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Linux Network Traffic Monitoring

You are running a Linux server and have no possibility to monitor your traffic monthly, daily, weekly etc? Then you really should try vnstat. I like it because it’s:

• easy to install
• easy to use
• collects long term traffic statistics
• doesn’t generate much CPU load

For people who don’t like the shell check out the vnstat PHP frontend.

Installation is esay using Debian Etch:

apt-get install vnstat
vnstat -u -i eth0

For certain virtual servers you have to use a different ethernet interface than “eth0″, e.g. “venet0″:

vnstat -u -i venet0

That’s all. vnstat will now be executed periodically from cron. Some time passed you can check your traffic, like in the example below.

host:~# vnstat -m
eth0  /  monthly
 month         rx      |      tx      |   total
-----------------------+--------------+--------------------------------------
Jan '08     252.40 GB  |     4.17 TB  |     4.41 TB   %:::::::::::
Feb '08     140.07 GB  |     3.96 TB  |     4.10 TB   :::::::::::
Mar '08     152.46 GB  |     4.21 TB  |     4.36 TB   ::::::::::::
Apr '08     150.35 GB  |     4.11 TB  |     4.26 TB   ::::::::::::
May '08     118.78 GB  |     3.53 TB  |     3.65 TB   ::::::::::
Jun '08     144.95 GB  |     4.54 TB  |     4.68 TB   :::::::::::::
Jul '08     157.09 GB  |     4.91 TB  |     5.06 TB   ::::::::::::::
Aug '08     160.96 GB  |     5.01 TB  |     5.17 TB   :::::::::::::::
Sep '08     172.33 GB  |     5.43 TB  |     5.60 TB   ::::::::::::::::
Oct '08     189.69 GB  |     6.12 TB  |     6.31 TB   %:::::::::::::::::
Nov '08     190.89 GB  |     6.52 TB  |     6.71 TB   %::::::::::::::::::
Dec '08     209.59 GB  |     7.35 TB  |     7.55 TB   %:::::::::::::::::::::
-----------------------+--------------+--------------------------------------
estimated   219.94 GB  |     7.71 TB  |     7.93 TB