Ubuntu Manpage: wmnet - an IP accounting monitoring tool

name
synopsis
description
stat drivers
files
authors
see also

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       [-w,--withdrawn | -n,--normalstate] [-D,--driver=DRIVER] [-W,--device=DEVICE]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

       wmnet  was  created  by  Jesse  B.  Off  <joff@iastate.edu>  and  is  maintained  by  Katharine   Osborne
       <kaos@digitalkaos.net>.

       This  manpange  was  originally written by Marcelo Magallon <mmagallo@debian.org> for the Debian Project,
       and is GNU Copyright 1998 Marcelo Magallon and later modifed by Jesse Off and Katharine Osborne for WMnet
       versions 1.05 and above.