NAME¶
vnstat - a console-based network traffic monitor
SYNOPSIS¶
vnstat [
-Ddhlmqrstuvw? ] [
--cleartop ] [
--config
file ] [
--create ] [
--days ] [
--delete ] [
--dbdir directory ] [
--debug ] [
--disable ] [
--enable ] [
--exportdb ] [
--help ] [
--hours ] [
--importdb file ] [
-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 read from the
proc(5) or
sys filesystems depending on availability. That way
vnStat can be used even without root permissions on most systems.
The implementation is divided into two commands. The purpose of
vnstat is
to provide an interface for querying the traffic information stored in network
interface specific databases where as the daemon
vnstatd(1) is
responsible for data retrieval and storage. Although the daemon process is
constantly running as a service, it is actually spending most of the time
sleeping between data updates.
OPTIONS¶
- --cleartop
- Remove all top 10 entries.
- --config file
- Use file as configuration file instead of using normal
configuration file search functionality.
- --create
- Create database for interface specified with -i or --iface
option.
- -d, --days
- Show traffic statistics on a daily basis for the last 30 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 interface specified with -i or
--iface and stop monitoring it.
- --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.
- --exportdb
- 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 or imported back using the --importdb option. 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 = top 10 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.
- -h, --hours
- Show traffic statistics on a hourly basis for the last 24 hours.
- --importdb file
- Import a database from file which was previously exported using the
--exportdb option. This can be used to transfer a database between
different architectures and machines, as the database is architecture
dependant and not compatible between different architectures. First dump
the database on one machine, e.g. with vnstat -i ppp0 --exportdb
>ppp0db.txt and then import the text file on a different machine
using vnstat -i ppp0 --importdb ppp0db.txt
- -i, --iface interface
- Select one specific interface and apply actions to only it. For
queries, it is possible to merge the information of two or more interfaces
using the interface1+interface2+... syntax.
- --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 statistics on a monthly basis for the last 12 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
and the daemon may not be running during the set operation.
- --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. Not needed when the daemon is
used.
- --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. Top 10 traffic days isn't
included in the merge and will start empty in the new database. The merge
interface syntax is documented in -i, --iface option.
- -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.
Not needed when the daemon 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 top 10 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 specified.
- -u, --update
- Update all enabled databases or only the one specified with -i
parameter. Not supported when the daemon is running.
- -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 option summary.
FILES¶
- /var/lib/vnstat/
- This directory contains all databases the program uses. Files are named
according to the monitored interfaces. A backup copy of each database is
kept in a file starting with a . (dot character) and otherwise named
according to the original file.
- /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 or multiple interfaces
when more than one is monitored.
- 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 if the daemon isn't used.
- 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 overflow 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 a
useable solution if faster updates can't be used.
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>
SEE ALSO¶
vnstatd(1),
vnstati(1),
vnstat.conf(5),
proc(5),
ifconfig(8),
units(7)
