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Ron,
When the number of active connections for any
single user exceeds about 10 to 15 simultaneous connections, you generally have
one of two things occurring. Either the subscriber has been infected by
some sort of virus/spyware or the customer is running some sort of peer-to-peer
networking software (i.e. Kaaza, winMX, Limewire, Bittorrent, etc, etc,
etc).
Either of these situations will result in increased
latency and decreased overall available network throughput on the Canopy
systems. On the Tranzeo system, the effect is far worse. Since
Tranzeo is 802.11b based, there is no polling mechanism to ensure timely
delivery of packets. the effect of a continuous streams
of outbound traffic is dropped packets. Dropped packets
means timed-out web pages and dropped email sessions. It gets far worse
when you start dealing with games and VoIP. Even 1% packet loss can result
in unusable games. Likewise, the very slightest IP interruption can make
VoIP sessions experience jitter, echoing, and garbled signal.
It is important that you determine the specific
customers that are causing the excessive streams. Look at the ports in use
and the destination addresses. Determine if the traffic is likely P-t-P or
an infection. If it's P-t-P, you should be able to control the volume of
the traffic by using the P-t-P throttling mechanisms available through the
Mikrotik software. If it's an infection, you should disassociate the
user from your AP's until the infection can be resolved. If you simply
firewall the outbound traffic, you probably won't solve
anything. Many infections cause the PC to continuously send out
packets regardless of whether those packets ever arrive at a valid
destination. Therefore, the infection will keep sending/flooding your
AP even if you block the subscriber from successfully reaching the internet
via a Mikrotik firewall.
Larry Yunker
Network Consultant
WISP Advantage
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