NAME¶
vnStat - a console-based network traffic monitor
SYNOPSIS¶
vnstat [
-Ddhlmqrstuvw? ] [
--cleartop ] [
--config
file ] [
--days ] [
--delete ] [
--dbdir
directory ] [
--debug ] [
--disable ] [
--dumpdb ]
[
--enable ] [
--help ] [
--hours ] [
-i
interface ] [
--iface interface ] [
--iflist ] [
--live mode ] [
--locale locale ] [
--longhelp ] [
--months ] [
--nick nickname ] [
--oneline ] [
--query ] [
--rateunit ] [
--rebuildtotal ] [
--reset ] [
-ru ] [
--savemerged ] [
--short ] [
--showconfig ] [
--style number ] [
--sync ] [
--testkernel ] [
--top10 ] [
-tr time ] [
--traffic time ] [
--update ] [
--version ] [
--weeks ] [
--xml ]
DESCRIPTION¶
vnStat is a console-based network traffic monitor. It keeps a log of
hourly, daily and monthly network traffic for the selected interface(s).
However, it isn't a packet sniffer. The traffic information is analyzed from
the
proc(5) and
sys filesystems depending on availability. That
way vnStat can be used even without root permissions on most systems.
OPTIONS¶
- --cleartop
- Remove all top10 entries.
- --config file
- Use file as config file instead of using normal
config file search function.
- -d, --days
- Show traffic for days.
- --dbdir directory
- Use directory as database directory instead of using
the directory specified in the configuration file or the hardcoded default
if no configuration file is available.
- -D, --debug
- Show additional debug output.
- --delete
- Delete the database for the selected interface and stop
monitoring it.
- --dumpdb
- Instead of showing the database with a formated output,
this output will dump the whole database in a format that should be easy
to parse with most script languages. Use this for example with PHP, Perl
or Python to make a custom webpage. The dump uses ; as field delimeter.
active;1 |
activity status |
interface;eth0 |
name for the interface |
nick;inet |
nick (if given) |
created;1023895272 |
creation date in Unix time |
updated;1065467100 |
when the database was updated |
totalrx;569605 |
all time total received MiB |
totaltx;2023708 |
all time total transmitted MiB |
currx;621673719 |
latest rx value in /proc |
curtx;981730184 |
latest tx value in /proc |
totalrxk;644 |
total rx KiB counter |
totaltxk;494 |
total tx KiB counter |
btime;1059414541 |
system boot time in Unix time |
Then follows 30 lines like the following
d;0;1078696800;559;7433;68;557;1
where d = days, 0 = day number in database (0 is today), 1077314401 date in
Unix time, 559 = rx MiB, 7433 = tx MiB, 68 = rx KiB, 557 = tx KiB and 1
tells that vnStat has filled this value and it is in use.
m;0;1078092000;48649;139704;527;252;1 |
(x12) |
t;0;1078351200;5979;47155;362;525;1 |
(x10) |
h;0;1078699800;118265;516545 |
(x24) |
m = months, t = top10 and h = hours, all other fields are in the same order
as in days except hours that doesn't have a separate KiB value. For hours
the forth and fifth fields have values in KiB.
- --enable, --disable
- Enable or disable updates for selected interface. Useful
for interfaces that aren't always available, like ppp0. If the interface
goes down it should be disabled in order to avoid errors. Add something
like vnstat -r --disable -i ppp0 to the script that's executed when
the interface goes down and vnstat --enable -i ppp0 to the up
script. These two options aren't needed when the daemon is used.
- -h, --hours
- Show traffic for the last 24 hours.
- -i, --iface interface
- Select one specific interface and apply actions to
only it.
- --iflist
- Show list of currently available interfaces.
- -l, --live mode
- Display current transfer rate for the selected interface in
real time until interrupted. Statistics will be shown after interruption
if the runtime was more than 10 seconds. An optional mode parameter
can be used to select between the displaying of packets per second (mode
0) and transfer counters (mode 1) during execution. --style can
also be used to affect the layout of the output.
- --locale locale
- Use locale instead of using the locale setting
specified in the configuration file or the system default if no
configuration file is available.
- --longhelp
- Show complete options list.
- -m, --months
- Show traffic for months.
- --nick nickname
- Set the selected interfaces nickname as an alias the
will be displayed in queries. Usage of -u is required to save the
change.
- --oneline
- Show traffic summary for selected interface using one line
with a parseable format. The output contains 15 fields with ; used as
field delimeter. The 1st field contains the version information of the
output that will be changed in future versions of vnStat if the field
structure changes. The following fields in order 2) interface name, 3)
timestamp for today, 4) rx for today, 5) tx for today, 6) total for today,
7) average traffic rate for today, 8) timestamp for current month, 9) rx
for current month, 10) tx for current month, 11) total for current month,
12) average traffic rate for today, 13) all time total rx, 14) all time
total tx, 15) all time total traffic.
- -q, --query
- Force database query mode.
- -r, --reset
- Reset the internal counters in the database for the
selected interface. Use this if the interface goes down and back up,
otherwise that interface will get some extra traffic to its database.
- --rebuildtotal
- Reset the total traffic counters and recount those using
recorded months.
- -ru, --rateunit
- Swap the configured rate unit. If rate has been configured
to be shown in bytes then rate will be shown in bits if this option is
present. In the same way, if rate has been configured to be shown in bits
then rate will be shown in bytes when this option is present.
Alternatively 0 or 1 can be given as parameter for this option in order to
select between bytes (0) and bits (1) regardless of the configuration file
setting.
- --savemerged
- Write the end result of a database merge to the file
mergeddb that can then be used as a new database if renamed. Top10
traffic days isn't included in the merge and will start empty in the new
database.
- -s, --short
- Use short output mode. This mode is also used if more than
one database is available.
- --style number
- Modify the content and style of outputs. Set number
to 0 for a more narrow output, 1 for enabling bar column, 2 for same as
previous but with average traffic rate visible in summary and weekly
outputs and 3 for enabling average traffic rate in all outputs where it is
supported. 4 disables the use of terminal control characters in -l /
--live mode.
- --sync
- Synchronize internal counters in the database with
interface counters for the selected interface. Use this if the system is
rebooted but interface counters aren't reseted. Such can occur when
suspend to ram/disk is used.
- --testkernel
- Test if the kernel boot time information always stays the
same like it should or if it's shifting.
- -t, --top10
- Show all time top10 traffic days.
- -tr time
- Calculate how much traffic goes through the selected
interface during the given time seconds. The time will be 5
seconds if a number parameter isn't included.
- -u, --update
- Update all enabled databases or only the one specified with
-i parameter.
- -v, --version
- Show current version.
- -w, --weeks
- Show traffic for 7 days, current and previous week.
- --xml
- Show database content for selected interface or all
interfaces in xml format. All traffic values in the output are in KiB.
- -?, --help
- Show a command summary.
FILES¶
- /var/lib/vnstat/
- This directory contains all databases the program uses.
Files are named according to the monitored interfaces.
- /etc/vnstat.conf
- Config file that will be used unless $HOME/.vnstatrc
exists. See vnstat.conf(5) for more information.
EXAMPLES¶
- vnstat
- Display traffic summary for the default interface.
- vnstat -i eth0+eth1+eth3
- Display traffic summary for a merge of interfaces eth0,
eth1 and eth3.
- vnstat -i eth2 --xml
- Output all information about interface eth2 in xml format.
- vnstat -u -i eth0
- Force a database update for interface eth0 or create the
database if it doesn't exist. This is usually the first command used after
a fresh install.
- vnstat -u -i eth0 --nick local
- Give interface eth0 the nickname "local". That
information will be later later visible as a label when eth0 is queried.
The database will also be updated when this command is executed or created
if the database doesn't exist.
- vnstat -i eth2 --delete
- Delete database of interface eth2 and stop monitoring it.
RESTRICTIONS¶
Updates needs to be executed at least as often as it is possible for the
interface to generate enough traffic to wrap the kernel interface traffic
counter. Otherwise it is possible that some traffic won't be seen. This isn't
an issue for 64 bit kernels but at least one update every hour is always
required in order to provide proper input. With 32 bit kernels the maximum
time between two updates depends on how fast the interface can transfer 4 GiB.
Calculated theoretical times are:
10 Mbit: 54 minutes |
|
100 Mbit: 5 minutes |
|
1000 Mbit: 30 seconds |
|
However, for 1000 Mbit interfaces updating once every minute is usually still a
working option.
Estimated traffic values are likely to be somewhat inaccurate if daily traffic
is low because only the MiB counter is used to calculate the estimate.
Virtual and aliased interfaces cannot be monitored because the kernel doesn't
provide traffic information for that type of interfaces. Such interfaces are
usually named eth0:0, eth0:1, eth0:2 etc. where eth0 is the actual interface
being aliased.
AUTHOR¶
Teemu Toivola <tst at iki dot fi>
SEE ALSO¶
vnstatd(1),
vnstati(1),
vnstat.conf(5),
proc(5),
ifconfig(8),
units(7)