reply to the Crito where he determined (to summarise) that even if a law is bad, one cannot simply choose to disobey it if one believes that the State in general is good. If one believes the law is so intolerable it cannot be obeyed, one should either try his/her best to change it; leave the state; organise _public_ civil disobedience to further one's cause. Disobeying a law without doing so publicly will not further one's cause, it is simply an undermining of the state which (at least in Socrates' view) is hurting a State one otherwise "loves".

    1. Re:Ridiculous by addaon · · Score: 2

      Yes, but some of the Greek states were lovable. The US is not.

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    2. Re:Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, maybe in the sense of pederasty,. Why is it that anytime some European faggot makes a oh-so-hip put-down comment about the USA, he/she/it gets modded up .... almost instantly?

      The last of the red-hot stylish Eurofags.

    3. Re:Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speak your mind in Germany --- go to jail.

    4. Re:Ridiculous by addaon · · Score: 1

      I'm a New Yorker, if I was the 'European faggot' you were speaking of.

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      I've had this sig for three days.
  23. Re:Sad news... Stephen King troll is dead at 23... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know about anyone else, and maybe this has been posted one to many times to be funny and I've never seen it before, but that was one of the most fucking hillarious trolls I've seen in a while.

  24. Re:Sad news... Stephen King troll is dead at 23... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MODs let this one go, its a funny troll.

  25. DOS attack her computer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When she is inteferring noticably with your bandwith simply launch a DOS attack on her computer from another machine. If you can do this through a switch on the same sub net as hers, it should prevent here form doing anything... problem solved. oh yeah switch it off when you are done.

    1. Re:DOS attack her computer. by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't this defeat the purpose. If you have to Denial-Of-Service attack her computer each time she's excessive using your bandwidth then why bother even letting her download in the first place?

  26. SSH by h'biki · · Score: 1

    Assuming she's running OS X.

    Create a superuser account for yerself on her machine.

    Whenever she's doing illegal things... SSH into her machine and kill the process.

    again.

    and again.

    and again.

    she'll presume the program is so buggy she'll never use it again.

    the RIAA and you win.

    yah! technology.

    1. Re:SSH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assuming she's a dipshit as well....

  27. Bandwidth Reserving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Enough about bandwidth restricting, is there any way to do bandwidth reserving, such as making sure a server on the network always gets at least a certain amount of bandwidth?

  28. Tried a while ago... by DarkRecluse · · Score: 1

    I emailed the person in charge of maintaining the IPFirewall implementation in Darwin pub source and he said he would look into including dummynet support, but after that I never heard back:(

    What I tried to get around the lack of any easy solution was to setup a transparent proxy on the server with Squid, and then use Squid's own bandwidth limiting functions (delay pools-which can allow you to set groups of people based on IP's and subnets). I was doing this at the time with a 56k connection, and it actually worked to the point where my game pings would not cross over 500...lol. I don't recommend it for anything less than DSL, but the difference is noticeable...also, it can be hard to figure out at first, but it is definitely do-able...all this assumes however, that you have a dedicated Mac OS X box running as a gateway router.

    http://www.squid-cache.org/

    http://squid.visolve.com/squid24s1/delaypool.htm

    You could also can have a cron job run on the server during the times you are most likely going to be on, to alter your ipfw config and deny all traffic on the ports your daughter is using to do what she does....but you probably want something more difficult;D

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