Bandwidth Throttling in Corporate Networks

Bandwidth throttling is a critical topic in corporate networks. It's a technique for optimizing resources and streamlining corporate network traffic management. 

The bandwidth throttling approach to network management entails setting rules that limit the amount of bandwidth specific applications and users can use. This ensures fair distribution of resources and the optimal performance of the network. 

How to use bandwidth throttling in corporate network management.

Let's explore the different applications of bandwidth throttling in corporate networks using practical examples and scenarios.

Firstly, let's imagine a corporate network where multiple departments share the same internet connection. The IT department notices that the marketing team often streams videos, which consumes too much bandwidth. 

The marketing department's video streaming activities drain bandwidth, impacting other critical applications like the ERP system used by the finance team. IT can implement bandwidth throttling to address this problem.

The IT team can configure the network to allocate only a certain amount of bandwidth to streaming services. This will cap the bandwidth for video streaming, ensuring that essential business applications will always have the network resources they need to function optimally.

1. Capping download and upload speeds of specific IP addresses

IT teams can implement bandwidth throttling using network management tools or hardware like routers and firewalls. Below, we showcase a simple example of how a popular Linux open-source tool called `tc` is used to cap the download and upload speeds of specific IP addresses. 

In this example, we want to limit the bandwidth of a specific IP address:

In the above script, we limit the download and upload speeds to 1Mbps for a device with the IP `192.168.1.100`. By capping the download and upload speeds of that device, we ensure that it leaves enough bandwidth for critical operations.

2. Prioritizing network traffic.

Throttling bandwidth does not only limit excessive resource utilization by one function. It also helps to prioritize essential over non-essential traffic. 

For example, to maintain high customer service standards, VoIP calls for customer support should receive higher priority than regular web browsing. We can configure this using a router's Quality of Service (QoS) settings. 

Here's how that might look on a typical router interface:

In the policy map above, the VoIP traffic identified by the SIP and RTP protocols is prioritized over other traffic, ensuring that VoIP calls remain clear and are not interrupted even when the network is busy.

3. Reducing peak usage times

Throttling can also help during peak usage times. Here, we can use the example of a company that has a cloud backup process that runs every night. 

If the cloud backup process is scheduled to start at 8 PM, it might overlap with the time when employees are wrapping up their day, meaning there may be more traffic at that time than the network can handle. 

We can throttle the cloud backup process during peak hours using a cron job on a Linux server. Here's the script we will use:

In that cron job, we're limiting the network bandwidth the backup process uses between 8 PM and 11 PM to 2Mbps. This way, we will ensure the backup process does not hinder employees' activities as they finish their work day.

Streamline corporate network management and optimize resource utilization with bandwidth throttling.

Using the bandwidth throttling techniques we have covered in this article can help companies optimize network performance and ensure the fair utilization of resources across the organization's different functions. Bandwidth throttling helps maintain a balance in corporate network management, ensuring the smooth and uninterrupted operation of critical applications.