 |
A compact Network Access Control device to made in South Africa, Dealers: Vanilla, please and become one today. |
Introduction
As bandwidth consumption in SA is increasing, we've noticed that need for a good bandwidth measurement device has been growing. So many companies are calling us as they do not know how they used so much bandwidth. It's usually quite tricky to handle such a situation and hence why many companies are using under-performing fixed price connections. We *want* our customers to have more quality bandwidth, to use more bandwidth and to be able to account for it. After extensive searching for a simple device that can provide information about which machine on the network is using how much Internet transit bandwidth, we found very few off the shelf options. As such we built this device and continue to seek alternatives.
We setup a few firewall appliances (ie PC + boot install disk) which worked out OK although each one is different and the inconsistency is difficult to manage. Plus these are not always reliable and they are fairly expensive. After searching for something small and solid state we decided we would patch one together. Using an ALIX board and EMBcop (a version of IP for embedded devices) we've developed 'the Nacbox' (Network Access Control).
Benefits
- See bandwidth usage on your network:
See in graphical and tabular format, how much bandwidth each user/device on the network is using.
Sample: On the left you should see how the daily graphical representation looks. Each user has such a graph in a list of all the users. You can click on the graph (or table) in order to see each individual usage graphically or (in table format) by day, week, month and year.
- Block unwanted content:
If Facebook or YouTube is distracting users on your network - and costing you in bandwidth - you can now block it. If you want to block porn and gambling, it's a point and click option.
Allow any device to connect to your network securely using a secure OpenVPN connection (tested with Windows and Nokia clients).
Sample: The device is a fully fledged firewall and can be setup to handle various connections from any Internet network and enable authorised users to access resources in your LAN.
Setup and maintenance
The device is compact and simple to plug into your network (see right photo of how it sits between you main gateway (router) and your LAN. The device itself does not need maintenance and since it has no moving parts has a longer lifetime than any PC. We will release various software updates every 6-12 months for enhanced functionality.
In order to ensure all reporting is accurate, the device currently requires that each machine on the network is configured to be allowed to access the Internet, (ie. with a static IP) and in order to ensure that each device is monitored and graphed it must be added to the monitoring application.
In addition to the simple web interface advanced users can access the box using secure shell (ssh).
Specifications
Hardware:- Alix 2d3 with ports: 3 x 10/100 LAN, 1 miniPCI, 2 USB, AMD Geode LX800 - 500Mhz, 256MB RAM, plus 4GB CF-Card
3 colours available : Red, Black and Silver
Software:
- EMBCOP Version 1.4.21: With customised plugins, Extra Graphs Version 0.2.3, URL Filter 1.9.3 and Net-Traffic – Version 1.3.0
Support
For more information contact Nils, 021 409 7997 or
Copyright NACbox - a trading name of Future Perfect Corporation
IPCop (and the logo on the right) is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Many thanks :)