Ubuntu Manpage: vnStat - a console-based network traffic monitor

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>