Access Control on Network

  • Thread starter Thread starter Torquemada
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Torquemada

I have set up a home network for our DSL connection.

I have 4 machines connected to a US Robotics router.

2 of the four machines are running WinME, while the other 2 are running XP.

I would like to limit access to the Internet at different times, on some of
the machines.

Can anyone suggest what to do, or where to seek for advice on this matter?

Thanks in advance

E Torquemada
 
Need to know a *little* more.
Do you *specifically* want to limit:
1: access to the machine
2: access to the home network
3: access to the internet?

A: you can run a domain and use enforced login times (which will log
certain users out at certain times) This will restrict 1, which
effectively restricts 2 and 3 as well.

If all machines are password protected when they are not in use, it
also means that the user can't find another machine and log in there.

B: Buy a router and put it on a timer. Hook the restricted machines
to the new router, and then the new router to the existing router.

When the timer goes off, network goes away. (Shutting down 2 and 3)

C: Use a firewall to block certain ports (http/irc/im/etc) and turn it
on at the specific times. This allows you to just shut down 3.

D: Use the honor system, with "big brother" monitoring tactics.
Several ways to do this: (a) Use VNC (realvnc.com) for spot checks on
the monitor or (b) Use a network monitor to watch for packets being sent
to/from a certain machine.

My guess is you are trying to limit access to the kids room so they
are not up all night?

A and possibly C are the most secure (kids cannot tamper with things
if you have password access) B is fairly simple. D(a) will inspire
mistrust and paranoia. D(b) has some potential.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I apologize for the lack of clarity in the post. :)

I do have a router. US Robotics.

I would like to block all traffic on a particular machine (IP.) when needed.
This seems to be pretty simple.

More difficult is blocking access to Kazaa, while leaving the rest of the
Internet available on that particular machine, since the software changes
ports and you can't simply block out a port.

Again, thank you...

E
 
Torquemada said:
Thanks for the reply.
I apologize for the lack of clarity in the post. :)
Click to expand...
no... you were fairly clear, it's just what levels of "removing
access" were acceptable.

It seems you want to only block Internet access, while allowing access
to other programs on the machine and access to the home network.

This is a bit trickier than blocking *all* network traffic or blocking
access to anything on the machine.... which is fairly easy.

If you had a dedicated programmable router (likely a computer acting
as a bridge between the home network and the outside network) you
would be able turn off/on external routing for particular machines
based on a schedule. I don't know if the USR router has that
capability.

Perhaps you need to set up one of the unrestricted machines as the
local network bridge to the outside and run something on there which
will give you that control. wish i could help more.

I'm by no means an expert.... hopefully some other folks will chime in
some other ideas.
 
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