With the increasing proliferation of broadband, more and more users are using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) protocols to share very large files, including software, multi-media files, and applications. This trend has exponentially increased traffic flows across a very wide area network.

If you are coping with excessive bandwidth consumption due to P2P traffic such as BitTorrent, eMule, eDonkey, DirectConnect, Kazaa, etc., conventional rate shaping techniques such as limiting bandwidth by TCP port number may not do the trick. A more powerful technique based on application signature identification via packet inspection may be needed.

Traditional rate shaping techniques may not be sufficient to control new breeds of applications. For example, BitTorrent is a protocol that is typically used by simple desktops to transfer user files via broadband connections. However, using BitTorrent to transfer high volumes of data puts huge pressures on the broadband operators' network. Unfortunately, prohibiting BitTorrent traffic has become routine for some broadband operators and is now a key area of contention between users and broadband operators.

This paper describes how to identify different types of traffic for individualized control that can return double-digit capacity without spending a dime on additional bandwidth.