[plejon]

Hi,

I manage the network in a small company (10 employees).

The last couple of months, several employees have started to use internet radio, streaming music all day long. This is having a negative impact on the performance of internet for the other employees.

We have asked repeatedly to stop listening to the radio, but after 5 minutes, they switch the radio back on. It's all quite childish really. Then the discussion starts about which channel to listen to. One person likes a "humor", his colleaguies are annoyed because they have to listen to the same stupid jokes all day day long.

So here is my question: how could I block these internet radios technically on our server? Not everybody is using the same website for their radio, so I guess I would first have to detect the audio stream, then block it somehow. All internet traffic is routed over our MS Small Business Server.

[Phantom010]

Some firewalls will block desired extensions and content types, like .wmv, .avi, etc...

Read this. Also this.

I've read that most streaming sites use port 80. You could set up a proxy server. Block port 80 and use 8080 for instance.

You could also use the Group Policy editor:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Media Player > Networking.

Now choose the Streaming Media Protocols element (which will probably
be set to "Not Configured") and set it to Disabled. You might also
want to "Hide Network Tab".

Can't company management control 10 employees?!? A strict policy would be much easier to enforce for 10 than for 100 employees. However, happy employees are normally more productive...

[plejon]

I know, this is all so childish. It started out innocently, but now it is spiraling out of control and it is making everyone unhappy.

One of the guys likes a joke channel, listens to comedians telling lame jokes all day long. It's seriously annoying, and when you're on the phone with a customer, it really doesn't sound very professional. One of the girls is a Simply Red fan and plays the same CD at least once a day. Now another guy started to listen to sports matches. When we asked him if he couldn't watch sports at home, he says if X can listen to jokes, why can't I listen to sports. The people that work on the internet a lot complain because it slows down to a crawl if 4-5 other people have a radio or in the case of the sports fan a video stream on all the time.

We asked to stop listening to the radios. I pass by somebody's desk, radio is on, I ask to turn it off as agreed, I turn my back and five minutes later it is on again. It is very frustrating, maybe I should just buy them all headphones ....

[lunarlander]

Maybe you can set up QoS ( quality of service ) on your switch for all users so that they are given a preset bandwidth. Those that want to do internet radio streaming will just have to suffer the lag.

[Phantom010]

And maybe you could give us a little feedback on what you have tried so far... Have you tried any of my suggestions? Did you find a solution?

[1SillyBilly]

What does management think about this use of resources? Ten employees are not that difficult to oversee. A memo to all with consequences for failure to comply should make the Policy effective, especially if one employee got fired.

I managed many more than ten employees. I wanted team players only.