[OPLINTECH] Maxing out our T1

[Chad Neeper]

For most of my public library and school clients, I use IPCop, an
excellent open source firewall solution that incorporates a HTTP caching
proxy (squid) and traffic shaping capabilities, along with a slew of
other features. In it's base configuration, it can easily be installed
on old, recycled hardware if you need/want to. There are a number of
third-party extensions, but specifically there is at least one extension
that will incorporate HTTP filtering. I plan to investigate that
solution for CIPA compliance in the very near future. Being open source,
the software is all free. It IS based in Linux, and some knowledge in
that area doesn't hurt, but you don't need to know anything about Linux
to install and use it. There is a very comprehensive HTTP interface for
configuration and reporting.

To date, while I have a number of clients that have a similar (and
larger) number of workstations, I haven't had anyone complaining that
they have used up their bandwidth. However, that may be traced to patron
behaviors. You may have a larger number of consecutive video streaming
patrons. I've noticed that for whatever reason certain libraries seem to
have more patrons that stream video than other libraries (regardless of
network use policies.)

For those interested:  www.ipcop.org

Chad

Ps. I'm just a user (and recommender) and have nothing at all to do with
the IPCop project, forks, or extensions.

-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer

Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

--   Full LAN/WAN consulting services   --
-- Specialized in libraries and schools --



Matt Hoffman wrote:
> Phil,
>
> It's the same here, though we have 4 branches and 3 T1's (one just added
> 6 months ago or so).  Added T1's shortly get maxed out as well.
>
>            Matt Hoffman, Network Administrator
> Cleveland Heights - University Heights  Public Library
>     (voice) 216-932-3600 x 284 (fax) 216-932-0932
>  mhoffman at heightslibrary.org www.heightslibrary.org
>
>   
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org]
> On Behalf Of Tyra Ealy
> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 12:02 PM
> To: Phil Shirley; oplintech at oplin.org
> Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] Maxing out our T1
>
>
> Hi Phil,
>
> Join the crowd!  We have the same problem, but we have a lot more
> buildings/computers.  I added a 2nd T1 earlier this year and immediately
> maxed it out too!  I've been looking for solutions, so far none.
>
> Tyra 
>
>
> Tyra L. Ealy
> Information Technology Manager
> Warren-Trumbull County Public Library
> 444 Mahoning Ave. NW
> Warren, OH 44483
> 330-399-8807, ext. 140
> http://www.wtcpl.org
>  
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org]
> On Behalf Of Phil Shirley
> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 11:44 AM
> To: oplintech at oplin.org
> Subject: [OPLINTECH] Maxing out our T1
>
> Our Internet speed is very slow for a good part of each day.  I have
> called the OPLIN help desk during these times and they've reported that
> we were using most of our T1 at the time (93% last time I called). 
> OPLIN referred our problem to the network engineers at the state, and
> I've had a couple of people look at our traffic, and nobody can find
> anything bad going on, except that we just seem to have a lot of traffic
> (traffic dies down to almost nothing when the library's closed,  with
> all our computers turned on).  We're considering getting additional
> bandwidth from OPLIN or Time Warner.
>
> I would be interested to know if anyone else has had this experience. 
> We are a single-site library; we have 34 public Internet computers, and
> we allow games, streaming video, chat, and all kinds of things (except
> dirty pictures and stuff like that).  We do have one wifi access point
> for the public (segmented from the rest of our network) but its traffic
> is very low, and unplugging it didn't make a difference; I blocked the
> bandwidth-hog Runescape one day and that didn't make a noticeable
> difference.
>
> Has anyone else faced an issue like this?  Is the modern web just too
> bandwidth-intensive for us to rely on a T1 for all our needs?  Thanks
> for any comments.
>
> Phil
>   
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