Ubuntu Manpage: bwm-ng - Bandwidth Monitor NG (Next Generation), a live bandwidth monitor for network and

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.

INPUT METHODS

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.

Type rate:
unix timestamp;iface_name;bytes_out/s;bytes_in/s;bytes_total/s;bytes_in;bytes_out;packets_out/s;packets_in/s;packets_total/s;packets_in;packets_out;errors_out/s;errors_in/s;errors_in;errors_out\n

Type svg, sum, max:
unix timestamp;iface_name;bytes_out;bytes_in;bytes_total;packets_out;packets_in;packets_total;errors_out;errors_in\n

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.

INPUT
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.

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.

                                            2007-03-01                                  bwm-ng(1)