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We have some applications which hog network traffic on one of our servers (Windows 7) at the expense of the other (more important) applications. Is there an easy way to limit the bandwidth usage of this particular application with a program or whatnot? It's essentially streaming videos and we want to throttle it such that it can only use a certain amount of our allotted download bandwidth.

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Windows 7. Server. Houston, we have a problem. – ErikA Nov 6 '11 at 5:08
It's not actually used for hosting anything super serious, it's just a "play with stuff" / test box. :P – stoicfury Nov 6 '11 at 6:03
You need to think a bit what you want. Do you want all the connections currently open throttled so no video will work properly? Or deny new incoming connections? Or deny new sessions? – anttiR Nov 8 '11 at 8:28
@anttiR: You know when you're using a bit-torrent client, the application seems to seek out the maximum possible bandwidth available to it with no regard to any other traffic on the system. We don't want that. Some applications (like bit-torrent clients) allow you to set a max download rate, but the application we're using doesn't. The question is, are their applications or router settings that can force this kind of rate-limiting onto the hogging program? I need this done in a way that the streaming videos still render properly, but don't choke the network while they're in progress. – stoicfury Nov 8 '11 at 23:58
@stoicfury Thsi will get complicated. This kind of limiting is good for downloads but for videos it will cut down the transfer rates of all streams. It will not be good. You need to calculate the amount of concurrent streams you can fully support and limit concurrent users to this amount. – anttiR Nov 9 '11 at 6:16
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5 Answers

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+50

I user Netlimiter 2 for my personal stuff.

http://www.netlimiter.com/

I know they've moved to 3, but I haven't. Its absolutely fantastic for my purposes. You can block/limit inbound and outbound seperately, by application, by port (although I don't think you can just do port filtering...)

Its USD29.99 so will definitely break the bank (If Sam's answer is anything to go by ;).

I don't think I'd recommend it for a genuine server environment, definitely a power user product rather than administrator.

Oh... if you do get hold of 2 for whatever reason and have problems installing on Win 7 x64, Win 2K compatibility mode has sorted me out.

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+1 I use this on my workstation to slow down specific applications or protocols. – Nic Nov 10 '11 at 20:02
Why do I get the feeling i'm not going to live that brief episode of finger trouble down.... :-) – Sam Nov 16 '11 at 2:11
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up vote 2 down vote

While I haven't personally tried it, someone else I know has recommended NetPeeker to me previously. Its payware, but at $25 USD, it shouldn't break the bank. And it lets you throttle by application or port (so its doesn't just slow the whole machine down).

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Did you mean shouldn't break the bank? – Clare Macrae Nov 8 '11 at 8:25
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up vote 2 down vote

You might find more useful to put a m0n0wall in front of it, or similar device.

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Or tomato/ddwrt/openwrt router with QoS enabled. – Matt Nov 10 '11 at 20:27
In the same vein as m0n0wall, pfsense and IPCop are good alternatives too. pfsense.org & ipcop.org – Shadok Nov 15 '11 at 11:26
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up vote 1 down vote

If it is internet bandwith that your looking to control then you need to look at your perimeter, the edges of your network, the path that data takes in an out. Putting in place a smart firewall will really help to take care of bandwith problems. My personal favorite, ClearOS - formerly know a few years ago as Clark Connect. Clear OS is easy to use, and is very effective at restricting 'greedy b*stards' on your network!

The lunch time YouTube crew now all use just the one computer to watch streams ever since ClearOS went in, and funny thing is, everyone is now more friendly, and shares lunch, Win, Win, and Win! :)

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up vote 1 down vote

If your hosting the videos using IIS then you can install and configure Bit Rate Throttling. http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/148/bit-rate-throttling-configuration-walkthrough/

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