Sync Computers With 3G/lte Hotspot & Limited Data Limit

[arobodude]

Hi,

I have a network of ~30 Windows 8 computers that I need synced. I also have a single offsite computer that is also synced.

 

The 30 computers connect over WiFi to a single WiFi LTE hotspot that only has about 1 GB a month. The amount of new data on these 30 computers combined is less than 1GB, however, I ran a test with three machines and even with them just sitting there overnight (no new files, no new computers added to the network) I used up about 30MB of data.

 

I opened a network monitor on one of the machines and it says that BTSync is nearly always sending and receiving data. It's a small amount but it seems to add up.

 

Does anyone know why so much data is being sent even when no files are being added? Is there a way to stop this? I understand something needs to be sent so that the computers can stay in sync but 30MB over ~10 hours seems like a lot!

 

Thanks a ton!

 

~Ian

[2disbetter]

My guess is you could increase the amount of time between when sync looks for changes. The data being sent is probably data being transferred between the relay servers saying there is nothing new to report. 

 

There are several solutions to your situation. 

 

1.) If it is not necessary for all of the computers to be connected 24/7 to the hotspot, power down the hotspot when not needed. Depending on your hotspot you could power it on and off remotely using WOL packets, etc. 

 

2.) Disable relay and tracker servers. Set up a dedicated proxy for the remote computer using DNS services, etc., and enable this server when necessary. This is kind of like option one, except when the remote computer is off, nothing will be transferred. Meaning you could leave the hotspot powered on. 

 

3.) On your router before your hotspot you can set quota amounts for specific applications and types of traffic. This way you can physically limit the amount BT traffic going out over the hotspot. You can also set schedules and specific times for it. 

 

4.) Lastly you could as mentioned in the beginning increase the client time between checking for changes in the files. This is found under advanced, and more options. It is called folder_rescan_interval or something like that and is by default set to 600 ms. Just remember that while this will cut down on traffic it will also slow down how fast changes are perceived and how long it takes before syncing will occur. 

 

I'm sure BT's team will have some other more specific suggestions. Good luck!

 

2d