This guide is going to take you through on how to Install vnStat network traffic monitor on Ubuntu 22.04. vnStat is a network utility for the Linux operating system which uses command line interface i.e console-based network traffic monitor. vnStat keeps a log of hourly, daily and monthly network traffic for the selected interfaces.
How to Install vnStat network traffic monitor on Ubuntu 22.04
- Update your packages.
sudo apt update- Install vnStat network traffic monitor on Ubuntu 22.04 using the command below.
sudo apt install vnstatSample output
Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done Suggested packages: vnstati The following NEW packages will be installed: vnstat 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 103 kB of archives. After this operation, 309 kB of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/universe amd64 vnstat amd64 2.9-1 [103 kB] Fetched 103 kB in 3s (36.7 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package vnstat. (Reading database ... 198716 files and directories currently i nstalled.) Preparing to unpack .../vnstat_2.9-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking vnstat (2.9-1) ... Setting up vnstat (2.9-1) ... Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/vn stat.service → /lib/systemd/system/vnstat.service. Processing triggers for man-db (2.10.2-1) ...
Configure vnStat on Ubuntu 22.04
- After the installation, a default database directory for each interface will be created at /var/lib/vnstat. You can list the content of the directory using the command below.
ls -l /var/lib/vnstat/- Next, check your interface name using the following command.
ip l showSample output
1: lo: mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: ens33: mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether 00:0c:29:01:2f:a6 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
altname enp2s1
- Add your interface name to be monitored in the vnstat config file. Open the file using the command below.
sudo nano /etc/vnstat.conf- Then add your interface name. Remember to replace
ens33with your interface name, save and close the file.
Interface "ens33"- Restart vnStat to apply changes.
sudo systemctl restart vnstat- Check status using the following command.
sudo systemctl status vnstat.serviceSample output
● vnstat.service - vnStat network traffic monitor
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/vnstat.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-04-28 18:39:19 EAT; 32s ago
Docs: man:vnstatd(8)
man:vnstat(1)
man:vnstat.conf(5)
Main PID: 6153 (vnstatd)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 4588)
Memory: 888.0K
CPU: 123ms
CGroup: /system.slice/vnstat.service
└─6153 /usr/sbin/vnstatd -n
Apr 28 18:39:19 itnixpro-virtual-machine systemd[1]: Started vnStat network traffic monitor.
Apr 28 18:39:19 itnixpro-virtual-machine vnstatd[6153]: Info: vnStat daemon 2.9 started. (pid:6153 uid:128 gid:136 64-bit)
Apr 28 18:39:19 itnixpro-virtual-machine vnstatd[6153]: Info: Monitoring (1): ens33 (1000 Mbit)
View Network Traffic on Ubuntu 22.04
- To view live network traffic run the following command. Note, replace
ens33with your interface name.
vnstat -i ens33 -lSample output
Monitoring ens33... (press CTRL-C to stop)
rx: 16.42 kbit/s 10 p/s tx: 23.69 kbit/s rx: 30.76 kbit/s 16 p/s tx: 11.63 kbit/s rx: 6.54 kbit/s 10 p/s tx: 7.24 kbit/s rx: 5.50 kbit/s 9 p/s tx: 5.45 kbit/s rx: 5.67 kbit/s 10 p/s tx: 6.30 kbit/s rx: 12.34 kbit/s 17 p/s tx: 15.16 kbit/s rx: 8.72 kbit/s 12 p/s tx: 11.86 kbit/s rx: 4.52 kbit/s 7 p/s tx: 5.14 kbit/s rx: 2.82 kbit/s 5 p/s tx: 2.23 kbit/s rx: 7.75 kbit/s 12 p/s tx: 9.12 kbit/s rx: 19.87 kbit/s 26 p/s tx: 30.20 kbit/s rx: 154.54 kbit/s 48 p/s tx: 57.54 kbit/s rx: 22.74 Mbit/s 1941 p/s tx: 619.69 kbit/s rx: 29.28 Mbit/s 2474 p/s tx: 602.51 kbit/s rx: 25.80 Mbit/s 2164 p/s tx: 316.28 kbit/s rx: 28.69 Mbit/s 2428 p/s tx: 312.73 kbit/s rx: 21.58 Mbit/s 1829 p/s tx: 333.40 kbit/s rx: 26.52 Mbit/s 2240 p/s tx: 431.26 kbit/s rx: 29.89 Mbit/s 2517 p/s tx: 382.46 kbit/s rx: 2.08 Mbit/s 492 p/s tx: 997.72 kbit/s rx: 324.10 kbit/s 215 p/s tx: 352.09 kbit/s rx: 797.12 kbit/s 185 p/s tx: 203.75 kbit/s rx: 982.62 kbit/s 180 p/s tx: 172.12 kbit/s rx: 767.96 kbit/s 223 p/s tx: 747.16 kbit/s rx: 804.16 kbit/s 887 p/s tx: 8.94 Mbit/s rx: 1.62 Mbit/s 2381 p/s tx: 25.44 Mbit/s rx: 1.53 Mbit/s 2702 p/s tx: 29.61 Mbit/s 2565 p/s^C
ens33 / traffic statistics
rx | tx
--------------------------------------+------------------
bytes 143.72 MiB | 125.00 MiB
--------------------------------------+------------------
max 29.89 Mbit/s | 33.97 Mbit/s
average 7.01 Mbit/s | 6.10 Mbit/s
min 0 bit/s | 0 bit/s
--------------------------------------+------------------
packets 201213 | 129938
--------------------------------------+------------------
max 3233 p/s | 2837 p/s
average 1169 p/s | 755 p/s
min 0 p/s | 0 p/s
--------------------------------------+------------------
time 2.87 minutes
- To view hourly traffic use the following command.
vnstat -hSample output
ens33 / hourly
hour rx | tx | total | avg. rate
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
2022-04-28
11:00 1.26 MiB | 19.87 MiB | 21.14 MiB | 49.25 kbit/s
12:00 173.30 KiB | 125.53 KiB | 298.82 KiB | 679 bit/s
13:00 3.82 MiB | 921.96 KiB | 4.72 MiB | 11.01 kbit/s
14:00 6.73 KiB | 6.80 KiB | 13.53 KiB | 30 bit/s
15:00 3.65 MiB | 1.33 MiB | 4.98 MiB | 11.61 kbit/s
16:00 369.11 KiB | 231.65 KiB | 600.76 KiB | 1.37 kbit/s
17:00 668.64 KiB | 254.28 KiB | 922.92 KiB | 2.10 kbit/s
18:00 148.60 MiB | 195.28 MiB | 343.88 MiB | 961.55 kbit/s
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
- View daily network traffic using the command below.
vnstat -dSample output
ens33 / daily
day rx | tx | total | avg. rate
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
2022-04-28 225.60 MiB | 249.81 MiB | 475.41 MiB | 58.56 kbit/s
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
estimated 286.17 MiB | 316.90 MiB | 603.07 MiB |
- View the Monthly Traffic Report
vnstat -mSample output
ens33 / monthly
month rx | tx | total | avg. rate
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
2022-04 225.60 MiB | 249.81 MiB | 475.41 MiB | 1.66 kbit/s
------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
estimated 242.25 MiB | 269.44 MiB | 511.69 MiB |
- To check more examples, run the help command below.
vnstat --help- That marks the end of our article, Cheers. You have learned how to Install vnStat network traffic monitor on Ubuntu 22.04.
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