How to use Softperfect Bandwidth Manager (Bandwidth management and traffic shaping )

Introduction:

There are many ways to control bandwidth or limit speed for multiple computers/users.one of the simple way  is to control with Softperfect bandwidth manager.Softperfect bandwidth manager is shareware software which can be run on any windows operating system.Complete how to is written as follows :-

System (Hardware requirements):

The system requirements for SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager (published on sbm official web) :

• Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/windows server
• 3 MB on hard drive;
• A network connection (wired or wireless) or a modem.
• 128 mb of ram
• 2 LAN cards.

Software Installation :

First we will configure our lan cards.

Lan 1 = WAN  in my case (1mb DSL)

Lan 2 = LAN   ( which will work as default gateway for users)

To limit and share internet to different computers first we have to share our WAN with LAN.

Open up Start->Settings->Network Connections to see your network cards(LAN).
right click -> Properties

On the next screen check the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection.

Then you'll be prompted to allow the ICS to change your second(inner) LAN card settings.
From now on it'll have IP 192.168.0.1 (change ip address according to your settings) and will serve dynamic IP addresses via DCHP to the connected computers(clients).

Now install Softperfect Bandwidth Manager, Its available on trial version on their official web.

open it,

Connect to host : localhost

Password         :                

After a successful logon, you will see the main window and a list of traffic filtering rules (initially blank).

Now we will make rules to limit bandwidth for each user

• Rule Name
 - Enter a descriptive name for the rule.

• Direction
 - Traffic direction on the network interface.

• Transfer Rate Limit
 - A data transfer speed limit. You can specify this limit in bytes per second or bits per second, or use a quota for variable rates. In order to use different upstream/downstream rates in a bidirectional rule, specify the rates separated by a colon. For example 100000:50000 would enforce a 100 kbps limit on incoming traffic and a 50 kbps limit on outgoing traffic.

• Combined
 - allows to share the transfer rate limit in a bidirectional rule. For example, if you set a 128 Kbps combined limit, the sum of upload and download rates will never exceed 128 Kbps.

• Protocol
 - The network protocol for this filter.

• Interface
 - The network interface type that the rule applies to.

To add a new rule select Rules - Add Rule from the main menu or click 

To delete a rule select Rules - Remove Rule from the main menu or click 

To edit a rule select Rules - Edit Rule from the main menu or click .

To change the rule priority use Rules - Move Up or Move Down to move the rule position in the rules list, or simply Drag & Drop the rule.

Details of the fields in the Add Rule display:

If you have specified an IP based protocol, you also need to specify Source and Destination parameters. These can be IP addresses, MAC addresses, address ranges or address groups. Other special parameters allowed here are Any Address and Local host.

In order to specify the advanced rule properties, choose the Advanced tab. If you decide to use a schedule, the rule will be either enabled or disabled according to the timetable you choose. For instance, you can configure your rules to allow high speed Internet access on working days and disable it at all on holidays. In addition you can enable or disable the rule on a specific date. The Rule Enabled option becomes read-only and cannot be changed manually when the rule is linked to a schedule.

The Additional Processing feature allows you to redirect incoming connections to a local port or a web-site. See the mapping section for details.

Within the Miscellaneous group the Invert options define how the software interprets the rule. For instance, if you would like to catch all traffic other than directed to the local machine, set the corresponding option. You can also enable the Short packet flood penalty to penalize users who send a lot of small packets into the network; remember to adjust global short packet flood penalty parameters if it is needed.

The Dynamic Allocation tab allows to discourage users from heavy downloads or watching on-line video. Using this feature you can throttle long or large data transfers or the users who open too many connections. For example, if the Volume threshold is set to 1000 KB and the allocation is set to 50%, this means if the user downloads or uploads anything larger than 1000 KB, the user's connection speed will drop by 50% until the transfer ends. As soon it ends, the normal transfer rate will be restored in several seconds. If multiple penalties are chosen, the first triggered one applies.

The User Information tab allows to set a password to access the usage report via a web-browser.

SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager has a helpful batch wizard. If you would like to add a number of rules, for example to cover a LAN segment, use the Add Batch command. It helps you to create many similar rules within a single action.

You can make rules according to your own customization, for example if you want to limit speed to mac address,  source will be local host and destination will be the mac address of the PC.

Logic is same,just ways are changed.

Enjoy a simplest form of server hosted on windows xp :)