VNSTAT

Section: User Manuals (1)
Updated: MARCH 2004
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NAME

vnStat - a console-based network traffic monitor  

SYNOPSIS

vnstat [ -Ddhmqrstuvw? ] [ -i interface ] [ -tr time ] [ --cleartop ] [ --days ] [ --debug ] [ --disable ] [ --dumpdb ] [ --enable ] [ --help ] [ --hours ] [ --iface interface ] [ --longhelp ] [ --months ] [ --nick nickname ] [ --query ] [ --rebuildtotal ] [ --reset ] [ --short ] [ --testkernel ] [ --top10 ] [ --traffic time ] [ --update ] [ --version ] [ --weeks ]  

DESCRIPTION

vnStat is a console-base network traffic monitor that keeps a log of 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) -filesystem, so that vnStat can be used without root permissions.  

OPTIONS

-D, --debug
Show additional debug output.
-d, --days
Show traffic for days.
-h, --hours
Show traffic for the last 24 hours.
-i, --iface interface
Select one specific interface and apply actions to only it.
-m, --months
Show traffic for months.
-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.
-s, --short
Use short output mode. This mode is also used if more than one database is available.
-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.
--cleartop
Remove all top10 entries.
--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 or perl 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 MB
  totaltx;2023708                 all time total transmitted MB
  currx;621673719                 latest rx value in /proc
  curtx;981730184                 latest tx value in /proc
  totalrxk;644                    total rx kB counter
  totaltxk;494                    total tx kB 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 MB, 7433 = tx MB, 68 = rx kB, 557 = tx kB 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 kB value. For hours the forth and fifth fields have values in kB.

--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.
-?, --help
Show a command summary.
--longhelp
Show complete options list.
--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.
--rebuildtotal
Reset the total traffic counters and recount those using recorded months.
--testkernel
Test if the kernel btime stays always to same like it should or if it's shifting.
 

FILES

/var/lib/vnstat/
This directory contains all databases the program uses. Files are named according to the monitored interfaces.
 

EXAMPLES

vnstat -u -i interface forces a database update for interface or creates the database if it doesn't exist. This is usually the first command used after a fresh install.

vnstat -u -i interface --nick nick gives interface the nickname nick and that information will be later included with queries.

vnstat -u -r --disable -i interface resets the internal counters of interface and disables it from being updated before enabled again with the --enable parameter. This feature is especially useful for interfaces like ppp0 that aren't always active.  

RESTRICTIONS

64bit counters can't currently be automatically detected, therefore support must be specified before compiling.

Estimated traffic values are likely to be somewhat inaccurate if daily traffic is low because only the MB counter is used to calculate the estimate.  

AUTHOR

Teemu Toivola <tst at iki dot fi>  

SEE ALSO

proc(5)

 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
FILES
EXAMPLES
RESTRICTIONS
AUTHOR
SEE ALSO
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Time: 15:05:14 GMT, March 18, 2021