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how to monitor a public network?

H

H2k47

Junior Member
Hello,

Firstly, I am a noob when it comes to networking and its tricks so please be as simple as possible
smiley.gif
.

My question is how can I monitor the bandwidth used by each computer connected to a public network(such as a dorm) so I could see which computer is using the most bandwidth? Is this possible to do from any computer connected to the same network?

I googled 'network monitoring tools' and I came up with scrutinizer and PRTG but they seem too complicated plus the IP they are showing when they start up is 127.0.0.1 and I do not know how to use them? are there any simpler tools as I only want to see who is using the most bandwidth?

THanks
 
You can monitor other computers only from a a central spot that all the traffic goes through.

That means either getting a Pro/SOHO Router that can do it or running the whole Network through a real Server Computer (like Windows 2012).



😎
 
On wifi, it's shared medium. So you should be able to use something like wireshark to watch traffic, and see which MAC addresses account for what % of traffic.

You probably can't do much more than watch without breaking some rules, but it'll be informative.
 
@Fardringle JackMDS

I have no idea what the make and model of router is as I do not have access to it.

@dave_the_nerd
That is exactly what I want: only see which MAC address is hogging the network. In more simple words, I am just a regular user on this network who wants extra information on who is using bandwidth. Can this be done with Wireshark?
 
H2k47 said:
@Fardringle JackMDS

I have no idea what the make and model of router is as I do not have access to it.

@dave_the_nerd
That is exactly what I want: only see which MAC address is hogging the network. In more simple words, I am just a regular user on this network who wants extra information on who is using bandwidth. Can this be done with Wireshark?
Click to expand...
More or less. You might need to capture the packet info and export it into excel or something, to analyze it there. I'm not too familiar with wireshark, but I know it'll show you basic packet info like source/destination MAC addresses.

After you find the offender, you'll have a bit of a scavenger hunt to find it.
 
H2k47 said:
In more simple words, I am just a regular user on this network who wants extra information on who is using bandwidth. Can this be done with Wireshark?
Click to expand...

Expect a pissed off admin if he finds out you've been trying to snoop around on his network.
 
So is computerhope.com the site you're trying to SEO? Because that's where your smiley comes from in your first post.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
More or less. You might need to capture the packet info and export it into excel or something, to analyze it there. I'm not too familiar with wireshark, but I know it'll show you basic packet info like source/destination MAC addresses.

After you find the offender, you'll have a bit of a scavenger hunt to find it.
Click to expand...

You can do it with wireshark and a wireless adapter running in autistic mode. It'll capture all wireless packets. The issue though is, you won't necessarily be able to determine the modulation rate in use for any given client without a significant amount of analysis on the captured data. You may also have issues with hidden node, IE not being able to hear some of the clients.

You cannot do it on a wired network unless you have access/control over the central node that all traffic is passing through.

In short, no, you are not really going to be able to figure it out. Some people could, but you are not likely to be one of them (crap, I know how I could do it and I probably still couldn't without a very significant amount of investment in time and energy). Now if I had control over the router/switch/access points, it is potentially pretty easy to determine, depending on what firmware is running on the various equipment.
 
Sorry for late reply...you guys are too fast to reply 😀

@John
No I just posted there and did not see an answer. But I will inform computerhope to guide the smiley back 😀.

@azazel1024

So it is not doable from a client computer unless I am a nerd. Got it.

Thanks you all for clarifying 🙂.
 
H2k47 said:
So it is not doable from a client computer unless I am a nerd. Got it.

Thanks you all for clarifying 🙂.
Click to expand...

Do not be so sad, 😛 It is Not possible with regular hardware.

99% can not do it from a client computer even if they are nerds.



😎
 
So just an update on my old question:

Seems you do not need to be a geek to control a public network even from a client's computer. Have you guys heard of Selfishnet?
 
It actually has less to do with being a geek, and more having to do with hacking administrator rights into the router/switch used for your dorm. Again if were talking wifi then you can use a network adapter to read all the packets in the air for the network. a lot of tools needed to do this. If it is a wired network, everyones ethernet cable will go to a switch and no one persons data is transfered with another persons, so you need control of the switch.
 
JeffMD said:
Again if were talking wifi then you can use a network adapter to read all the packets in the air for the network. a lot of tools needed to do this. If it is a wired network, everyones ethernet cable will go to a switch and no one persons data is transfered with another persons, so you need control of the switch.
Click to expand...


Actually, you really do not need any of that. Just that simple tool and it will do the job 😀.
 
ARP spoofing and poisoning, so even if the switch was vulnerable to it, you are committing a federal crime. all for what?
 
H2k47 said:
Sorry for late reply...you guys are too fast to reply 😀

@John
No I just posted there and did not see an answer. But I will inform computerhope to guide the smiley back 😀.

@azazel1024

So it is not doable from a client computer unless I am a nerd. Got it.

Thanks you all for clarifying 🙂.
Click to expand...

For wired, you cannot do it without controlling the point at which the traffic is passing. For wireless, yes, you can do it from a client. You just need a separate wireless adapter running in autistic mode and using wireshark.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
Sensitive to everything. (Reads traffic that isn't addressed to it.)

Not sure who chose the term, but that's basically how autism works (no filter.)
Click to expand...

Correct. Term has been in use as applied to wireless for, err, well I've seen it used for a couple of decades (long before GitS, just so we are clear).
 
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