Throttle Shared Users With OS X — Is It Possible? 403
whisper_jeff writes "I work in a design studio where the production director is also the owner's son (translation = he can do no wrong). He is fond of accessing a designer's computer via filesharing and working directly on files off of the designer's computers rather than transferring the files to his computer to work on them there. In so doing, he causes the designer's computer to grind to a near-halt as the harddrive is now tasked with his open/save requests along with whatever the designer is doing. Given that there is no way he's going to change his ways (since he doesn't see anything wrong with it...), I was wondering if there was a way to throttle a user's shared access to a computer (Mac OSX 10.5.8) so that his remote working would have minimal impact on our work. Google searches have revealed nothing helpful (maybe I should Bing it... :) so I was hoping someone with more technical expertise on Slashdot could offer a suggestion."
the correct solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Disable file shares on workstations. Use a file server.
Re: (Score:2)
This is what I came to say. Backups become simpler as well.
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Some solutions (Score:5, Interesting)
If you have root access and the kid does not then there are some kludges you can do. For example, write a launchdaemon that runs
renice -n 20 -u kidsudername
every 5 minutes.
that will squish the CPU activity more than the Disk activity, but it should improve things a lot.
if you want to be a little passive aggressive you could move the login port to another port then put another process on that port that pipes to the real one but with a small delay. It will make the whole connection mysteriously intolerable. Again it's the launch agents that do this port mapping. so you move ssh from port 22 to port 5022. then have a job running that runs on port 22 and sends it to port 5022. if you don't want bother writing that socket process then you can fake it with
nice -20 ssh -C -L 5022:localhost:22 localhost
to connect the two ports on the local host. toss in some compression on the SSH connection to slow it down a little. and renice this ssh tunnel to 20 so it bogs if you are busy.
more solutions (Score:5, Informative)
IN Leopard Apple went from ipfw to an application firewall. But ipfw is still there and can be run. you can configure ipfw to limit the bandwidth to specific IP addresses. Your problem is exactly what this is for.
http://www.macgeekery.com/hacks/software/traffic_shaping_in_mac_os_x [macgeekery.com]
THere is probably some way to do this with the application firewall too but I don't know how.
problem solved: (Score:5, Informative)
how to set up ipfw in leopard:
see here and here:
http://www.netmojo.ca/2007/10/31/fixing-leopards-firewall/ [netmojo.ca]
http://securosis.com/blog/help-build-the-best-ipfw-firewall-rules-sets-ever [securosis.com]
or use the GUI tool wateroof to configure the firewall.
add the rules decribed here:
http://www.macgeekery.com/hacks/software/traffic_shaping_in_mac_os_x [macgeekery.com]
then turn it on at boot like this:
http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macports-users/2008-May/010337.html [macosforge.org]
and then turn off the application firewall in system preferences.
Throttled. (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone has already written an app to do all of this Throttled [intrarts.com]
About
throttled is a bandwidth shaping application for Mac OS X and FreeBSD which allows you to cap your upstream bandwidth, prioritize ACK packets, and keep your download speeds high even when your server is sending out at full speed.
Features
* Allows you to set a global bandwidth cap for all your applications, or multiple caps with different speeds to guarantee all your servers a certain amount of bandwidth.
* Allows you to setup wighted queues for your network data to guarantee low-latency ssh, telnet, etc connections on your server.
* Includes optimizations for many online games including Unreal Tournament 2004, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Ghost Recon, Starcraft, Warcraft II, Warcraft III, and Diablo II.
* Prioritizes TCP ACK packets to allow consistent bandwidth in both directions even under heavy server load.
* It uses almost no resources. CPU usage is around 0 - 3% and it uses less than 500k of RAM.
* Source code is freely available, and released under the GPL. Please read the COPYING file in the distribution.
[Disclaimer: I'm a friend of the guy who wrote it and did early early beta testing.]
Re: (Score:2)
I have to echo that statement, use a file server, problem solved.
I assume the OP doesn't see anything wrong with having 20 slightly different versions of the same design?
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I assume the OP doesn't see anything wrong with having 20 slightly different versions of the same design?
That could very well be the point. Especially in advertising where you might want to have say, 4 different versions of a logo and let the client choose which one they want.
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Yes, but you keep it organized at a single location, not fractured over 10 different computers.
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I should add to my previous post, the other solution is to put an SSD on the designers computer.
Re:the correct solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, that's the correct technical solution, but the real, supreme, correct decision is: Find a new job, and fast. Nothing good has ever come from challenging a coworker who enjoys immunity, especially when it's familial.
Re:the correct solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Having been in similar situations, I more or less agree.
There's no way around it: If the owner is really letting his son do whatever he wants, then any successful technical solution is likely to cause you real-world trouble. You may allow your designers to work better, but if the son goes complaining behind your back to the owner, you'll find yourself suffering more.
The real questions for this situation are (a) Is there any chance the owner is intelligent and reasonable enough for you to discuss the situation? and (b) If not, is your job otherwise good enough to tolerate a boss who's unprofessional enough to allow this sort of thing?
Re:the correct solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, well... that's why I asked the question. However, if the boss isn't around too often and his son is somewhat manageable and the economy is falling apart and you have an otherwise good, high-paying job, you might not want to quit immediately.
If the boss isn't intelligent enough I wouldn't expect him or her to remain in business long
Meh. You really buy into the idea that success is determined by ability and virtue, or what? Like bad businesses never make money? If a company manages to stay afloat, it means the owner was smart and mature and professional?
Doesn't really work that way. You just need to be entrenched, be less incompetent than your direct competition, or have better connections than your competition. Sometimes it's better sales and marketing, worse product. Sometimes your boss is good at some things that really matter, but still an unprofessional irrational bastard. And sometimes your boss isn't so bad when you add it all up, but he's still not emotionally detached enough to stay rational when he thinks his son is being insulted.
Re:the correct solution (Score:5, Interesting)
I had a similar problem a long time ago. One of the 3 partners running the joint was always poking around with file sharing, slowing the single expensive desktop publishing workstation down to a crawl. The perpetrator was the company's Fragile Genius and the other partners told us tough, there was no way they would ask him to modify his behavior.
Eventually, the Fragile Genius began locking himself in his office. There was one window that looked out into a common area, and he spray-painted it black. We believe it was about at this time he started smoking crack in his office.
He also had a kitten, which he rescued from the streets and then began to poison by feeding it nothing but raw hot dogs.
You think it's hard to stop the owner's son from doing anything wrong? Be glad it isn't the owner himself.
But honestly it was not the crack smoking that got the other partners to straighten this guy out. It was his cat peeing on their chairs.
Therefore, my advice is to give the boss's son a kitten and a pack of hot dogs, and maybe some black spray paint. If you know a crack dealer, an introduction may be fruitful.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I could have sworn that hot dogs were precooked before packaging.
Re:the correct solution (Score:4, Funny)
Hotdogs have meat in them???
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Lips and arseholes are technically meat.
Re:the correct solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Which is why you don't pitch a file-server as being "to prevent the bosses' son can quit screwing my computer up".
You pitch it as "a more efficient way for us all to work, a lot easier to maintain in terms of backups..."
Re: (Score:2)
AC is dead on. You'll look good for making everything "easier to manage" and you'll get this tool off your back. Of course, if that's not an option (let's face it, if it's a small shop spending money isn't a high priority), then use toolbox's system as the central repository until you can get it justified.
Based on your summary here - You're not terribly fond of the boss and the director either. Are you looking at moving elsewhere in or out of the company?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Now go run more scripts, server monkey.
but he's a server monkey WITHOUT a server!
Haven't you been paying attention?!?!?!???
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Even better would be some kind of document management system.
You create a folder for each job and everybody checks the file in and out to work on it. You can even keep older versions and revert if somebody blows it.
You would also have a single machine to backup all your critical data.
That would seem to be the ideal solution.
Re:the correct solution (Score:5, Interesting)
But I like the 'Windows' method of solving the problem: reboot. When the co-worker has this sudden slow down on his system, reboot to clear up the 'resource problem'. Certainly a more vindictive way to solve the issue, but effective.
Re:the correct solution (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"You lost your updates to the file? How? What do you mean the network stopped responding? Hmm - better check the router"
"it happened again? This isn't good - I'll virus check my Mac" *cough*
"No, we can't find the cause. Yeah, it's bugging the hell out of me too"
Sure, boss' son isn't happy, but nobody is to blame except the technology. Maybe another approach would prove more durable...
Re:the correct solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, because an IT Admin that can't find the problem in the technology is TOTALLY demonstrating why he continues to be worth his salary.
NEVER PLAY DUMB. EVER. Unless you want your boss to think you are dumb.
Let me repeat: NEVER PLAY DUMB. Especially in an area that within which it is your responsibility to be knowledgeable.
DO be proactive and professional. Do your cost benefit analysis and present it. A file server has enough advantages here that it will easily be worth the money. If cost/benefit doesn't justify it and it's instead a personal gripe, get over it and move on.
Boss is a tightwad that won't spend the cash when it's of obvious benefit (and will make him more in the long run?) You need a new boss who has a more business-like mind. Until then, you can count on not seeing further raises once he feels like you get "enough".
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Disable file shares on workstations. Use a file server.
This. We use Windows servers, but for designers and other people who store important files on their local machine rather than the server, after several hard drive crashes that proved they were disobeying the directive to not do this, we now employ folder redirection. How this works is that in our domain policy, certain folders (such as My Documents) and files (Outlook PST's) are actually stored on the file server, even though it appears to be "local" to the user. We also use the offline files feature and
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Good point. If only Windows had allowed users to create folders within another folder, life would have been so much easier. Local machine administration FT...W?
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Right, multiple folders all over your harddrive are way easier to manage and find then making a bunch of subdirectories under My Documents.
Re:the correct solution (Score:4, Funny)
What exactly did you expect from a guy that starts his post with "This. "
That.
Re:the correct solution (Score:5, Funny)
Create a link from your machine to his. Save the file local to his machine instead of yours (via the link). Share out your link to him. He'll actually be taking the long way around back to his own box.
A suggestion... (Score:2, Insightful)
Put a 10 MBit switch between his computer and the network... that'll do it... 8-)
Re:A suggestion... (Score:4, Insightful)
Any throttling is going to be noticed by this idiot, and if his old man is shit stupid to let him do this kind of thing anyways, you can be sure you'll be getting an unfriendly knock on the door about the slow network.
Disable file sharing on the workstations, go to a file server, tell the other guys to copy their own files over to do their work and let fuck brain fuck with the stuff on the file server. If you need a rationale, just say "We need to centralize our file store for better security and backups."
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Any throttling is going to be noticed by this idiot, and if his old man is shit stupid to let him do this kind of thing anyways, you can be sure you'll be getting an unfriendly knock on the door about the slow network
It sound like you have to wait until you meet him in a dark alley until you can start throttling him.
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Two Options (Score:5, Informative)
The other option is throttling the neck of the user. This requires somewhat strong hands and forearms applying a pressure to the neck of the user until he stops moving or goes limp. It may result a decreased experience for the user, difficulty breathing, death and in some cases an erection. Use with caution and have an alibi.
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Advice (Score:2)
There's an old saying:
I'm also reminded of the serenity prayer (which doesn't demand a theological interpretation, even):
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check dis out: (Score:3, Informative)
file server? (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You missed the part where he said "design studio" and "OS X." Also, since he is posting to /. for the answer, the idea of knowing what he _should_ be doing in an IT role is a stretch. I don't know why any office with more than 1 computer wouldn't have a file server, but hey, don't even ask him when his last off-site backup was, he may cry.
Mac Mini Server (Score:4, Interesting)
You missed the part where he said "design studio" and "OS X."
Which raises the question: why don't they have a $1000 Mac Mini Server [apple.com] already?
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Re:file server? (Score:4, Funny)
Please come work for my design studio, someone who can pull multi-terabyte file-servers out of their ass will help my budgeting issues immensely.
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You obviously have never heard of productivity. The more your people have it, the less it costs you to get work done, the faster you can get work out and the more you can bill. We work on T&M, we make sure our people can produce as much as possible to leave as much buffer room in to check work and then take on more. A worker waiting costs me more than any hardware it would take to fix the situation.
Centralizing using a NAS box as a file server wouldn't cost much more than your monthly budget for burn
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Right, but from what I hear, apple actually has an awesome solution to deal with this problem: http://www.apple.com/server/storage/ [apple.com]
Their raid systems are supposedly cheaper than most others.. and work very well from what I have heard from people using them.
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The impression I got is they have, say, 5 designers making, say, a logo. Designers 1-4 are the workers and designer 5 is the son. 1-4 work on different logos to present to the company, designer 5 was supposed to but instead sees what designers 1-4 are doing, takes elements from there and creates another design (claiming it was his own of course). At least thats the impression I got.
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Re:file server? (Score:5, Insightful)
After a re-reading, I realised that the person asking the question doesn't describe themselves as a sys-admin. He said he "works in a design studio". So he might not have any real network responsibilities but might be looking to help a mate out.
Secondly, the ID10T causing the problems is the Production Director. He may be the boss's son, but in the company structure his position is over the top of just about everyone else. Technical issues should be taken to the Production Director first and foremost since it's part of his job to oversee productions.
Next: "He is fond of accessing a designer's computer via filesharing and working directly on files off of the designer's computers rather than transferring the files to his computer to work on them there."
So he isn't accessing the same files the designer is using at the same time, but accessing files for a project which he is allowed to do because he is the Production Director.
Why does the designer have all the files for a project that others working on the project (indeed others who actually direct the project) may need to use stored locally on his hard drive?
My advice is: don't take shortcuts. They'll only hurt you in the end. There is no such thing as a temporary fix, nor a permanent solution.
I'm glad I'm not the only one (Score:5, Funny)
I want to throttle just about every OSX user I've ever met.
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Re:I'm glad I'm not the only one (Score:5, Informative)
I'm glad that someone got a chuckle out of it before it was modded into oblivion. Those OSX users sure are a sensitive bunch.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Those OSX users sure are a sensitive bunch.
Most of the OSX users on slashdot probably use 2+ operating systems.
Re:I'm glad I'm not the only one (Score:5, Funny)
Whatever. Why don't you go back to making some k-gay Web 2.0 animated graphics for your boyfriend's garage sale? Oh yeah, be sure to blog about it and update your Twitter feed so that all of your Facebook friends know where to go after they leave the coffee shop. ;)~
Simple Fix (Score:2, Interesting)
Write a script that will hammer the everlasting fuck out of his shared drive when he's trying to do something. As (I assume) the IT department, he will complain to you. When he does, politely say, "Yeah, I think that can happen when users constantly access files on a remote shared drive. Someone must be doing that to your box. It really sucks, huh?"
When someone acts like a child, you must treat them like a child. Some people just have to find out what "Think about how that
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Explain (Score:3, Insightful)
Is it not possible to explain to this person the negative impact that his actions have? You explained it to us with one sentence:
In so doing, he causes the designer's computer to grind to a near-halt as the harddrive is now tasked with his open/save requests along with whatever the designer is doing.
Right after that line you say he doesn't see anything wrong with it. Have you not explained this to him?
And why are you sharing every workstation instead of using a single file server?
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My thoughts too. This isn't 1985 any more. If you have a network, grab a spare box, throw a file server on it and away you go. How does this organization do backups? It's such a pain in the ass to set your backup system to go grabbing data off of every workstation, and inevitably someone will either walk away from the evening with half a dozen files opened and locked, or will turn the machine off.
I haven't run a network in 15 years where workstations kept data local, with the exception of notebooks, an
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Why use a spare box?
There are are ton of inexpensive NAS solutions you can get at Best Buy.
Or pick up a Drobo.
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Designers are notorious for being retarded. Using another Mac as the fileserver is most likely the best solution as anything else, short of netatalk on Linux, is going to loose the resource fork. With out that, the OS doesn't know what to do with the file because the idiot user is too stupid to name the file with file extensions.
I really wish Apple would move away from a forked filesystem.
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I wouldn't call them retarded, just focused elsewhere. Hell, the same could be said about pretty much any non-IT worker or home user using any operating system.
Unless it's their job to know better, most people won't.
Re:Explain (Score:5, Informative)
Well, when it comes to people working with graphics they often use local storage as their primary "work storage" because it's faster (and when you're working with lots of large files this becomes critical if you want to retain your sanity) and then they just use the server for saving backups at the end of the day and for final production work. So a lot of times the actual work copy is always stored on the local workstation, this is especially true when dealing with video/animation as you can easily end up with insane amounts of data, if you're working on uncompressed 1080p video rendered as independent targa images (so you can easily re-render specific short runs of frames, very common when working with software like Maya and 3dsmax) you may be looking at roughly 7 GiB of data for 30 seconds of video (8 bit color with alpha and 30 fps), not the kind of thing you want to be pushing back and forth across the network all the time (even if you're just copying the data that's changed it ends up being pretty heavy).
tl;dr: People who work with CGI have datasets and a workflow that don't work well with using servers for data storage other than as an easy way to backup data.
/Mikael
Re:Explain (Score:4, Insightful)
Or, you use a fiberchannel card, or iSCSI over your gigabit nic, and connect directly to your SAN...
Talking to the boss (Score:3, Insightful)
I would wonder whether the designer has considered simply talking to the boss and explaining the impact in terms of dollars and hour?. If his boss does not try to correct his sons behaviour, then I would consider the throttling approach and then what other job opportunities there are. If this continual behaviour results in you wanting to leave the company, then you shouldn't really be worried about being getting fired for bringing the issue up with your boss.
Location, Location, Location (Score:4, Informative)
Store all the files on the offendor's computer. Let the other designers work off of his computer. Done!
But seriously, why should anyone be able to access anyone else's files? Secure everyone's computer. You should put shared files on a shared file server [apple.com].
And why not use revision control?
-Peter
Re: (Score:2)
Revision control on 1920x1080(resolution)x4(colors)x30(fps) bytes per second of video? If you do have a good binary revision control, please let me know.
Alternate solutions (Score:2)
File Permissions (Score:3, Informative)
ipfw (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You can configure a firewall rate limiting statement based on source ip address using ipfw. Then just have an applescript that toggles this than can be run as soon as you notice the computer getting slow.
For bonus points, use fail2ban or similar to detect the slowness from some log or script, and have it apply the ipfw statement for 10 minute intervals.
IPFW should work (Score:5, Informative)
but add a rule that limits by ip address as well as port number
see http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/ipfw.8.html [apple.com] for details of the ipfw rules
I haven't tried this combination myself but I can't see why it wouldn't work.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It appears IPFW may not be able to filter AFP (file sharing) after all. Worth a try possibly, but may not work.
Sounds like info is missing, but here goes (Score:3, Interesting)
His mac grinds to a halt due to samba? Lower the process priority of samba on the mac serving the files.
But the better question is, if these are shared files that he's working on, why aren't they on a central server thats made to serve files. Why are they on individual machines anyway? If your network is fast enough that it can make the server mac get loaded down with disk IO than its certainly fast enough to serve the files from a central share for both users anyway.
The solution is to throttle the 'workstations' file server by turning it off and moving the files to a proper server.
The hack'd solution is to realize that you're talking about a mac serving files ... which means samba ... which has all the power you need to limit the user in question to a sane rate.
man smb.conf and be prepared for lots of reading.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Why is it necessarily samba? If it's an all-Mac office, it could be AFP.
Re:Sounds like info is missing, but here goes (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, when you're dealing with disk I/O, you can have processes that use little CPU but severely degrade disk performance by beating on the disk.
Even if it's at low priority, any seeks at all to a part of the drive that normally wouldn't be accessed will hurt performance.
It's not a case of "90% of the disk throughput for app A and 10% for B" - the moment you introduce B, the total performance drops significantly due to seeking coming into play.
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Self replies are bad, yada yada ...
The more I read the original post the more I think that slashdot has turned into a generic 'ask about your computer problems' forum than news for nerds.
This question appears to be from someone with no administration experience at all, nor does it appear that even the slightest effort has been put into finding a solution to the problem. Just for reference, telling us that you googled without actually doing it doesn't count as making an effort.
Its unacceptable that you don'
Wait, What? (Score:3, Insightful)
Somehow, I find it surprising that you're managing to saturate a modern hard drive via a single network connection. Are you running extremely slow PCs on a ridiculously fast network? The workflow that you describe sounds pretty normal for a design studio.
Re:Wait, What? (Score:4, Insightful)
Most current Macs, even a few versions back, are quite quick machines dragging an anchor around in the form of a 5400RPM laptop hard drive. With multi-user access, seek times add up fast. Upgrading my Mac Mini to a mid-level SSD made it feel 10x faster. Now it's the stupid SATA1 interface slowing things down. Not much I can do about that.
Upgrading the machine to a "modern hard drive" would help a lot. Even in laptop form factor, 7200RPM is easy to come by. SSD is ideal, but design places tend to use big files, so an SSD might be too small.
Or, as suggested by every other reply, put up a real file server. A few mirrors stripped into a single big drive should give excellent performance.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I put a 7200 RPM hard drive in my mini, and definitely appreciated the speed boost, so I can definitely see where you're coming from. (And unlike the SSD, I ended up increasing my internal storage capacity, and didn't go broke in the process)
Of course, my own personal pet peeve with the Mini is its absurdly maximum memory capacity -- 2gb on early Intel models, 4gb on more recent models. This is barely acceptable for a laptop, let alone a (tiny) desktop.
Samba, or replace eithernet cable with phone cable (Score:2)
Install Samba from something like Darwinports or Fink, and then assign the samba process a max of 0.001% cpu time.
The other option is to share the images folder off a secondary eithernet card (how??), and connect the secondary eithernet card to the router using 100' of phone cable crimped into RJ-45 connectors for maximum latency.
If you want to increase his latency even more, connect that phone cable-come-eithernet cable to a dumb 10mb (not 10/100, but ten mbps) hub, add two other computers
Use IPFW, its built in (Score:5, Informative)
OS X uses ipfw as its firewall. Look up 'ipfw throttling' in google. If you don't want to edit ipfw files by hand, hunt out WaterRoof as well.
Why do designers have the files on their machines? (Score:2)
Version control software. Figure out how to use it and install it. When the files stop being on the designers machines, the owners son will get them where he is supposed to, the version control server.
The BOFH's answer (Score:2)
Warning: don't do this unless you're willing to go jo
osx advanced networking is cumbersome/incomplete (Score:2)
After trying to convert my linux v4 nat firewall with bucket traffic shaping, I wanted to see how readily I could convert it to os x. I realized, after about 50% success, that if it's not part of the GUI, apple is basically not endorsing it. This was on their server version, mind you. I haven't tried anything with the client, which was less feature complete but more stable.
Anyways, there's plenty of other ways of solving it. And I tried it 9 or 10 months ago, so if someone can prove me wrong then they s
Throttle the port. (Score:5, Informative)
sudo ipfw pipe 1 config bw 15KByte/s
sudo ipfw add 1 pipe 1 src-port 548
To remove the throttling just type:
sudo ipfw delete 1
Source: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080119112509736 [macosxhints.com]
http://homepage.mac.com/car1son/static_port_fwd_firewall.html
Be assertive (Score:5, Insightful)
This twit isn't your problem. Throttling him on your own initiative is both passive-aggressive and might overstep what the owner expects, which could land you in hot water. Don't do that. Here's what you do instead. Go to the owner's office and say the following:
Re:Be assertive (Score:5, Interesting)
I actually did a variation on this years ago (1988 or so) in a company running Novell. One of the servers was also acting as a router (it had two network cards and connected two 10base-2 segments). Every time someone did a database update, I got kicked off the network for an hour.
No one listened to me that this was a problem, so I just brought a book to the office, and when this happened, put my feet up on the desk and read.
It was only a few days of this before the owner of the company 'caught' me and goes nuts. I explained calmly the situation, that I couldn't work when an update was going on, and had been told there was no money to upgrade the server.
A new server was ordered that afternoon.
Re:Be assertive (Score:5, Insightful)
I like it. A lot. One small refinement. If you were worried about familial doucebaggery, you might even remove the specific job title of the person doing it, and fill out the explanation a tad.
"The cause of the problem is the Production Director accessing files on designers' computers instead of copying them to his own. The hard drives on designer computers are not designed to accommodate two users accessing the files at once."
becomes
"This problem occurs when two people need data at the same time on a specific designer workstation. One user is working at the workstation, and another will need to change a file that is located there, so the second user makes the changes remotely. The workstations simply aren't set up to handle that kind of usage, and it slows the workstation down considerably. We could upgrade the workstations at a cost of $X per station. We could also add a central file server where we can all share common project work, but that will cost $X. There is also a free way to reduce the impact of this - simply asking everyone to make local copies of everything they are working on."
Then you haven't blamed the kid for anything, merely pointed out that a practice that occurs within the office is having an impact, and that impact can be mitigated. No one, especially Dad, needs to know that Junior is the only one doing it, so you have given Junior a way to mend his ways without confrontation.
Turnabout (Score:2)
Access his files and grind his computer to a halt.
Lag Switch (Score:3, Funny)
Give a few people lag switches.
http://images.google.com/images?q=lag+switch [google.com]
it is a button on a network cord that when you press it the cord stops working. If he is working on another machine and it keeps giving him network errors, he will figure out another way.
wrong*2==right (Score:5, Insightful)
plant some weed in his desk and call the cops anon.
be nice (Score:3, Informative)
Check the nice manual page [manpagez.com]
Increment it slowly and he won't know whats going on (mu-ha ha)
Throttle the User (Score:2)
No-win situation (Score:3, Insightful)
Change it in Launchd (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Anonymous Coward, available since 1993 in his mom's basement.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)