Simple command to view bandwidth usage on eth0?

[-Alex-]

Hey all,

After much Googling, I can't seem to find a command that just tells me how much traffic has passed through eth0, surely there must be one?

All I need is a command I can run which outputs something like "Down: 100GB - Up: 600GB".

Any suggestions? I've got root access to the box and it's running CentOS 5.2 in a remote datacenter.

Cheers!

[djfiend]

ifconfig eth0

[-Alex-]

The figures that is giving me are totally wrong:

Last login: Wed Sep 24 20:56:34 on ttys000
macbook:~ alex$ ssh root@fluxriver.com
root@flxuriver.com'ssword: 
Last login: Tue Sep 23 01:04:30 2008 from dyn-62-56-72-181.dslaccess.co.uk
[root@conquer01 ~]# uptime
 20:57:54 up 21 days, 21:52,  1 user,  load average: 0.01, 0.02, 0.00
[root@conquer01 ~]# ifconfig eth0
eth0	  Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:19:B9:FA:3B:8C  
		  inet addr:62.212.74.70  Bcast:62.212.74.127  Mask:255.255.255.192
		  inet6 addr: fe80::219:b9ff:fefa:3b8c/64 Scope:Link
		  UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
		  RX packets:232437919 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
		  TX packets:361855838 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
		  collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
		  RX bytes:2483042813 (2.3 GiB)  TX bytes:15682671 (14.9 MiB)
		  Interrupt:169 
[root@conquer01 ~]#

I know for a fact that it's done at least 626GB this month, because the bandwidth graphs on Leaseweb's site show so, along with a PHP script I'm running on it at the moment, which shows it more like 1.1TB so far this month:

[zeroday]

Maybe your main network is something else? Try just plain 'ifconfig' and see if any of the interfaces match your b/w usage. That or leaseweb measured it wrong.

Btw, direct ssh root login and running sshd on default port is a bad idea security-wise.

[Mike]

the values in ifconfig reset to zero after 4GiB

[markwolfe Veteran]

If you aren't a fan of just using the count in ifconfig, maybe a more advanced tool would suit your needs a bit more?

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/bandwidth-monito...-for-linux.html

That link lists several, though I have never used any of them.

Might I point out that if you are interested in your network bandwidth to your ISP, then monitoring at your router would be the correct option, especially if you have multiple devices on your home network.

[Swiftie]

  zer0day said:

Maybe your main network is something else? Try just plain 'ifconfig' and see if any of the interfaces match your b/w usage. That or leaseweb measured it wrong.

Btw, direct ssh root login and running sshd on default port is a bad idea security-wise.

So is posting ip addresses.. But anyways.

  markjensen said:

Might I point out that if you are interested in your network bandwidth to your ISP, then monitoring at your router would be the correct option, especially if you have multiple devices on your home network.

Unfortunately in this case and many others this is a server in a DC.

[pyther]

Look at a program called vnstat this should do exactly what you want (command line util)

[-Alex-]

  zer0day said:

Maybe your main network is something else? Try just plain 'ifconfig' and see if any of the interfaces match your b/w usage.

root@fluxriver.com'ssword: 
Last login: Thu Sep 25 00:01:11 2008 from dyn-62-56-72-181.dslaccess.co.uk
[root@conquer01 ~]# ifconfig
eth0	  Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:19:B9:FA:3B:8C  
		  inet addr:62.212.74.70  Bcast:62.212.74.127  Mask:255.255.255.192
		  inet6 addr: fe80::219:b9ff:fefa:3b8c/64 Scope:Link
		  UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
		  RX packets:247189119 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
		  TX packets:382622310 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
		  collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
		  RX bytes:3827389172 (3.5 GiB)  TX bytes:946068225 (902.2 MiB)
		  Interrupt:169 

lo		Link encap:Local Loopback  
		  inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
		  inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
		  UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
		  RX packets:154632 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
		  TX packets:154632 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
		  collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
		  RX bytes:18357121 (17.5 MiB)  TX bytes:18357121 (17.5 MiB)

[root@conquer01 ~]#

  Mike said:

the values in ifconfig reset to zero after 4GiB

I was under the impression that was just on Windows?

Edit: I stand corrected after a quick Google. Hmm..

  markjensen said:

Might I point out that if you are interested in your network bandwidth to your ISP, then monitoring at your router would be the correct option, especially if you have multiple devices on your home network.

The box is in a datacenter.

  pyther said:

Look at a program called vnstat this should do exactly what you want (command line util)

I installed this about a week ago. Just updated it now, for some reason it's only showing my today and yesterday. Do you have to update it once a day?

[root@conquer01 ~]# vnstat -u
[root@conquer01 ~]# vnstat
Database updated: Sat Sep 27 13:48:40 2008

	eth0

	   received:	   9.33 GB (27.4%)
	transmitted:	  24.66 GB (72.6%)
		  total:	  33.99 GB

					rx	 |	 tx	 |  total
	-----------------------+------------+-----------
	yesterday	  6.02 MB |  243.14 MB |  249.16 MB
		today	264.14 MB |   12.10 GB |   12.35 GB
	-----------------------+------------+-----------
	estimated	   459 MB |   21.04 GB |   21.48 GB

Edited September 27, 2008 by -Alex-

[pyther]

The INSTALL file for vnstat, suggest running the update every 5 minutes via cron.

However running it every 5 minutes, will put next to no load on the server.