I have a large home network that is shared with several residents and guests. I have created a central collaboration web space for everyone to share files and communicate; however, i need a more central way to keep everyone going to the site and also a method of tracking internet usage.

My goal is to setup a linux server to act as a proxy. If I understand right, I can have the proxy server direct local machines to a specific web page when they first attempt to use the web and also after a given timeout period. I dont really want anyone to have to logon per say, just the ability to force them to a specific page now and then. As soon as they've been directed, the proxy server can allow them to use the internet as normal until the timeout period.

As far as tracking, I just want to know on a per machine level what kind of internet usage their is. Traffic volumes, peak times, etc.

So the ultimate question would be, is linux right for me and what would be my best setup for this project? Thanks for the help!

what is the logic behind this web page interception? i'm sure it's possible within squid, but if it's just to get an acknowledgement of their presence, then i wouldn't think that that was necessary. there are programs like sarg which are log analyzers that tell you at a proxy level who's going where, or you may prefer to use a lower level IP tool like ntop which tells you just the plain data throughput of who is going where... somethign that means you can't see the actual web pages your users are going to... and should you know this??? i've not used sarg personally but looks at sample reports: http://sarg.sourceforge.net/squid-re...p13/index.html it looks very well detailed, and as you would probably benefit from a proxy cache anyway, seems to fit in well.

Basically the webpage I want people to see is like an intranet site, it is a collaboration site designed to share photos, videos, files, comments, tasks, reminders, etc for the people who live and visit the house. The problem is most people dont want to have to remember to go the website to view important announcements or reminders or remember another web address that they may never use outside the house.

I've read a few things about some proxy servers (windows based, which I'm trying to stay away from) that have advertisement bars, or pop-ups, etc where you can feed ads to people surinf your internet. This may be all I need, but I dont want to be detected as a pop-up or anything that an ad program may block.

As far as traffic analyzing, I dont want to know where people are going so much as how much bandwidth they are using and possibly a bandwidth throttle of sorts.

Eventually I'd also like to setup a firewall that is more customizable than the one my router currently has as well!