Reasonably priced endpoint bandwidth monitoring in BYOD network?

Please save me from this Cisco nightmare!
I manage a BYOD network in a shared office complex. It is connected to 75mbps FCCT broadband via a Cisco 1921. I bought the 1921 because the old Draytek wasn't stable enough.
Obviously I need to monitor the upload / download consumed by the users. To my total supprise, I've wasted days trying to find a solution that will actually work with Cisco. I've tried (with the help of their tech support) PRTG only to find that is won't work unless all the endpoints are static IPs. Obviously this is not really feasable.
I've had a look at ntopng, but I really don't want to be unsupported. All the others I've found cost £1000s and I have little faith that they'll work any better than PRTG.
I've gotta be missing something obvious??
TIA

Currently we have both wired and wireless, however I'm thinking of putting the wireless network behind a hotspot controller.
In terms of identification the ideal solution would allow me to label the MAC addresses of regular users and generate a monthly report.
All I need to be able to do is spot when a user is getting a bit greedy, I'm open to suggestions?

Similar Messages

PDSN bandwidth monitoring

I am facing and issues with a PDSN 7204 Router
Basicly we are very closed to our Bandwidth limit with our Internet Service provider
We think we should be around 5 to 8Mbit/s but we are at a steady 35Mbit/s
We have seen a significant increase in bandwidth from around mid february from 8Mbit/s to 35Mbit/s in close to 48hours...(without any significant changes form our end) I have tools to monitor the internal network and that is going around 500KB/s so nothing that could bring up those numbers.
our PDSN is connected to our ISP to the RADUIS server and our internal network
And all our client are basicly connected to the PDSN
How can I monitor the traffic going in the PDSN to see what is taking all that bandwidth
I am new at this and I need some help
thanks
Paul

wuischke wrote:You can use webalizer for this job. It's not the prettiest tool, but it gets the job done.
thanks! this is the closest to what I've been looking for, with the exception that only about 40% of my traffic is through lighttpd. does anyone know any similar programs for tracking what ports/processes are using the most?

Nbwmon - ncurses bandwidth monitor

nbwmon - ncurses bandwidth monitor
* Print bandwidth graphs.
* Print current, average and maximum transfer speeds.
* Print total traffic.
* Scale to full window on startup and resize.
* Detect active network interface.
* Support for multiple units.
* Support for colors.
git:
https://github.com/causes-/nbwmon
screenshot:
-- mod edit: read the Forum Etiquette and only post thumbnails http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … s_and_Code [jwr] --
Last edited by defer (2014-10-03 19:15:19)

defer wrote:
nbwmon - ncurses bandwidth monitor
features:
print bandwidth graph
print bandwidth, peak and traffic
scale to full window on start and resize
support for colors
git:
https://github.com/defer-/nbwmon
screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/W1H9ZXI.png
-- mod edit: read the Forum Etiquette and only post thumbnails http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … s_and_Code [jwr] --
The flicker was bad so I fixed it
[ nbwmon ]$
└──╼ diff ./orig.nbwmon.c ./nbwmon.c
83,86d82
< endwin();
< refresh();
< clear();
<
101d96
< endwin();
121,122d115
< clear();
<
154,155d146
<
< refresh();
183d173
< endwin();
201d190
< endwin();
248d236
< endwin();
271a260
> doupdate();

Server bandwidth-monitoring

so..right now, I'm using ntop (http://twilightlair.net:5000) as my bandwidth-monitor for my server. The two problems I have are that:
1. When looking at traffic summaries, it lists specific hosts with how much traffic they've sent/recv'd. instead of the destinations they're going to (i.e. which subdomains and whatnot.) It does say what subdomains they've gone to when you look at detailed info but that doesn't help much if there all a million hosts to sift through.
2. Almost half my traffic is just listed as "Other TCP/UDP Ports." The only way I see to get port-info is the "last minute distribution" on the bottom of the main page, not a monthly summary or something of the like.
any ideas?

I'm not a big fan of ntop for the same reason. I'm currently evaluating bandwidth monitoring tools to see which best fits my needs. There's a great listing of bandwidth monitoring tools for linux, along with a short description on this page: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/bandwidth-mon … linux.html I've learned of a handful of tools I didn't know about that I'll be experimenting with.
My needs are slightly different than yours, however. I need to take bandwidth measurements throughout the day at sample intervals and record the results into a log file or csv. I'll combine this with a script I wrote to upload a large file during the bandwidth test. I need to know the maximum upload rate in order to dynamically adjust my traffic shaping parameters.
Let me know which tools you end up using.

Ea4500 and bandwidth monitoring

Hi.
I have a ea4500 router with 3 pc's, 4 iphones, 2 playstations, ipad, ps vita, house cat, and a printer all wired into the internet. There are four of us in the family all using the internet but I suspect one of us is using considerably more than the other. I live in the country and my current isp has us on the max available account - 50 gigs / month. Lately we have been hitting 45 in less than 3 weeks into the month. I would like to know which of the things connected or which person is using the most of the bandwidth up. Is there a program that doesn't require a phd in quantum physics and networking that can monitor this for me and spit out a report on who or what is the hog here?

Bandwidth monitor does not come handy with this device. However, you can dig a little deeper through Google to find third party software that could monitor bandwidth consumption for every device inside the network. I found one that monitors the bandwidth consumption of each application installed on my computer. This one only monitors one computer not the network. You might be able to find a network monitor if you dig a little dipper through the net.
How to Monitor the Bandwidth Consumption of Individual Applications
How to Monitor Your Bandwidth

FIM Export Fails - Fault Reason: The endpoint could not dispatch the request. FIM Account Issue?

Hi,
I have 3 fim servers:
fimportal - has fim service & portal running (uses account service.fim & service.sharepoint)
fimsync - has synchronisation service & synchronisation DB (uses account service.fimsync)
fimsql - holds portal DB for server fimportal
I've created an AD MA, FIM MA and an inbound AD sync rule. On my FIM MA I've used account svc-fim (i.e. the account I've used to install FIM). This is not the same account that runs the synchronisation service on fimsync (account svc-fimsync is used
for this).
I've ran a FIM MA import and full sync without issue (I can see my built in, admin account and the sync rule brought into the metaverse). When I do an export I receive an error as shown below.
What I'm not sure about is if it's because I'm using the wrong account for the FIM MA. If so, which account should I use and what's the best way to change my config (without a total reinstall)?
I've selected domain (as a text value), accountname and objectsid in my attribute flow, but I may have configured something wrong here.
Thanks
Fault Reason: The endpoint could not dispatch the request.\r\n\r\nFault Details: <DispatchRequestFailures xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2006/11/ResourceManagement" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"><DispatchRequestAdministratorDetails><FailureMessage>Exception:
Other
Stack Trace: Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WebServices.Exceptions.UnwillingToPerformException: Other ---> System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Procedure or function 'GetDomainConfigurationIdentifiersFromDomain' expects parameter '@domainName',
which was not supplied.
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.Utilities.ExceptionManager.ThrowException(Exception exception)
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.Data.Exception.DataAccessExceptionManager.ThrowException(SqlException innerException, TransactionAndConnectionScope scope)
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.Data.DataAccess.GetDomainConfigurationIdentifiersFromDomain(String domainName)
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.ActionProcessor.DomainConfigurationActionProcessor.AddDomainConfigurationFromDomain(CreateRequestParameter domainNameParameter, RequestType request)
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.ActionProcessor.DomainConfigurationActionProcessor.DoRequestCreationPreProcessByAttribute(RequestType request)
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.ActionProcessor.ActionDispatcher.DoRequestCreationPreProcessByAttribute(RequestType request)
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WebServices.RequestDispatcher.CreateRequest(UniqueIdentifier requestor, UniqueIdentifier targetIdentifier, OperationType operation, String businessJustification, List`1 requestParameters, CultureInfo locale, Boolean
isChildRequest, Guid cause, Boolean doEvaluation, Nullable`1 serviceId, Nullable`1 servicePartitionId, UniqueId messageIdentifier, UniqueIdentifier requestContextIdentifier, Boolean maintenanceMode)
   at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WebServices.ResourceManagementService.Put(Message request)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---</FailureMessage><DispatchRequestFailureSource>Other</DispatchRequestFailureSource><AdditionalTextDetails>Request could not be dispatched.</AdditionalTextDetails></DispatchRequestAdministratorDetails><CorrelationId>0c7141ca-63a2-42ae-92c3-a0c95de0d940</CorrelationId></DispatchRequestFailures>
Below shows separate MA account and separate FIM Sync Account
IT Support/Everything

Hi Tomek,
Apologies for the delay, been a busy festive period :-)
The account in question with the export flow error is my admin account that I used during installation (where prompted I did enter service account credentials).
Searching the FIM CS on the source object details show all attributes present (including domain), but looking at the export attribute flow shows a final value of deleted! See below.
I'm following the TechNet guide:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff686264(v=ws.10).aspx and hit the error with the FIM MA export run profile when I run the below steps:
FIM MA - Full import
FIM MA - Full synchronization
FIM MA - Export
FIM MA - Delta import
AD MA - Fullll import
AD MA - Full synchronization
Initially my admin account was not in the selected containers as configured in the AD MA, however I've now ran that and re-ran the sync, which resulted in my test user being provisioned in the portal. My admin account is still not provisioned - I now get
2 export errors, 1 as before complaining of missing domain and another which complains of my admin account being a duplicate entry.
Please let me know if anything comes to mind.
Thanks
IT Support/Everything

What is the best and reasonably priced external cd/dvd optical drive for an Imac 21.5 inches from late 2009?

What is the best and reasonably priced external cd/dvd optical drive for an Imac 21.5 inches from late 2009?

A lot of people have a Mac where the superdrive has been taken out to be replaced with a harddisk. Try to find a friend who has done that, give him a beer and take the superdrive, then buy a superdrive container from OWC or another for afew dollars and put it in there. This slimdrive container has a USB connector. There you go.

I have just purchased Logic Pro X and it doesn't seem to want to work with my Tascam us-122L sound card. Do i need to purchase a new one and if so, any advice on a reasonable priced one?

I have just purchased Logic Pro X and it doesn't seem to want to work with my Tascam us-122L sound card. Do i need to purchase a new one and if so, any advice on a reasonable priced one?

What OS do you have? Have you tried the latest drivers?
http://tascam.com/product/us-122l/downloads/
alternatives: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Presonus Audiobox.

Inserting a Flash video and the Bandwidth Monitor

I am new to Captivate, and I want to be sure I'm following
some practical guidelines for inserting Flash video in my Captivate
slides.
I know there are quite a few variables relating to practical
bandwidth usage--basically, we are creating elearning presenations
that will have "talking head" videos embedded within. These
presentations will be available for download via our LMS site, both
within the US and overseas.
I have utilized Captivate's Bandwidth Monitor to gauge the
bandwidth hit each video slide is responsible for. However, I don't
believe the numbers I'm getting back: because I've set each
embedded video to "Pause slide till end of video", all the slides
are reporting the same length in seconds, KB per sec and Video KB
numbers.
Can someone suggest a practical method for setting up the
videos such that the Bandwidth Monitor can interpret them
correctly? Can you also suggest a rule of thumb for maximum length
for each slide with an embedded video (320 X 240) in it?
Thanks in advance,
Carl

I am new to Captivate, and I want to be sure I'm following
some practical guidelines for inserting Flash video in my Captivate
slides.
I know there are quite a few variables relating to practical
bandwidth usage--basically, we are creating elearning presenations
that will have "talking head" videos embedded within. These
presentations will be available for download via our LMS site, both
within the US and overseas.
I have utilized Captivate's Bandwidth Monitor to gauge the
bandwidth hit each video slide is responsible for. However, I don't
believe the numbers I'm getting back: because I've set each
embedded video to "Pause slide till end of video", all the slides
are reporting the same length in seconds, KB per sec and Video KB
numbers.
Can someone suggest a practical method for setting up the
videos such that the Bandwidth Monitor can interpret them
correctly? Can you also suggest a rule of thumb for maximum length
for each slide with an embedded video (320 X 240) in it?
Thanks in advance,
Carl

Is Bandwidth monitoring possible?

Hi,
I wanted to monitor my internet usage. Is it possible to build a bandwidth monitoring application using ActionScript 3.0 (with AIR + Flex).
Aim:
Get total downloads and uploads going via ethernet.
(If possible display the list of ethernet cards and wifi cards and the user can select the one needed to be monitored).
Also get the time of connection.
+(optional)
Automatically monitor if any transfers goes any ethernet or the ethernet after selecting the specific one thereafter.Any resources or any ideas regarding the above.
Thanks.

Dear Siva,
we did nearly the same in LV 4.0 times where the G Webserver was not integrated into LV. The only difference is that we used a java applet instead of javascript. It was running fine with Netscape 3 and Internet Explorer 4 on Win NT 4 machines.
Waldemar
Using 7.1.1, 8.5.1, 8.6.1, 2009 on XP and RT
Don't forget to give Kudos to good answers and/or questions

Forefront Endpoint Protection Monitoring Service

Hello,
I just saw that the Forefront Endpoint Protection Monitoring Service is stoppable. I had a virus a few weeks ago on my machine at home that has security essential installed. The virus continually disabled the service. Does it make sense to control the service
via gpo to not make it stoppable even by the system and admin user?
Cheers
Sebastian
Sebastian Bammer

This is old discussion, but let me explain some improvements in Microsoft Anti-Malware Engine. When a program tried to disable any service, process or anything related to Windows Security or Microsoft Anti-Malware Engine , Firewall, etc. It will be detected
as a suspicious behavior and it will be blocked (no matter whether it is known malware or unknown program). In case of unknown program, you might be asked to send more details or submit it to Microsoft Malware Protection Center.
In addition, in Windows Vista and later version of Windows such as Windows 7, Windows 8.x when you have User Account Control (UAC), all programs run as an standard user unless you grand them permission as administrator. So by default, if a program tried
to disable any Security related service in Windows is unable to that because it won't run as administrator and is unable to perform something which runs as administer unless, if you are in administrator account and UAC is off or you grand administrator privilege
to the program (e.g. right click and run as administrator).
However, if you still face any programs which might try to disable services and it won't block by FEP , Microsoft Security Essentials or other Microsoft Anti-Malware products, you could submit it sample to Microsoft Malware Protection Center for more analysis.

What's best "reasonable priced" flash for a 7d (action photos)

I don't mind going used. I need something that will help With indoor warehouse type racing facility's with poor lighting.
Www.rc-ops.com

Not sure what you consider "reasonably priced"...
430EX II is about $270 new (Amazon). You might find it for a bit less used or a refurb at the Canon online store.
It's a pretty nice flash... Plenty of power, without being too large.
You also might want to look at 550EX or 580EX, 580EX II used... these are larger, but have the advantage of being able to use with CP-E4 or CP-E3 auxiliary battery pack. If you are doing action shots, you might want an external battery pack to speed up recycling. (Also use quality rechargeable AAs in everything, for faster recycling).
420EX, 430EX and 430EX II can't be used with a CP-E4, but there are third party battrey packs that will work with them.
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM

Recommendations for reasonably priced Time Machine back ups on my iMac?

For example, will the SanDisk Cruzer Fit CZ33 (64gb) USB work? Can you recommend an alternative if not? Some of the options for sale in the Apple store are really expensive, and overkill for the amount of info to be back up on my computer....
Thank you!

A Time Machine backup drive should be at least twice the capacity of your computer's hard drive. I doubt a flash drive will suffice. Check out OWC for some reasonably priced external hard drives.

MIB Required for Bandwidth Monitoring on Cisco 3800 and 3900 series Routers

Hi Team,
Need your help here.
I am planning to do Bandwidth Monitoring on Cisco 3800 and 3900 series Routers. I want to know the exact MIB which I need to use for getting this done.
Thanks,
Karthik Anbumani

Matt, based on feature navigator GLBP is supportted on 3800 series.
Go to this link and search by feature (GLBP)
http://tools.cisco.com/ITDIT/CFN/jsp/index.jsp
HTH
Jorge

Best reasonably priced macro lens for a 70d

Hi i have got a canon 70d and have just started doing alot of macro photography (Flowers bugs etc) i've been using the the 18-135mm kit lens but now i know im enjoying it im going to get a mocro lens. Cant afford nothing to major as saving for wedding and house. Was just looking for some advice on reasonably priced macro lenses. Any Advice welcome..
Thanks in advance
Darren

amfoto1 wrote:
Actually, it's hard to go wrong with macro lenses... Most give excellent image quality, so it tends to be the other features that are deciding factors. I have no idea what you consider "reasonably priced".... To one person that might be no more than $100, while to another it might be anything under $1000.
Canon EF 50/2.5 Compact Macro is currently about $270... As an EF lens, this can be used on both your crop camera and on full frame cameras. But this is a micro motor focus drive lens (slower, hunts more), and on it's own it only goes to 1:2 or one half life size magnification. To get full 1:1 magnification with it, there's a separately sold converter that costs another $270. You also could use macro exension tubes - that sell for between $70 and $200 for a set - to increase the lens' magnification. All the other macro lenses listed here are able to do 1:1 without need for any adapter. 50mm is fairly short focal length, putting you relatively close to your subject. This lens' closest focus is about 4 inches (with 1:1 adapter... compare to 12 inches with a 100mm lens). Personally I use shorter macro focal lengths mostly in-studio where they can work well.... but prefer a longer focal length in the field. Uses 52mm filters. No lens hood offered or supplied, it doesn't really need one because the front element is deeply recessed into the lens.
SIgma 50/2.8 Macro lens sells for about $350. I don't know much about this lens, it's been around for a while. I know it's 1:1 capable, both crop and full frame capable and has a micro motor focus drive. Comes with a lens hood. Uses 55mm filters.
Canon EF-S 60/2.8 USM Macro is on sale at the moment for $420. It's an EF-S lens, which will work fine on your 70D, but is not usable on a full frame camera. USM focusing drive is a bit faster, quieter and more precise (see below about focus speed). It's full 1:1 capable, a little longer focal length than 50mm, but not a lot. It's relatively compact and it is "internal focusing" or IF, which means it doesn't change length when focused. It uses 58mm filters and the matched lens hood sells separately for $24 (third party hoods are available for less).
Tamron SP 60/2.0 "Di II" Macro/Portrait lens is selling for about $525 and, like the Canon 60mm Macro, is a "crop only" lens. Fine for your 70D, but not usable on full frame cameras. It's also IF, but using a micro motor type focus drive. I've been working with one of these lately, giving it a try. I find it's focus slower than Canon USM, but generally plenty fast for most macro/portrait usage. The main attraction of this lens is its f2.0 aperture... fully a stop larger than most other macro lenses (Zeiss makes a couple f2.0 macro lenses, but they are manual focus only and quite expensive). This is nice particularly when using the lens for portraiture. It uses 55mm filters and comes with a lens hood.
Canon MP-E 65mm is not a lens I'd recommend to anyone just starting out shooting macro. This is an ultra high magnification lens... actually can do no less than 1:1 and goes as high as 5:1. That's a range well beyond what many people shoot. It's also about $1000 and stricly manual focus. It's a superb lens, usable on both crop sensor and full frame cameras, and one I use personally. But it's still not something I'd recommend to anyone just starting to shoot macro. It's rather challenging to work with, pretty much a "tripod only" lens. Comes with a tripod mounting ring, uses 58mm filters and an odd little lens hood sells separately for around $40.
Sigma 70mm f2.8 EX DG macro lens.... is another I don't know a whole lot about. Like their 50/2.8 macro, it's been around a long time and uses a micro motor type focus drive. It is the first lens in this list that has a Focus Limiter (2 ranges), which is a feature that can be helpful speeding up auto focusing. It sells for about $470, uses 62mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood.
Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di is another excellent design that's been around a long, long time. I've still got and use manual focus versions of this lens dating back to the 1980s. The currently available micro motor version sells for $500 and, as a Di lens is usable on both crop and full frame cameras. It's got a focus limiter (2 ranges), uses 55mm filters and includes a matching lens hood. It is not an IF lens.
Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Di VC USD is an updated version of their venerable 90mm, now with both an improved AF system (USD is similar to Canon's USM) and image stabilization (Tamron calls it VC). It is said to be better sealed against dust and moisture, and also uses an aperture with 9 curved blades to make for smoother background blurs. This lens is Internal Focusing (IF), has a Focus Limiter (4 ranges!), was introduced within the last year or so selling for about $750, uses 58mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood.
Canon EF 100/2.8 USM is another excellent lens I use personally. This is the older version of this lens without IS (and not L-series, but you would be hard pressed to tell any difference in build quality, comparing it to some L-series such as the 180/3.5L macro). A key feature here is that it can optionally be fitted with a tripod mounting ring.... something that's not possible with most of the other lenses mentioned here. For macro work, I consider a tripod mount a very important feature, though some of the smaller lenses might be fairly usable on a tripod without one. This lens has USM focus drive, is IF, has a Focus Limiter (2 range), sells for about $550 presently, and uses 58mm filters. A matched lens hood is quite large and sells separately for about $40. Tripod Ring B to fit it sells for about $140 (there are cheaper third party hoods and tripod rings).
Canon EF 100/2.8 L IS USM is a newer model that primarily is upgraded with the addition of Image Stabilization (IS). Now designated an L, it includes a matched lens hood. Like the older model, a tripod ring can be optionally fitted. It has an improved Focus Limiter (increased to 3 ranges). It uses 62mm filters and is currently on sale for $900. Tripod Ring D sells for $172 (cheaper 3rd party ring is avail.).
Tokina 100/2.8 ATX is both crop and full frame compatible and sells for about $400. I haven't used it, but it's another venerable design that's been around for a lot of years. It has a Focus Limiter (2 range), uses 55mm filters and comes with a matched lens hood. I don't believe it's IF.
Sigma 105/2.8 OS HSM is currently on sale, heavily discounted, for about $670. I suspect Sigma is about to introduce a new version and that's why they are blowing out the current model with a large instant rebate. It is both crop sensor and full frame camera compatible. The current version has OS, which is Sigma's version of image stabilization, as well as HSM which is similar to Canon's USM focusing drive. This lens has a Focus Limiter (3 ranges), uses a 9 blade aperture, 62mm filters and comes with a matched hood. It cannot be fitted with a tripod ring.
Canon, Sigma and Tamron all offer longer macro focal lengths... 150mm and 180mm. In general I'd say those are pretty long to use on a crop sensor camera such as your 70D or my 7Ds. They all come with tripod rings, which is good because longer macro lenses can be difficult to keep steady. But they all are also considerably more expensive, so I won't go into the details about them.
Regarding auto focus speed... All macro lenses with AF are slower focusing for a couple reasons. One is that they have to move their focusing mechanisms a long, long way to go all the way from infinity to 1:1 magnification. Another is by design, they use "long throw" focus mechanisms that emphasize accuracy over speed, which is necessary because depth of field can be quite shallow at high magnifications. So, in general, don't expect a macro lens to offer the same AF speed as a non-macro lens with similar focus drive mechanism. What can help a lot are the type of focus drive and if the lens offers a Focus Limiter. Canon's USM, Sigma's HSM and Tamron's USD all will give faster focusing than micro motor drive systems on other lenses. Properly used, a Focus Limiter can really speed up focusing performance, too.
When shooting macro, auto focus speed usually isn't all that critical. In fact, I often just focus manually. Accuracy often is more important, due to the shallow depth of field. So AF perfomance might be a bigger consideration if planning to also use the lens a lot for non-macro purposes.
Image Stabilization (Canon OS, Sigma OS and Tamron VC) is offered on a few premium models. Canon's is a special hybrid version developed just for macro purposes, which most feel is a bit more effective than other forms of stabilization. Nikon actually was the first to put stabilization (they call it VR) on a macro lens, but most agree that while it's useful for non-macro shooting, it is of little practical assistance at 1:1 magnification. The Canon hybrid IS is considered to be a bit better at higher magnifications, but even it will be of limited effectiveness at 1:1. In other words, there may be times when you want to use a tripod or at least a monopod. And in those cases, particularly on some of the larger lenses, a tripod mounting ring can be a very nice thing to have (among all the above, only the Canon 100mm macro lenses can be fitted with a t'pod ring).
There are other options to "do macro", too. For example, you could simply get some Macro Extension Tubes to use with your current lens, to make it focus closer. Canon offers quality individual tubes in 25mm and 12mm lengths ($84 and $140 respectively). Kenko does too, but also offers a set of three that includes 12mm, 20mm and 36mm lengths (set sells for $200). The Kenko are very close to the Canon in design, quality and performance.
There are also less expensive sets (under $100) from Zeikos and Opteka. The Zeikos set includes 13mm, 21mm and 31mm and sell under a bunch of different brand names (Vivitar, Bower, Dot Line, ProOptic and many more). The Opteka set was just recently introduced and includes 12mm, 20mm and 36mm. All these sets are more plasticky than the Canon and Kenko tubes, but they do support autofocus and direct control of the aperture.
AFAIK, all the currently sold macro extension tubes for Canon mount are compatible with both EF and EF-S lenses. (If you were shopping used you'd have to be careful because some of the older tubes were EF only and could not be used with your EF-S 18-135mm lens).
Canon's TS-E 45mm and TS-E 90mm lenses also are usable for near-macro and, with extension tubes added, macro shooting. These are Tilt-Shift lenses that give additional control over the plane of focus which can be used to good effect with macro and shallow depth of field. I use a TS-E 45mm a lot for table top studio shots of small products. However, these are manual focus only, largely tripod-only and rather pricey lenses, so I just wanted to mention them here. They are probably not something I'd recommend for a first time macro shooter or general purpose, outdoor, walk-around macro work.
Personally, my two most-used macro lenses are a Canon EF 100/2.8 USM (the older model) and a Tamron SP 60/2.0. When I'm planning to shoot a lot of outdoor, walk-around macro shooting, the Canon lens is my first choice. However, it's rather large so when I'm not planning macro, but want to have a macro lens just in case, I'll substitute it with the much more compact Tamron lens. (Which also can replace two portrait lenses in my camera bag, so reduces my load by one lens serving in place of three.)
Another key consideration is flash. Often when shooting macro it's a challenge to get enough light to allow a stopped down lens, desirable ISO and adequately fast shutter speed. So you probably will find yourself wanting to use flash sooner or later. Canon offers two macro-specific flashes: the MR14 EX Ring Lite and the MT24EX Twin Lite. I use both for different purposes. I prefer the Twin Lite for macro shots up to about 1:1, maybe 2:1 (double life size) magnification. The Ring Lite I mostly use for very high magnification shots with the MP-E 65mm lens.
All the Canon lenses above have provision for, or can be adapted to allow for direct mounting of the two Canon macro flashes (Note: I believe there is a new "Mark II" version of the Ring Lite coming out soon). There also are adapters available to mount these flashes on non-macro Canon or onto third party lenses. It also is possible to use a single "standard" flash, along with an off-camera shoe cord and some sort of diffusion to hold back the flash, when shooting macro. I do that often with 550EX and 580EX II flashes.
There are other macro-specific accessories you may want to consider eventually. Often I'll use a diffusion panel and/or a reflector when out in full sun, to reduce too extreme contrast and help fill too-deep shadows. A focusing stage is another useful thing, when shooting macro with a tripod.
Finally, I recommend you pick up some books on macro photography. John Shaw's "Close-Ups in Nature" is perhaps the "Bible" among them and likely the most comprehensive. I also found books about macro by Tim Fitzharris and Joe & Mary MacDonald very helpful and interesting. I'm sure there are others, but those came immediately to mind.
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM
Almost 2,400 words to answer a macro lens post? Alan, nobody can believe you can write so much (except TCampbell, ha ha) but you risk nobody wanting to read. See the link that follows for the sort of difficulty readers have with this sort of post, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too_long;_didn't_read

Reasonably priced endpoint bandwidth monitoring in BYOD network?

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