Can I get a bandwidth limiting router/switch ?

[Scoff]

Long shot maybe.. I spent a while looking round google and some stores to see if anyone could sell me an ethernet bandwidth limiter.

It looks like I need a switch or router with QoS or something..? I don't really want to buy an adsl router, I don't have adsl. besides, my lan works OK as it is and I don't want to mess with it. I want a switch or router I can put in between my main router and one particular PC and I don't want to do it in software.

any ideas ? :confused:

[Guybrush]

I've used a cisco switch that does this, but they aren't cheap.

Most home network devices don't provide that sort of functionality.
I've just bought a Belkin N1 Vision, which has QOS, but its not configurable, it just automatically give several protocols priority (VOIP etc).
It does have a nifty display, so you can see how much bandwidth different devices are using, which is handy.

[RichR]

It's pretty easy if you just want to limit it to one of the 'standard' ethernet interface bandwidths - eg 2MB, 10MB, 100MB, 1000MB etc, as you just set the card to only work at that speed. But anything else is a little more tricky.

One way to do it would be to use an old PC or laptop as a router/firewall, running something like a Linux based firewall - that'll give you the control you want, but it's probably a bit of a sledgehammer way of doing it.

QoS only determines packet priority, not allowable bandwidth, so that won't help unfortunately.

[UNICRONICUS]

Those are your only options bud without paying an extortionate amount on a nice managed Cisco switch. QoS controls priority as mentioned already but it doesn't actually limit the bandwidth going through a switch, the cheapest option would be to limit the PC's network card or install some kind of software on a machine to limit what is passed through it.

[Scoff]

thanks guys, thats pretty much what I figured I'd need to do, I just had a little hope that some manufaturer or other might have had the notion to manufacture a simple limiting device or atleast add the facility to a router.

I already run a linux box, have done for a decade since I installed my (then very expensive :D ) broadband connection. it only has one nic though, I think I decided I'd need a pair of nic's for it to work. perhaps not, I might be able to route it in and out of a single card ? i'm into playing with iptables then, and setting up dhcp on the linux box which is something I havn't done for a long time. I wouldn't have a clue these days :) I'll do some reading on it and see how complicated it looks :D

[Scoff]

incase anyone cares, I found a handy script called cbq.init that takes care of all the complicated stuff, it seems to work OK on the linux box, I just need to install another network card it seems!