Managing Bandwidth

	Rules of the Game You need to define and enforce a clear Internet access policy before buying more bandwidth Managing Network Bandwidth To effectively manage your network bandwidth, you need to analyze it and identify the causes of congestion Linux for Bandwidth Management Build a full- featured bandwidth shaper on a standard Linux box with freely downloadable tools Manage your Bandwidth Implementing PacketShaper 1500, a hardware-based bandwidth-management solution Free and Commercial Tools To manage your network bandwidth, you need the right set of tools to analyze, monitor and control the traffic. Here are some commonly used ones

There never seems to be enough bandwidth for doing anything. Whenever the network is slow, or the Web pages don’t load, the first suspect is usually bandwidth. However, bandwidth may not always be the culprit behind the slowdown. So before you go ahead and spend lots of money in upgrading your network bandwidth, analyze your existing network infrastructure.

For all you know, it might be the proxy server with a filled up cache creating the problem, or your bandwidth-management box might be misconfigured. Managing network bandwidth is a time-consuming task, as it involves hunting for bottlenecks.

That’s why in this story, we have explained the concept of bandwidth management, the causes of congestion and how to tackle them. Tools and solutions alone are not enough. What’s also needed is a good Internet-access policy to maximize the bandwidth usage and increase employee productivity.

There’s a range of solutions for managing bandwidth, both commercial and freeware. For instance, a Linux box can be used for bandwidth management, albeit with a little effort. But if you don’t have the time to go through the gory text scripts in Linux, you could go for a hardware box with a Web-based interface, which can be up and running in no time.

So what’s really needed is a close look at your bandwidth usage. Read on to find out how you can do so.

Anil Chopra