Logging system usage -

Wednesday, 30 March 2011


        Is there an application to log system usage that will enable me
        to keep track of usage by individual computers on our LAN?

        Our internet usage is limited by our ISP [Wildblue] and when our
        30 day usage goes too high I tend to panic, and I receive
        notifications. We are presently at 84%, within less than 3 gB of
        maximum and it can take a couple of weeks of little or no usage
        to reduce that.

        I think the present problem was caused by a new iPad added
        lately. It tends to get left on continuously and the user didn't
        realize it was connecting and doing whatever while he thought it
        was idle. By the time we identified the probable culprit we
        burned a lot of b.w.

        DD-WRT in the router logs some usage but not enough to be of
        much use and their mailing list/forum is nearly useless for
        problem solving.

        So I am looking for a scheme for tracking usage by mac or device
        address. I check usage daily but when I see a jump upward I need
        to know what caused it, I always begin to think through what I
        have done before panicking the whole family.  Any suggestion
        appreciated.

        Bob

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