NAME¶
bwm-ng - Bandwidth Monitor NG (Next Generation), a live bandwidth monitor for
network and disk io.
SYNOPSIS¶
bwm-ng [options] ... [configfile]
DESCRIPTION¶
bwm-ng can be used to monitor the current bandwidth of all or some
specific network interfaces or disks (or partitions). It shows total of in and
out as well as total of all interfaces/devices. Several different output
methods are supported (curses, curses2, plain, csv and html).
bwm-ng is not limited in the number of interfaces or disks and can handle
new ones dynamically while its running or hide those which are not up.
The input methods used pretty much depends on your OS and system. You can choose
the preferred method either at start or in curses during run-time. Each method
can only be used if
bwm-ng was compiled with support for it.
Currently supported
network input methods:
- proc :
- This is the default for Linux based systems. It
parses the special procfs file /proc/net/dev. This should be used
if in doubt in Linux.
- getifaddrs :
- This is the default on BSD systems like
FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and recent Mac OS X
(>=10.3). This should be used if in doubt on those systems. It uses the
getifaddrs systemcall.
- kstat :
- This is the default for Solaris. It uses the kstat
systemcall.
- sysctl :
- This is the default on Systems like IRIX and other
UNIX. It can be used on many other systems like early Mac OS
X as well. It uses the sysctl systemcall.
- netstat :
- This is a Backup for systems without the above, or other
problems.
- libstatgrab :
- bwm-ng can use the external library libstatgrab to
gather the data. please refer to
http://www.i-scream.org/libstatgrab for more info about this.
Currently supported
disk input methods:
- disk:
- Shows the diskio on Linux 2.6+ systems using
/proc/diskstats. Instead of packets the number of read/writes will be
shown.
- kstatdisk:
- same as kstat network input but for disk io. It uses
the kstat systemcall from Solaris.
- sysctl:
- Written for NetBSD and OpenBSD, but maybe
working on other Platforms aswell.
- devstat:
- devstat library based input. You can find this on FreeBSD
based systems.
- ioservice:
- framework IOKit based input. You can find this on Darwin
systems like MacOSX.
- libstatdisk:
- same as libstatgrab but for disk io (
http://www.i-scream.org/libstatgrab/).
OUTPUT METHODS¶
You can select several different ways to output the data gathered by
bwm-ng.
You can use one of:
- curses:
- This is the default output method. Usually this fits you
the most. In curses mode you can control bwm-ng with several
keys. Press 'h' for a online help. To quit using this mode either press
'q' or ctrl-c.
- curses2:
- Shows bar charts of the current IO, using curses
output.
- plain:
- Plain or ASCII is mostly a backup if curses
is not available. You cannot control bwm-ng at all in this mode. To
quit press ctrl-c. But for one single single output using this is the mode
that fits the best.
- csv:
- CSV is designed to use with scripts for easy
parsing. For a list of those elements please take a look at README - Specs
section. To skip the first output with only zeros use
bwm-ng -o csv -c 0
- html:
- This is designed for use in the WWW. It uses the CSS file
bwm-ng.css in current working dir. "--htmlrefresh" only affects
the refresh of the page by the browser. For best results use the same
value for --timeout and --htmlrefresh.
OPTIONS¶
The options that are recognized by
bwm-ng can be divided into 3 different
groups. The long versions can only be used if bwm-ng was compiled with
getopt_long.
These options specify the method to gather the data as well as different options
for them.
- -i, --input method
- selects which method to use. It can be one of the above
(see INPUT METHODS) if support for it was compiled in.
- -f, --procfile filename
- selects the file to parse in proc input method. This
is usually /proc/net/dev.
- --diskstatsfile filename"
- selects the file to parse in disk input method. This
is usually /proc/diskstats.
- --partitionsfile filename"
- selects the file to parse in disk input method on
older Kernel. This is usually /proc/partitions.
- -n, --netstat path
- specifies the binary to execute for netstat input
method. Because this may be a security flaw support for this option is
not compiled in bwm-ng by default.
OUTPUT¶
These options select the way to output the data and several options for the
output.
- -o, --output method
- selects which method to use for output. It can be one of
the above (see OUTPUT METHODS) if support for it was compiled
in.
- -u, --unit value
- selects which unit to show. It can be one of bytes,
bits, packets or errors.
- -T, --type value
- specifies the type of stats to show. Use one of rate
for the current rate/s, max for the maximal value achieved since
startup of bwm-ng, sum for the total sum counted since
startup of bwm-ng or avg for the average over the last 30
seconds.
- -c, --count number
- number of outputs for Plain and CSV output
mode. Use '1' for once single output. Using '0' in CSV mode will
skip first output that always consists of zero values.
- -C, --csvchar char
- specifies the delimiter char for CSV mode. The
default is ';'.
- -F, --outfile filename
- specifies the use of a outfile instead of
stdout. This option only affects CSV and HTML
mode.
- -R, --htmlrefresh seconds
- sets the HTML Meta refresh field to seconds in
HTML mode. This will result in a reload of the page every n
seconds by the browser. If this is set you want to use --htmlheader
as well.
- -H, --htmlheader [value]
- if this option is used, bwm-ng will print the
correct HTML header (<html></html>) including Meta
fields before and after data. This is only useful in HTML mode.
value can be 0 (off) or 1 (on), if the value is not given '1' is
used.
- -N, --ansiout
- disable ANSI Codes for Plain output.
- --longdisknames
- show long realnames of disks in Darwin (ioservice input)
OTHER¶
These options specify the general behavior of
bwm-ng.
- -t, --timeout msec
- displays and gathers stats every n msec (1msec =
1/1000sec). The default is 500msec.
- -d, --dynamic [value]
- shows bytes and bits with dynamic unit like K, M or G
(Kilo, Mega, Giga). value can be 0 (off) or 1 (on), without a value
'1' is used.
- -a, --allif [mode]
- specifies whether only up and selected interfaces
(mode=0), all which are up but maybe not selected ( mode=1)
or all, even down and not selected interfaces ( mode=2). If no
interface list given ( --interfaces) mode=1 and
mode=2 are the same.
- -I, --interfaces list
- show only interfaces which are in this comma separated list
( whitelist). If the list is prefixed by a '%' its meaning is
negated and interfaces in this list are hidden from output (
blacklist). (Example: %eth0,tun0)
- -S, --sumhidden [value]
- if given and the optional value is not 0, count also hidden
and not shown interfaces for total value.
- -A, --avglength seconds
- sets the span in which the stats for average mode are
collected. Default is 30 seconds or 2* timeout.
- -D, --daemon [value]
- fork into background and daemonize if given and the
optional value is not 0. This only affects HTML and CSV mode
and --outfile is required.
- -h, --help
- show a help of command line options.
- -V, --version
- print version info
CONFIGFILE¶
The behavior of
bwm-ng can be also controlled by a
configfile. By
default
bwm-ng first reads /etc/bwm-ng.conf and then ~/.bwm-ng.conf. If
specified on command line
bwm-ng skips those. It consists of the same
long-options as used for command line as keys followed by a '=' and the value.
Lines starting with a # or unknown key will be ignored.
For example:
DYNAMIC=1
UNIT=bits
PROCFILE=/proc/net/dev
OUTPUT=plain
OTHER FILES¶
bwm-ng.css the CSS file used for html output.
SEE ALSO¶
bwm-ng.conf-example for an example of the configfile, README for other comments
and hints about bwm-ng.
http://www.gropp.org/ for new version or further help and links.
AUTHORS¶
Volker Gropp <bwmng@gropp.org> wrote bwm-ng and is current maintainer.
For further Authors please refer to AUTHORS file which should come with
bwm-ng.