vnStat - a console-based network traffic monitor

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 ]

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.

-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.

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

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.

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.

Teemu Toivola <tst at iki dot fi>

proc(5)