I had a question. I have OS X Server and wanted to set up a system where I have internet with a quota of 12 GB, I want to be able to create my own specialised login accounts and split the quota between the users and monitor usage. How would I get this done?
2 Answers
Is access primarily over HTTP? If so, you have the opportunity to create a choke-point by installing a web proxy server such as squid and firewalling outbound access to only allow HTTP (and optionally HTTPS) traffic from the proxy server. The web proxy would be able to record the user and the size of each transaction, which could be added to a running tally for that user. When the quota is reached the proxy could kill off access for that user, and the firewall would not allow any other outbound internet access.
I have to say though, 12GB of total traffic volume is not very much - is that a daily limit?
Will revise this answer with more info from OP.
-
+1 for this solution. Mac OS X Server has no facility to do what you're asking, but it should be able to run Squid just fine, and you can use the built-in firewall to block non-proxied traffic from clients. If you use OpenDirectory, you can also auto-configure the proxy settings with MCX. – lukecyca Dec 18 '09 at 00:46
Hi Andrew (sorry i cant seem to reply to you for some reason normally), yeah 12GB a month is what we get for some internet providers which is abysmal, and which is why i want to ration the internet. So squid or some similar web proxy server. I will primarily use HTTP but there would be some other ports I would need open as well, obviously for things like Skype and MSN etc.