Re: Bandwidth per device

zaq_hack · ‎2018-08-20

I've been searching the forums and the Internet in general, today, as I have gotten my first notice from Comcast that, lo, I am over my 1 Terabyte limit, this month. It has been inching toward that mark for a bit, and last month was around 944 Gig. What can I say: We are a connected, gaming, streaming family and our Comcast link is a vital utility. I have seen suggestions on this forum to "just disconnect everything and reconnect until you find the hog." With 30ish devices on the network, 4 kids, 2 renters, and countless visitors, this is simply not a possibility. What I could do is set up a different router (preferably one with this feature) and move the connections over to it one-by-one until I find the offender. If I have to go that route, I highly doubt the Orbi would get reconnected. Which is a shame because it is a pretty decent solution for everything else.

I would like for Netgear to seriously consider giving customers an option for this data. There are many ways to do it, but ANY of them would be acceptable to me. I'm a long-time networking pro, so even if these are scary for some people, at least it would be an option.

Do the metering in the device with display of the statistics in the interface and in the app. This is obviously going to make the most customers happy because it would give us a report per-device of the usage. This isn't rocket science: Even if the device has a database limitation of 100 devices to monitor, or even 50, it would be useful. COMCAST does it on their modem devices for xFi. It can't be that hard.
Do the metering externally by providing SNMP statistics on a per-device basis for smaller timeframes. This would mean that the Orbi doesn't have to store "dead" devices forever and would be up to whatever stat-gathering tool was used.
Do the metering externally by providing some app that collects the data to a desktop. Maybe Java so you can hit Windows, Linux, and Mac all at once with it.
Provide traffic mirroring to a selected wired port. This would at least give me the ability to plug in Wireshark or other tools to see what is going on. It would be super useful for troubleshooting intermittent issues and not just bandwidth monitoring.
Provide netflow/sflow output to a collector on the home network. This would also have broader uses than just bandwidth monitoring, but it is potentially the hardest to use solution in this list. If it is easy to implement in the Orbi (i.e., the chips already support it), then I'll take it happily.
Other things I haven't mentioned. Look, I'm desperate, here. I will find a way to use anything that helps.

I get 2 months free "warnings" from Comcast, but the cost of not knowing this outweighs replacing the Orbi. Once I start getting charged $10/50 Gig, I'm going to need to know right then and there. And if I don't have a reasonable answer by that time, another Orbi will be going out to eBay.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-08-20

You can post this here:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/idb-p/idea-exchange-for-home

zaq_hack · ‎2018-08-20

That would help with the things that attach to the Satellite (what's happening next door), but not the main house. Most of the devices connect to the router, directly.

I'm testing things a bit by switching the Comcast router out of "bridge mode" and turning the wifi back on. I've set it to Channel 3 and the Orbi's to Channel 11. I've moved a few suspects over to it and am using the xFi monitoring to help narrow suspects. However ... the devices connected to the Satellite have no way to connect to it as they are way out of range of it. The Comcast modem is in the basement. Orbi wired to it a floor up by hard-wiring, and the satellite is in the house next door (our rental property).

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-08-20

Modem Combo Units:
Couple of options,
1. Configure the modem for transparent bridge mode. Then use the Orbi router in router mode. You'll need to contact the ISP for help and information in regards to the modem being bridged correctly.
2. If you can't bridge the modem, disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode.
3. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, LAN to LAN and configure AP mode on the Orbi router.

zaq_hack · ‎2018-08-20

@FURRYe38 - Are you saying that any of these configurations are helpful for this issue? If so, I'm missing some critical steps.

1. Can you share a screenshot of the bandwidth usage per-device report that you are getting out of this?

2. I'm well-versed in how to enable and disable bridged mode. That's not the issue. The issue is getting a bandwidth report.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-08-20

Thats one thing thats not available at this time on Orbi. Only Traffic Meter and it only measures over all usage.

Bridging or disabling the router and wifi on the modem can be a factor if this was still enabled, can be a point of usage thru the modem.

zaq_hack · ‎2018-08-20

Current Network:

Orbi Satellite -----> Orbi Router ------> Comcast Modem 

(wireless backhaul)   (routing mode)      (bridged mode)

Proposed Network:

Orbi Satellite -----> Orbi Router --> Switch --> Comcast Modem

(wireless backhaul)   (ap mode)          |       (routing mode)

                                         |

                                         |(mirror port)  

                                      Analyzer

I suppose I can try something like this. However, it would be great if the mirror port was available as one of the Orbi ports.

And none of this would be necessary if Orbi just set up a few more counters for traffic it is already handling ...

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-08-20

Just make sure the switch is a NON Managed/NON Green Ethernet switch. Orbi doesn't like managed switches for some reason.

I suggest a NG GS non managed switch or a D-Link DGS-105/108.

zaq_hack · ‎2018-08-20

How do you set up a mirror port on a non-managed switch? I was thinking of using a Netgear GS105Ev2 as I somewhat regularly desire to monitor various networks. A travel-sized network spy is something I'll use in the future, for certain.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-08-20

You can try a managed switch, however you'll need to disable any IGMP protocols on it as reported by others:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-MR-2-1-Update-3-23-18/m-p/1553749/highlight/true#M30673
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Using-Router-Configured-as-Access-Point-Cannot-see-Satellites-...
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-Ethernet-Backhaul-with-Managed-Switches/m-p/1613897#M3812...

j42k · ‎2018-09-20

Netgear should show traffic per device in the Traffic Monitor page of the app. This is not a technical feat to do. I don't understand why they do not enable this information.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-09-20

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/Bandwidth-monitoring-by-device/idc-p/1640350...

@j42k wrote:

Netgear should show traffic per device in the Traffic Monitor page of the app. This is not a technical feat to do. I don't understand why they do not enable this information.