We have Websense, but we don't use it to manage QoS issues, just access to
certain sites.
After years of constantly tweaking QoS rules and never being completely
satisfied with the results we decided to go a completely different direction
and bought NetEqualizer (http://www.netequalizer.com/) in Sept 2008 I think.
Once we set it up we haven't touched it and we'll never go back. We haven't
tweaked a rule in well over a year. You can read about how it works on their
website, but in a nutshell it takes a completely different approach to QoS.
Rather than using a complex set of rules, it takes a protocol and URL
agnostic approach to QoS and focuses exclusively on bandwidth usage.
Basically, it works by slowing down only the top bandwidth users once usage
hits a defined percentage of overall bandwidth. For example, when our
bandwidth usage is less than 85% the NetEqualizer does nothing. When it goes
over 85% the NE puts a slight delay on packets from top users and
progressively adds a delay to their packets to ensure bandwidth stays below
the defined connection max. The effect is that the vast majority of users
see no degradation of service and bandwidth hogs have their connections
slowed. It takes into account bursty traffic like HTTP by calculating
bandwidth based on several seconds of traffic so web browsing is rarely
affected. There are some rules to allow exceptions for servers or special
devices, facilitate low bandwidth streaming, put caps on certain IP
addresses, etc., but we have found that a minimalist approach to
configuration works best.
In addition to providing a better experience for our users, we've also seen
our average bandwidth usage go way up because during off peak times nobody
is getting slowed. We pay for the bandwidth, why not use it? I highly
recommend it and its simplicity makes it relatively cheap. It is a fraction
of the cost of many other QoS solutions.
I recommend using the NetEqualizer for QoS and let ISA stick to what it does
best which is to control access not manage QoS.
Tom Phelan
Peddie School
On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 10:14 PM, Robert Bauer <rbauer@aisgz.org> wrote:
> I need to find out approaches schools are using to manage bandwidth to
> users, particularly students. We run MS ISA 2006 and Untangle. Dropped
> Websense due to high cost, but am now biting my tongue as we are missing
> QoS features in Websense we never used, but now need.
>
> Anyhow, just curious what kind of kbp/s limits you may have set up for
> students. Or daily Mb quotas. Or if you are throttling certain web sites
> or outright blocking them because they chew up bandwidth and are not
> academically related.
>
> My school head wants to know how other schools are approaching the
> problem, especially if limiting traffic to "recreational sites" to include
> LLBean, LandsEnd or whatever a school might be throttling or blocking. I
> realize we're in China and many schools on this list are in US, but still
> would like to know how you handle it.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Bob
>
> .......................................................................
> Robert Bauer
> Information Technology Director
> American International School of Guangzhou
> Tel: (8620) 8735-3392 Fax: (8620) 8735-3339
> rbauer@aisgz.org
>
>
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