Whether you run a server, have an expensive hosting package or simply use your desktop, it’s always good to know how much bandwidth you’ve used up – and vnStat is just the tool for that.
vnStat is a console-based bandwidth logger that uses information from your /proc/
& /sys/
to maintain those logs in a nice li’l DB. It organizes the bandwidth information according to month, day and hour.
sudo apt-get install vnstat
(Ubuntu & Debian-based machines)
For other distros, please check your repos or build from source from vnStat’s official page – it also has /etc/init.d
scripts to run vnStat as a daemon.
Here’s a tiny cheat-sheet of the most used vnstat features. It’s also available separately as a GitHub Gist. For more information on all of the features vnStat has to offer check out it’s online man pages or with man vnstat
Summaries:
vnstat -m #monthly summaries
vnstat -d #daily summaries (last 30 days)
vnstat -h #hourly summaries (last 24 hours)
Comparison Views:
vnstat -w #weekly comparison (last 7 days, last week, current week)
vnstat -t #top 10 entries ever
Live View:*
vnstat --live #Live bandwidth monitoring
Interface specific:
vnstat --iflist #Available interfaces
vnstat -i #Bandwidth monitoring for the interface
Output in various formats:
vnstat --xml #Outputs all the database information in XML format
vnstat --dumpdb #Dumps all the database information where fields are separated by ; as a delimeter
Resetting various parts of vnStat:
vnstat --cleartop #Clears the top 10 entries
vnstat -r #Reset internal counters in the database for the selected interface
vnstat --rebuildtotal #Reset the total traffic counters and recount those using recorded months
In the output that vnStat provides rx means downloaded and tx means uploaded. Here are some examples (all of them are mentioned above):
vnstat -m: (Monthly summaries)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat -m
eth0 / monthly
month rx | tx | total | avg. rate
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
Jul '12 26.16 GiB | 3.22 GiB | 29.38 GiB | 92.02 kbit/s
Aug '12 31.98 GiB | 3.59 GiB | 35.57 GiB | 111.40 kbit/s
Sep '12 40.98 GiB | 9.86 GiB | 50.84 GiB | 164.52 kbit/s
Oct '12 9.13 GiB | 3.51 GiB | 12.64 GiB | 39.60 kbit/s
Nov '12 57.49 GiB | 16.40 GiB | 73.89 GiB | 239.14 kbit/s
Dec '12 49.11 GiB | 10.02 GiB | 59.13 GiB | 185.19 kbit/s
Jan '13 80.93 GiB | 16.93 GiB | 97.86 GiB | 306.49 kbit/s
Feb '13 59.86 GiB | 15.94 GiB | 75.80 GiB | 262.84 kbit/s
Mar '13 70.49 GiB | 21.81 GiB | 92.31 GiB | 289.10 kbit/s
Apr '13 48.91 GiB | 10.43 GiB | 59.34 GiB | 247.33 kbit/s
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
estimated 62.99 GiB | 13.43 GiB | 76.42 GiB |
vnstat -d: (Daily summaries)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat -d
eth0 / daily
day rx | tx | total | avg. rate
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
03/26/13 2.15 GiB | 153.10 MiB | 2.29 GiB | 222.81 kbit/s
03/27/13 2.33 GiB | 562.57 MiB | 2.88 GiB | 279.78 kbit/s
03/28/13 2.46 GiB | 798.51 MiB | 3.24 GiB | 314.32 kbit/s
03/29/13 2.37 GiB | 659.03 MiB | 3.02 GiB | 292.74 kbit/s
03/30/13 1.71 GiB | 836.79 MiB | 2.53 GiB | 245.74 kbit/s
03/31/13 2.16 GiB | 828.24 MiB | 2.97 GiB | 288.18 kbit/s
04/01/13 1.55 GiB | 195.00 MiB | 1.74 GiB | 169.01 kbit/s
04/02/13 3.12 GiB | 638.91 MiB | 3.74 GiB | 363.49 kbit/s
04/03/13 2.92 GiB | 380.10 MiB | 3.30 GiB | 319.92 kbit/s
04/04/13 2.43 GiB | 348.81 MiB | 2.77 GiB | 268.97 kbit/s
04/05/13 1.94 GiB | 866.57 MiB | 2.79 GiB | 270.57 kbit/s
04/06/13 2.11 GiB | 728.29 MiB | 2.82 GiB | 274.00 kbit/s
04/07/13 1.70 GiB | 361.40 MiB | 2.05 GiB | 199.11 kbit/s
04/08/13 1.76 GiB | 504.88 MiB | 2.26 GiB | 219.10 kbit/s
04/09/13 2.87 GiB | 283.23 MiB | 3.15 GiB | 305.60 kbit/s
04/10/13 2.09 GiB | 235.23 MiB | 2.32 GiB | 225.04 kbit/s
04/11/13 2.58 GiB | 323.74 MiB | 2.89 GiB | 280.86 kbit/s
04/12/13 1.17 GiB | 174.59 MiB | 1.34 GiB | 130.56 kbit/s
04/13/13 2.10 GiB | 331.14 MiB | 2.43 GiB | 235.69 kbit/s
04/14/13 2.40 GiB | 524.94 MiB | 2.92 GiB | 283.21 kbit/s
04/15/13 2.17 GiB | 684.09 MiB | 2.84 GiB | 275.66 kbit/s
04/16/13 2.35 GiB | 547.14 MiB | 2.88 GiB | 279.61 kbit/s
04/17/13 1.86 GiB | 233.27 MiB | 2.08 GiB | 202.23 kbit/s
04/18/13 1.68 GiB | 171.35 MiB | 1.85 GiB | 179.15 kbit/s
04/19/13 2.15 GiB | 335.46 MiB | 2.48 GiB | 240.45 kbit/s
04/20/13 1.60 GiB | 713.46 MiB | 2.29 GiB | 222.51 kbit/s
04/21/13 2.51 GiB | 890.47 MiB | 3.38 GiB | 328.03 kbit/s
04/22/13 1.67 GiB | 328.77 MiB | 1.99 GiB | 193.08 kbit/s
04/23/13 2.15 GiB | 876.40 MiB | 3.01 GiB | 291.98 kbit/s
04/24/13 28.77 MiB | 4.11 MiB | 32.89 MiB | 10.66 kbit/s
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
estimated 95 MiB | 13 MiB | 108 MiB |
vnstat -h: (Hourly summaries)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat -h
eth0 07:01
^ r
| r r r r
| r r r r r r
| r r r r r r r r
| r r r r r r r r
| r r r r r r r r r r
| r r rt r r r rt rt r r r r r
| r r rt r rt rt rt rt rt rt rt r r
| r rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt r
| r rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt rt r
-+--------------------------------------------------------------------------->
| 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
h rx (KiB) tx (KiB) h rx (KiB) tx (KiB) h rx (KiB) tx (KiB)
08 92896 12176 16 203136 80963 00 14016 1393
09 0 0 17 213087 87053 01 0 0
10 0 0 18 216805 95934 02 0 0
11 0 0 19 159035 73066 03 0 0
12 115614 46249 20 168349 85014 04 0 0
13 113765 91096 21 196507 85331 05 0 0
14 98634 53702 22 179376 43809 06 15059 2687
15 192603 86513 23 107695 12939 07 390 130
vnstat -w: (Weekly comparison)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat -w
eth0 / weekly
rx | tx | total | avg. rate
---------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
last 7 days 11.78 GiB | 3.24 GiB | 15.02 GiB | 231.65 kbit/s
last week 14.30 GiB | 3.49 GiB | 17.79 GiB | 246.81 kbit/s
current week 3.85 GiB | 1.18 GiB | 5.03 GiB | 212.69 kbit/s
---------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
estimated 11.75 GiB | 3.61 GiB | 15.36 GiB |
vnstat -t: (Top 10 entries)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat -t
eth0 / top 10
# day rx | tx | total | avg. rate
-----------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
1 08/05/12 10.16 GiB | 1.09 GiB | 11.25 GiB | 1.09 Mbit/s
2 01/02/13 5.67 GiB | 485.74 MiB | 6.15 GiB | 596.70 kbit/s
3 10/01/12 4.32 GiB | 1.68 GiB | 6.00 GiB | 582.79 kbit/s
4 03/01/13 5.11 GiB | 852.88 MiB | 5.94 GiB | 576.95 kbit/s
5 03/04/13 4.92 GiB | 847.56 MiB | 5.75 GiB | 558.30 kbit/s
6 09/09/12 4.48 GiB | 1.24 GiB | 5.72 GiB | 555.19 kbit/s
7 08/02/12 5.13 GiB | 528.17 MiB | 5.65 GiB | 548.10 kbit/s
8 02/01/13 4.15 GiB | 1.12 GiB | 5.26 GiB | 511.13 kbit/s
9 12/01/12 3.86 GiB | 648.62 MiB | 4.50 GiB | 436.45 kbit/s
10 03/02/13 3.54 GiB | 969.17 MiB | 4.49 GiB | 436.04 kbit/s
vnstat –live: (Live monitoring)
vnstat –iflist: (Interface Listing)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat --iflist
Available interfaces: lo eth0
vnstat -i: (Specific interface monitoring)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat -i eth0
Database updated: Wed Apr 24 07:11:18 2013
eth0 since 07/09/12
rx: 475.03 GiB tx: 111.73 GiB total: 586.76 GiB
monthly
rx | tx | total | avg. rate
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
Mar '13 70.49 GiB | 21.81 GiB | 92.31 GiB | 289.10 kbit/s
Apr '13 48.91 GiB | 10.43 GiB | 59.34 GiB | 247.28 kbit/s
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
estimated 62.98 GiB | 13.43 GiB | 76.41 GiB |
daily
rx | tx | total | avg. rate
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
yesterday 2.15 GiB | 876.40 MiB | 3.01 GiB | 291.98 kbit/s
today 33.87 MiB | 4.78 MiB | 38.65 MiB | 12.24 kbit/s
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
estimated 110 MiB | 13 MiB | 123 MiB |
vnstat –xml: (XML-formatted output)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat --xml
<vnstat version="1.11" xmlversion="1">
<interface id="eth0">
<id>eth0</id>
<nick>eth0</nick>
<created><date><year>2012</year><month>07</month><day>09</day></date></created>
<updated><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>24</day></date><time><hour>07</hour><minute>06</minute></time></updated>
<traffic>
<total><rx>498100113</rx><tx>117153733</tx></total>
<days>
<day id="0"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>24</day></date><rx>30906</rx><tx>4489</tx></day>
<day id="1"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>2255961</rx><tx>897433</tx></day>
<day id="2"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>22</day></date><rx>1748650</rx><tx>336656</tx></day>
<day id="3"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>21</day></date><rx>2630904</rx><tx>911841</tx></day>
<day id="4"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>20</day></date><rx>1672572</rx><tx>730588</tx></day>
<day id="5"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>19</day></date><rx>2253384</rx><tx>343510</tx></day>
<day id="6"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>18</day></date><rx>1759404</rx><tx>175464</tx></day>
<day id="7"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>17</day></date><rx>1945249</rx><tx>238865</tx></day>
<day id="8"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>16</day></date><rx>2459517</rx><tx>560274</tx></day>
<day id="9"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>15</day></date><rx>2276638</rx><tx>700505</tx></day>
<day id="10"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>14</day></date><rx>2521153</rx><tx>537538</tx></day>
<day id="11"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>13</day></date><rx>2206397</rx><tx>339092</tx></day>
<day id="12"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>12</day></date><rx>1231232</rx><tx>178784</tx></day>
<day id="13"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>11</day></date><rx>2701757</rx><tx>331512</tx></day>
<day id="14"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>10</day></date><rx>2189601</rx><tx>240873</tx></day>
<day id="15"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>09</day></date><rx>3010467</rx><tx>290028</tx></day>
<day id="16"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>08</day></date><rx>1849270</rx><tx>516994</tx></day>
<day id="17"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>07</day></date><rx>1780349</rx><tx>370074</tx></day>
<day id="18"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>06</day></date><rx>2213412</rx><tx>745768</tx></day>
<day id="19"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>05</day></date><rx>2034818</rx><tx>887371</tx></day>
<day id="20"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>04</day></date><rx>2547687</rx><tx>357184</tx></day>
<day id="21"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>03</day></date><rx>3065958</rx><tx>389227</tx></day>
<day id="22"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>02</day></date><rx>3271404</rx><tx>654247</tx></day>
<day id="23"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>01</day></date><rx>1625620</rx><tx>199679</tx></day>
<day id="24"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>31</day></date><rx>2264214</rx><tx>848118</tx></day>
<day id="25"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>30</day></date><rx>1797172</rx><tx>856868</tx></day>
<day id="26"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>29</day></date><rx>2486713</rx><tx>674851</tx></day>
<day id="27"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>28</day></date><rx>2577019</rx><tx>817672</tx></day>
<day id="28"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>27</day></date><rx>2445546</rx><tx>576070</tx></day>
<day id="29"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>26</day></date><rx>2249595</rx><tx>156772</tx></day>
</days>
<months>
<month id="0"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month></date><rx>51282310</rx><tx>10937996</tx></month>
<month id="1"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month></date><rx>73919043</rx><tx>22870576</tx></month>
<month id="2"><date><year>2013</year><month>02</month></date><rx>62763187</rx><tx>16718495</tx></month>
<month id="3"><date><year>2013</year><month>01</month></date><rx>84864054</rx><tx>17748408</tx></month>
<month id="4"><date><year>2012</year><month>12</month></date><rx>51493553</rx><tx>10508245</tx></month>
<month id="5"><date><year>2012</year><month>11</month></date><rx>60284888</rx><tx>17197332</tx></month>
<month id="6"><date><year>2012</year><month>10</month></date><rx>9571460</rx><tx>3685417</tx></month>
<month id="7"><date><year>2012</year><month>09</month></date><rx>42965912</rx><tx>10338645</tx></month>
<month id="8"><date><year>2012</year><month>08</month></date><rx>33528639</rx><tx>3767980</tx></month>
<month id="9"><date><year>2012</year><month>07</month></date><rx>27427067</rx><tx>3380639</tx></month>
</months>
<tops>
<top id="0"><date><year>2012</year><month>08</month><day>05</day></date><time><hour>00</hour><minute>00</minute></time><rx>10658057</rx><tx>1142039</tx></top>
<top id="1"><date><year>2013</year><month>01</month><day>02</day></date><time><hour>00</hour><minute>00</minute></time><rx>5947015</rx><tx>497395</tx></top>
<top id="2"><date><year>2012</year><month>10</month><day>01</day></date><time><hour>00</hour><minute>00</minute></time><rx>4532538</rx><tx>1761549</tx></top>
<top id="3"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>01</day></date><time><hour>09</hour><minute>59</minute></time><rx>5357752</rx><tx>873347</tx></top>
<top id="4"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>04</day></date><time><hour>09</hour><minute>56</minute></time><rx>5161698</rx><tx>867903</tx></top>
<top id="5"><date><year>2012</year><month>09</month><day>09</day></date><time><hour>00</hour><minute>00</minute></time><rx>4696803</rx><tx>1299226</tx></top>
<top id="6"><date><year>2012</year><month>08</month><day>02</day></date><time><hour>00</hour><minute>24</minute></time><rx>5378631</rx><tx>540846</tx></top>
<top id="7"><date><year>2013</year><month>02</month><day>01</day></date><time><hour>00</hour><minute>00</minute></time><rx>4350547</rx><tx>1169628</tx></top>
<top id="8"><date><year>2012</year><month>12</month><day>01</day></date><time><hour>04</hour><minute>08</minute></time><rx>4049423</rx><tx>664191</tx></top>
<top id="9"><date><year>2013</year><month>03</month><day>02</day></date><time><hour>00</hour><minute>00</minute></time><rx>3716826</rx><tx>992426</tx></top>
</tops>
<hours>
<hour id="0"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>24</day></date><rx>14016</rx><tx>1393</tx></hour>
<hour id="6"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>24</day></date><rx>15059</rx><tx>2687</tx></hour>
<hour id="7"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>24</day></date><rx>1831</rx><tx>409</tx></hour>
<hour id="8"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>92896</rx><tx>12176</tx></hour>
<hour id="12"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>115614</rx><tx>46249</tx></hour>
<hour id="13"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>113765</rx><tx>91096</tx></hour>
<hour id="14"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>98634</rx><tx>53702</tx></hour>
<hour id="15"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>192603</rx><tx>86513</tx></hour>
<hour id="16"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>203136</rx><tx>80963</tx></hour>
<hour id="17"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>213087</rx><tx>87053</tx></hour>
<hour id="18"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>216805</rx><tx>95934</tx></hour>
<hour id="19"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>159035</rx><tx>73066</tx></hour>
<hour id="20"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>168349</rx><tx>85014</tx></hour>
<hour id="21"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>196507</rx><tx>85331</tx></hour>
<hour id="22"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>179376</rx><tx>43809</tx></hour>
<hour id="23"><date><year>2013</year><month>04</month><day>23</day></date><rx>107695</rx><tx>12939</tx></hour>
</hours>
</traffic>
</interface>
</vnstat>
vnstat –dumpdb: (; separated output)
nits@excalibur:~$ vnstat --dumpdb
version;3
active;1
interface;eth0
nick;eth0
created;1341841971
updated;1366767678
totalrx;486429
totaltx;114408
currx;21163008
curtx;3586048
totalrxk;594
totaltxk;347
btime;1366765859
d;0;1366741822;33;4;891;799;1
d;1;1366671121;2203;876;89;409;1
d;2;1366569020;1707;328;682;784;1
d;3;1366482613;2569;890;248;481;1
d;4;1366396220;1633;713;380;476;1
d;5;1366309810;2200;335;584;470;1
d;6;1366248560;1718;171;172;360;1
d;7;1366137029;1899;233;673;273;1
d;8;1366077369;2401;547;893;146;1
d;9;1365964222;2223;684;286;89;1
d;10;1365877809;2462;524;65;962;1
d;11;1365791423;2154;331;701;148;1
d;12;1365705026;1202;174;384;608;1
d;13;1365618624;2638;323;445;760;1
d;14;1365532209;2138;235;289;233;1
d;15;1365445810;2939;283;931;236;1
d;16;1365359408;1805;504;950;898;1
d;17;1365273011;1738;361;637;410;1
d;18;1365186600;2161;728;548;296;1
d;19;1365100221;1987;866;130;587;1
d;20;1365013807;2487;348;999;832;1
d;21;1364927426;2994;380;102;107;1
d;22;1364841027;3194;638;748;935;1
d;23;1364754605;1587;194;532;1023;1
d;24;1364690693;2211;828;150;246;1
d;25;1364581828;1755;836;52;804;1
d;26;1364495425;2428;659;441;35;1
d;27;1364409012;2516;798;635;520;1
d;28;1364323565;2388;562;234;582;1
d;29;1364236212;2196;153;891;100;1
m;0;1364754605;50084;10682;71;34;1
m;1;1362112153;72186;22334;579;560;1
m;2;1359657017;61292;16326;179;671;1
m;3;1356978612;82875;17332;54;440;1
m;4;1354315099;50286;10261;689;981;1
m;5;1351824117;58871;16794;984;276;1
m;6;1349029819;9347;3599;132;41;1
m;7;1346437819;41958;10096;920;341;1
m;8;1343759416;32742;3679;831;684;1
m;9;1341841971;26784;3301;251;415;1
m;10;0;0;0;0;0;0
m;11;0;0;0;0;0;0
t;0;1344105023;10408;1115;265;279;1
t;1;1357065005;5807;485;647;755;1
t;2;1349029819;4426;1720;314;269;1
t;3;1362112153;5232;852;184;899;1
t;4;1362371181;5040;847;738;575;1
t;5;1347129001;4586;1268;739;794;1
t;6;1343847285;5252;528;583;174;1
t;7;1359657017;4248;1142;595;220;1
t;8;1354315099;3954;648;527;639;1
t;9;1362162617;3629;969;730;170;1
h;0;1366742542;14016;1393
h;1;0;0;0
h;2;0;0;0
h;3;0;0;0
h;4;0;0;0
h;5;0;0;0
h;6;1366766988;15059;2687
h;7;1366767678;5608;815
h;8;1366686773;92896;12176
h;9;0;0;0
h;10;0;0;0
h;11;0;0;0
h;12;1366702190;115614;46249
h;13;1366705790;113765;91096
h;14;1366709390;98634;53702
h;15;1366712990;192603;86513
h;16;1366716591;203136;80963
h;17;1366720191;213087;87053
h;18;1366723791;216805;95934
h;19;1366727391;159035;73066
h;20;1366730991;168349;85014
h;21;1366734592;196507;85331
h;22;1366738192;179376;43809
h;23;1366741792;107695;12939
Cross-posted from The Void Ghost
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