Ubuntu Manpage: wmnet - an IP accounting monitoring tool

NAME

       wmnet - an IP accounting monitoring tool

SYNOPSIS

       wmnet   [-h,--help]  [-v,--version]  [-T,--txrule=NUM]  [-R,--rxrule=NUM]  [-l,--logscale]
       [-t,--txcolor=COLOR]      [-r,--rxcolor=COLOR]       [-d DELAY]       [-x,--maxrate=BYTES]
       [-F,--labelfg=COLOR]    [-B,--labelbg=COLOR]   [-L,--label=LABEL]   [-e,--execute=COMMAND]
       [-p,--promisc=DEVICE]     [-u,--unpromisc=DEVICE]      [-w,--withdrawn | -n,--normalstate]
       [-D,--driver=DRIVER] [-W,--device=DEVICE]

DESCRIPTION

wmnet polls network statistics and does a few things with the data it gets. It has small
blinking lights for the rx and tx of IP packets, a digital speedometer of your networks
current speed and a bar graph like xload plotting your throughput. It has a tx speed graph
from bottom-up and rx speed graph from the top-down. The speedometer keeps track of the
current speed per second and shows it in a color corresponding to which of rx or tx that
has the highest speed at the moment. Also, the graph is drawn in a way that the highest
speed is drawn on top of the other while the other is in the background.

OPTIONS
-h,--help
displays a brief help message

-v,--version
displays version information

-T,--txrule=NUM or NAME
in the case of the ipfwadm driver, this is the accounting rule number to monitor
for tx. For the ipchains driver, this is the chain name to watch.

-R,--rxrule=NUM or NAME
in the case of the ipfwadm driver, this is the accounting rule number to monitor
for rx. For the ipchains, this is the chain name to watch.

-t,--txcolor=COLOR
specifies the tx color

-r,--rxcolor=COLOR
specifies the rx color

-x,--maxrate=BYTES
maximum transfer rate for graph scale. Defaults to 6000, which should be in the
right area for modem connections. The key is to experiment with this setting and
the --logscale option to get the kind of graph that fits your connection type. A
general rule of thumb is to set this to 4 to 5 times greater than your maximum
throughput. The author finds using --logscale and --maxrate=10000000 to work
nicely for the entire range of his dorms ethernet based connection to the internet.

-l,--logscale
sets logarithmic scale, which is good for fast connections. This will allow, for
example, the graph still being informative at extremely low speeds (telnet), and
extremely fast speeds (local FTP) simultaneously without the scale constantly being
blank or solid at those respective extremes.

-L,--label=LABEL
prints a given text label on the bottom of the window

-F,--labelfg=COLOR
specifies the color for the text of the label

-B,--labelbg=COLOR
specifies the color for the background of the label text

--withdrawn

--normalstate
sets the initial state of wmnet. WMnet tries to automatically determine which
state to start up in by starting up in withdrawn state if a WindowMaker defined
atom is present, and in normalstate otherwise. This behavior is overridden by
specifying one of these options.

-e,--execute=COMMAND
executes COMMAND on a single click from button 1 (left mouse button).

-u,--unpromisc=DEVICE

-p,--promisc=DEVICE
put DEVICE in promiscuous mode to start applying accounting rules to all network
packets on your network segment. You either need to be root or have the wmnet
binary suid root to use this feature. This option may be given more than once on
the command line to specify more than one device.

-d DELAY
delay time for polling /proc/net/ip_account (in microseconds). Defaults to 25000,
that is 0.025 seconds, or 40 Hz

-D,--driver=DRIVER
use DRIVER to get the stats we monitor. Compiled in drivers can be listed with
the -h switch.

-W,--device=DEVICE
watch statistics for DEVICE . This option is only used for certain stat drivers,
namely: kmem, devstats, and pppstats. The ipchains and ipfwadm stat drivers do not
use this parameter. -X,--display=ISPLAY X display to use.

STAT DRIVERS

wmnet uses different stat drivers to get the stats it needs to monitor your network.
Exactly what drivers are available is determined at compile time. The driver wmnet
ultimately uses at runtime is dependent on your system. There are 4 drivers specific to
Linux and 1 to *BSD. The driver used can be overridden by the --driver option. The
available drivers are pppstats, devstats, ipfwadm, ipchains and kmem.

pppstats
this driver works on Linux 2.0 or Linux 2.1 for ONLY ppp type devices. Specify the
--device option for the interface to monitor. By default it uses interface ppp0.
Please note, that if the ppp device is not available or active, wmnet will continue
to try in the hopes that it is only temporarily offline.

devstats
use this driver on Linux 2.1 kernels for any interface. Pass the --device option
for the device you want monitored, otherwise, the default is eth0. This will be
available for ONLY Linux 2.1 kernels and will always be there on those kernels.

ipfwadm
use this driver on Linux 2.0 kernels compiled with IP accounting. It won't work on
Linux 2.1. You'll also need to specify the --txrule and --rxrule options. By
default, wmnet uses the first two rules it finds.

ipchains
this driver will only work in Linux 2.1 kernels with IP chains compiled in. You'll
want to also specify the --txrule and --rxrule options and specify the chain names.
By default it uses the chains "acctin" and "acctout" There must be at least one
rule on the named ipchain, if there is more than one rule in the specified chain,
it uses the first. The chain must not immediately return to the parent chain, it
has to pass through a rule first. Otherwise, the kernel will not collect the stats
we need.

kmem this driver is available on FreeBSD and OpenBSD systems and must be passed a device
through the --device option. By default, it uses ec0 but will accept any valid
device name.

FILES

       /proc/net/ip_acct /proc/net/dev /proc/net/ipchains
              kernel net accounting information

AUTHORS