vnStat is a lightweight bandwidth monitoring tool for Linux and BSD that keeps a log of network traffic and provides monthly, weekly and daily tracking metrics. The following article will describe how to install and configure Vnstat on an Ubuntu VPS.

1. Installation

Login to your virtual server via ssh and enter the following command to update your system:

root@vps:~# apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

Next, run the following command to install vnStat on your Ubuntu VPS:

root@vps:~# apt-get install vnstat

And that’s it. You are done with the installation. It was that simple.

2. Usage

vnStat is one of the most capable and feature-rich tools for your Ubuntu VPS. In this tutorial, we’ll explore some of the usage examples of vnStat.

To view all the available interfaces on your system, execute:

root@vps:~# vnstat --iflist
Available interfaces: lo venet0

To create a database for venet0:

root@vps:~# vnstat -u -i venet0

Start the vnstat daemon (vnstatd):

root@vps:~# /etc/init.d/vnstat start
Starting vnStat daemon: vnstatd.

You can see all available options with the –help option. Use this more frequently to learn vnStat better. It has a lot of options. You can also use vnStat’s man page.

root@vps:~# vnstat --help
 vnStat 1.10 by Teemu Toivola 

         -q,  --query          query database
         -h,  --hours          show hours
         -d,  --days           show days
         -m,  --months         show months
         -w,  --weeks          show weeks
         -t,  --top10          show top10
         -s,  --short          use short output
         -u,  --update         update database
         -i,  --iface          select interface (default: eth0)
         -?,  --help           short help
         -v,  --version        show version
         -tr, --traffic        calculate traffic
         -ru, --rateunit       swap configured rate unit
         -l,  --live           show transfer rate in real time

See also "--longhelp" for complete options list and "man vnstat".

Sample output for the venet0 interface:

root@vps:~# vnstat
Database updated: Sun Apr  7 19:06:53 2013

   venet0 since 04/07/13

          rx:  521.41 MiB      tx:  23.22 MiB      total:  544.63 MiB

   monthly
                     rx      |     tx      |    total    |   avg. rate
     ------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
       Apr '13    521.41 MiB |   23.22 MiB |  544.63 MiB |    7.60 kbit/s
     ------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
     estimated      2.25 GiB |     101 MiB |    2.34 GiB |

   daily
                     rx      |     tx      |    total    |   avg. rate
     ------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
         today    521.41 MiB |   23.22 MiB |  544.63 MiB |   64.84 kbit/s
     ------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
     estimated       654 MiB |      28 MiB |     682 MiB |

Live network statistic:

root@vps:~# vnstat -l -i venet0
Monitoring venet0...    (press CTRL-C to stop)

   rx:        2 kbit/s     5 p/s          tx:        2 kbit/s     4 p/s

As you can see, you can do a lot with vnStat For more documentation, refer to the vnStat website. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll start using vnStat on a daily basis and improve your Linux server workflow.

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