Avoiding Network Capacity Collapse

A number of educational institutions were taken by surprise when an easy to use MP3 file sharing application called Napster quickly arose to make use of all available Internet capacity. Many institutions have been using various techniques to manage their Internet capacity more pro-actively since the first file sharing applications became available. Some institutions simply banned the use of such applications while others did nothing. Still other institutions altered various network configurations and tried new products from vendors to adjust traffic usage in one form or another. This paper briefly details some of the various technical solutions that might be used to pro-actively manage Internet capacity as well as some of the potential pitfalls in each case.