[Gaffer74]

Hi, I can't find the answer to this problem anywhere
I've set up my extreme BS so that it is hardwired (ethernet cable) to my 550 TiBook. This is now my "desktop" computer.
My 1.67 PB, however, simultaneusly uses WiFi to connect to the BS as my "portable" elsewhere in the house (full specs in my signature..I use OS 10.4.5 and my BS software is fully up to date too)

I usually have something downloading/uploading on the "desktop" which leaves the "portable" free for other things eg surfing/typing docs etc etc.

Rather than continually having to get up to check whether something has finished up/downloading on the "desktop", is there a way I can view the overall traffic going to and from this machine from the comfort of my "portable" in the other room?

I simply want a rough view of "on the fly" traffic in and out of the ethernet connection.

I have got Airport AdminUtility/ClientMonitor/ManagementUtility, but these just give me traffic wrt the portable I'm using to view them on.

Is there any simple way of checking that traffic on the BS ethernet line (to "desktop") has ceased (ie finished up/downloading) by viewing from the "portable" WiFi connected PB?

PS I've also mounted the "desktop" on my "portable"'s desktop as a network drive, but this simply tells me that a file is present, and does not accurately reflect it's size on the fly. E.G., if I download a 100Mb document on the "desktop", even if only 20Mb has downloaded, when I mount that PB on my "portable" it indicates the document is the full 100Mb even though it hasn't fully downloaded yet

Any ideas (a simple terminal command line maybe, I prefer never to use terminal if I can help it, but am willing to try if needed )

Thanx Gaffer


PPS, alternatively, is there a simple script I can use that lets the "desktop" notify the "portable" when a download/upload is finished?

[euain]

It's not really an answer to your question about monitoring network traffic (beyond my knowledge I'm afraid) - but you could use a CVS client (Chicken of the VNC, for example) to view the desktop on your "Desktop" 'book.

This way you could see the progress of the download.

Simplest way to set it up is: enable "Apple Remote Desktop" in the System Preferences -> Sharing page on the desktop machine and then install Chicken of the VNC on the mobile machine.

After that, everything should pretty much work OK.

[WrestleEwe]

The Airport Extreme supports SNMP -Simple Network Management Protocol-, so you should be able to connect to it and read off any value you want with any reasonably ok network management software.

[Gaffer74]

Thanx everyone.
Got my answer.
Firstly, I already use MenuMeters (Great little app on both computers) that shows netwrok traffic/ram usage/hdd usage/cpu usage all in the menu bar.

Then I simply enabled "Apple Remote Desktop" only on the "Desktop" PB.

Then I ran the free prog euain mentioned (Chicken on the vnc) and et voila....I can now not only see my whole "Desktop" 's desktop, but I can interact with it as if I were sitting there
Excellent...because as I am also using MenuMeters, I am in effect able to monitor the "Desktop" network traffic on the fly.


(I didn't even realise what "apple remote desktop" was before this.....good on apple for including such a useful item)

Here is a pic of what I now see:


as you can see, I've also "customised" the colours of the menu items to fit with either PB (for instance, "HW" is actually Letterstick (HenWen) on my "portable" PB), and I only use thousands of colours on the remote window to speed up access.