How do I check bandwidth use per user on a Terminal Server?

[MockY]

How do I check how much bandwidth a user on a Terminal Server is using? Running a TS has many advantages, but the main disadvantage is the fact that they all use the same machine, hence the same IP. So how do I go about to check how much bandwidth each user is utilizing?

 

[dberg35]

Surprisingly it doesn't use too much. I have roughly 80 users on a Terminal Server spread out over 4 locations with no issues. On average it is about 48k so unless your using dialup your good.

 

[MockY]

If they all use normal amount of bandwidth, then I would not have any issues. However, my 8/1 cable connection is very sensitive when someone starts downloading files, and currently a steady 300-500KB/s down is in use which almost stalls the Internet usage for the rest of the users (for the rest of the LAN for that matter). I simply want to find out who is using most bandwidth so that I can investigate why that is and take action in order to prevent excessive bandwidth usage. But since they all use the same IP number (the IP of the TS) it is impossible to tell who's the culprit.

 

[dberg35]

There are a series of tools to monitor your networks bandwidth but most cost. If you have a small infrastructure then check this out

http://www.axencesoftware.com/

Are you running a domain, do users have admin rights to their pc? If users have admin rights then take that away and that will solve the issue of them installing software. Also if a pc is infected it also can slow down the internet.

 

[MockY]

Thanks for the response.
However, I am running a Terminal Server and the clients only use thin clients in order to log in to the TS. They are therefore not able to install any software on the server, nor on the thin clients, since they are strictly clients. However, I don't block any downloads so they can download content such as music and videos as much as they want. I don't think that anyone is deliberately hogging the bandwidth and I don't feel like spying on their session in order to pinpoint the bandwidth usage. Therefore I would like to use a program that shows how much bandwidth is used per user, not by IP since they all have the same LAN IP due to the nature of Terminal Services.

The Smoothwall I implemented does show the usage per IP or client/host, but since everyone is using the Terminal Server, they all use the same machine and therefore the same IP/host so pinpointing who of the logged in users that is using the most bandwidth is impossible to list without a tool specifically for Terminal Services.

 

[dberg35]

Well being this is all being done on the TS then look at the users profiles to see how big they are. As for spying on them you are the administrator and you have every right. Every user in my company is notified that any usage of a corp pc is not private and that I may at anytime shadow them. Take it from me the more your allow them to do could at some point cripple you server. I would block all ports except for what is needed.