[SOLVED] 2 nics 1 pc

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Mar 5, 2014
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Is there a way I can set up a pc with 2 nics? One after for Comcast cable modem and 1 for lan in my house. The reason is, is that I would like to capture all the data that comes and goes. Comcast is saying I am using over 100GB a day. I cant see how. Its mostly me in the house, I have turned down Netflix to 720p . Other then that I have a garage door opener, and 2 Apple tv's But they are off most of the time.
The increase has occurred over the last 3 months or so, my data habits have not really changed.
I have a Asus router and it has data capture in it but the numbers are way off from what Comcast is saying.
I am hoping by have a computer in the middle I can run some software that will accurately capture the amount that is downloaded.

If that can be done is there an appliance that I can put in between my router and cable modem?

Thanks
 
Solution
I would also recommend a small managed switch solution. You can do it with a pc, but you are in effect building a form of firewall. Like most these "free" things you have to do lots of reading to get them setup to do what you want. They can do so many things you become lost trying to find what you want. This is partially why commercial firewall cost more, they tend to be much easier to use.

All you need is a switch that has capture/mirror ability. You can then forward all the captured traffic to a windows pc running something like wireshark. Wireshark can be complex but it is pretty easy to get usage reports from it.

The reason you see difference in the numbers in the asus is the traffic is bypassing the cpu so it can't...
You can easily do this and I believe pfsense or untangle can do what you want. You can also use a dual or quad ethernet card and use just the ports on the card.
Well, I wouldn't call that "easily".
It can be done, though. I used to run an untangle box as an intermediary between the router and everything else.

But also..a pfSense/untangle server between the router and the rest of the network would not capture WiFi traffic direct to the router. Unless you made THAT the WiFi source as well.
 
Is there a way I can set up a pc with 2 nics? One after for Comcast cable modem and 1 for lan in my house. The reason is, is that I would like to capture all the data that comes and goes. Comcast is saying I am using over 100GB a day. I cant see how. Its mostly me in the house, I have turned down Netflix to 720p . Other then that I have a garage door opener, and 2 Apple tv's But they are off most of the time.
The increase has occurred over the last 3 months or so, my data habits have not really changed.
I have a Asus router and it has data capture in it but the numbers are way off from what Comcast is saying.
I am hoping by have a computer in the middle I can run some software that will accurately capture the amount that is downloaded.

If that can be done is there an appliance that I can put in between my router and cable modem?

Thanks
A "simple" thing you can do is put a managed switch in-line. You can then use snmp to capture counters on the switch ports. Those counters can be used to calculate usage.
 
I would also recommend a small managed switch solution. You can do it with a pc, but you are in effect building a form of firewall. Like most these "free" things you have to do lots of reading to get them setup to do what you want. They can do so many things you become lost trying to find what you want. This is partially why commercial firewall cost more, they tend to be much easier to use.

All you need is a switch that has capture/mirror ability. You can then forward all the captured traffic to a windows pc running something like wireshark. Wireshark can be complex but it is pretty easy to get usage reports from it.

The reason you see difference in the numbers in the asus is the traffic is bypassing the cpu so it can't collect the statistics because it never see the data. There is a way to turn this off but if your internet is over say 200mbps you will cap your bandwidth. I have never actually done this on a fast connection but the router does produce correct usage reports when the feature is off form what I can tell.
 
Solution