BWM Enhancements in uOS 1.32: Smarter Bandwidth Control

Zyxel_Claudia

The release of uOS 1.32 brings powerful new improvements to Bandwidth Management (BWM), giving administrators greater flexibility and control over how bandwidth is distributed across users and devices. These enhancements make it easier to ensure fair usage, prevent congestion, and enforce traffic policies at both the user and IP level.

What’s New in BWM for uOS 1.32?

Per User and Per Source IP Bandwidth Control

Previously, BWM used a shared model, where all users/devices on a policy shared a total bandwidth pool. This could result in a single heavy user consuming most of the bandwidth.

With uOS 1.32, you can now allocate bandwidth per user or per source IP, ensuring equitable distribution:

• Per User:
  • Assigns equal bandwidth to each user in a user group.
  • Example: A group of 3 users gets 5 Mbps each if configured so.
• Per Source IP:
  • Bandwidth is distributed based on unique IP addresses.
  • Maximum supported: 1,024 source IP addresses.
  • If an object includes more than 1,024 IPs, it will not be selectable in BWM settings.

Interface Link Aggregation Group (LAG) Support

You can now assign BWM policies to LAG interface. This is particularly useful when traffic flows through a LAG (Link Aggregation Group), allowing BWM policies to manage traffic across bonded links.

Scheduling for BWM Policies

New schedule support allows you to:

• Apply BWM rules only during specific time periods, such as business hours.
• Optimize bandwidth usage when it matters most.

How It Works: Practical Example

Let’s say you want to limit YouTube usage during work hours:

1. Create a User Group for office staff.
2. Set Per User BWM Rule to limit streaming services to 2 Mbps.
3. Apply Schedule: Mon–Fri, 9 AM–6 PM.
4. Assign to LAG Interface handling internet-bound traffic.

This ensures bandwidth fairness and prevents a single user or application from choking the network.

Log Verification

To monitor if users are hitting BWM rules:

• Go to Log & Report > Log /Events > System.
• Look for entries showing that specific users or traffic types have matched a BWM rule.