About Traffic Management; About Network Traffic; Causes For Slow Network Traffic - Watchguard Firebox X15 User Manual
Firebox x edge e-series version 10 all firebox x edge e-series standard and wireless models
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- User manual (266 pages) ,
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- Reference manual (264 pages)
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10
Traffic Management
About Traffic Management
The Firebox X Edge e-Series supplies many different ways to manage the traffic on your network. You can limit
the rate of traffic sent to the external or IPSec interface using QoS (Quality of Service) through Traffic Control.
You can manage data transmission by giving more or less bandwidth to different traffic types. You can also
change the visible network address of incoming or outgoing traffic to prevent conflicts using NAT (Network
Address Translation).
About network traffic
Bandwidth is the quantity of data that can be sent through the network in a specified increment of time. It is
usually expressed in bits per second (bps), kilobits per second (Kbps), or megabits per second (Mbps). A T1 line
supplies approximately 1.5 Mbps, while a dial-up connection supplies approximately 56 Kbps. Latency is the
quantity of time necessary for a packet to go from a source to a destination.
Together, latency and bandwidth define the speed and capacity of a network. You can improve latency by
configuring Traffic Control. You must upgrade your Internet connection with your ISP to improve bandwidth.
When too many users or devices try to send data at the same time, the Firebox X Edge cannot send all of the
data quickly. When the Edge has more traffic than the external connection can send at the same time, some
programs appear to operate slowly.
Causes for slow network traffic
Many programs use as much bandwidth as possible to operate. If too many users operate these programs,
other users cannot use the network. Peer-to-peer (P2P) services, instant messaging, and file downloads are
programs that frequently use large quantities of bandwidth.
To limit the quantity of bandwidth those software applications can use, you must use Traffic Control. To deny
or allow traffic from those software applications, you must configure a policy. For more information on
policies, see
About
User Guide
policies.
165
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