I would like to set up a PC at work to monitor all traffic that is being accessed on our local network, can some one be able to point me the right direction of software that I can use to enable this function?

Basically we have 20 or so macs and PC's all accessing the internet via one modem. I want to see what IP address's are being visited and to keep a log of whom is accessing what.

What will you do if they're all visiting Mactalk?

Setup a proxy between the lan and the internet modem, and force proxy use. Then all http traffic will be accounted for. Best way to do this would be with a simple little linux install on a pc or old mac. It must have 2 network cards of course, so you can bridge the lan to the network with the ADSL link etc.

Use to do this all the time for businesses and skools.

IP Addresses or websites?

You could setup a proxy server such as squid, and then firewall the network so connections have to got through the proxy

Or set up a transparent proxy so that they don't even need to be configured to use the proxy.

My home setup is using transparent proxying to make it a simple plug&play affair.

Heres a guide to doing it on linux: http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-...uid-howto.html

i'll start looking for an OSX Guide.

Unless he is tracking by client computers ip address a transparent proxy won't work, as it doesnt allow authentication

IP Adress would do, but they can be easily changed you're right - authenticated proxying with ports blocked is the best bet.

If you are going to all the trouble of setting up a dedicated gateway that can do all the above, adding MAC address logging/locking into the pool isn't that much work.

And from there you can add shaping, quotas and a kitchen sink...

I would like a PC guide, if some one can point the advantages of using linux over say windows XP, then please let me know... I have a PC at the moment with two network cards.. so now just need the right software (and OS) and it will be sweet...

as I have never done this before a NUMBIES guide would be cool Thanks !

If you want simple it's hard to go past Clark Connect, whilst it's based on Linux it's actually easier than almost any other solution available as it's a single purpose Linux distro that requires no knowledge of Linux to install or administer (administration is done using your web browser from another computer).

http://www.clarkconnect.com/

Or you could use one of the Windows Server OS's to do what you want (but that is expensive), or there are a few proxy servers for windows like WinGate which will do most of what you want.

http://www.wingate.com/

Or you could use a generic Linux Distro, but that really needs a working knowledge of Linux (or lots of time to get up to speed)

ZoneCD sets up a gateway between your internet connection and your computers.
It allows logging of how much is being downloaded, as well as download limits, bandwidth limits and time limits.

Finding it very useful at home to stop stupid downloads.

theov

Thanks for that, I will look that up

For a total system solution including OS I would recommend CensorNet.

Opensource to install and then you just pay for ban lists if required.

http://opensource.censornet.com/

Check out Smoothwall: http://www.smoothwall.org

I'm fairly certain it will give you bandwidth stats for certain IP addresses, as well as log URLs visited for each IP/MAC address.

Thanks for that suggestion, been checking all those out today.. I will let you know which solution works out best.