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Bandwidth
Monitoring
Tools for
Ubuntu
Users
Posted on December
18, 2006 by ruchi
40 Comments
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Bandwidth in computer
networking refers to
the data rate
supported by a
network connection or
interface. One most
commonly expresses
bandwidth in terms of
bits per second (bps).
The term comes from
the field of electrical
engineering, where
bandwidth represents
the total distance or
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range between the
highest and lowest
signals on the
communication
channel (band).
Bandwidth represents
the capacity of the
connection. The
greater the capacity,
the more likely that
greater performance
will follow, though
overall performance
also depends on other
factors, such as
latency.
Here is the list of
bandwidth monitoring
tools for your network
bandwidth
bmon
bwbar
bwm
bwm-ng
iftop
iperf
ipfm
speedometer
cbm
ibmonitor
pktstat
mactrack
MRTG
Cacti
Now we will see each
tool separately
bmon
bmon is a portable
bandwidth monitor and
rate estimator running
on various
operating systems .
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It supports various
input methods for
different architectures.
Various output modes
exist including an
interactive curses
interface, lightweight
HTML output but also
formatable ASCII
output
Current Stable
Version :- 2.1.0
Install bmon in
Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
bmon
This will complete the
installation.
If you want to open the
application you need
to enter the following
command
bmon
you should see the
following output
If i select the eth0 i
should see all the
traffic details
If you want to know
more available options
check man page
bwbar
This program will
output a PNG and a
text file that can be
used in scripts or be
included in
web pages to show
current bandwidth
usage. The amount of
total bandwidth can be
customized. The PNG
output appears as a
bar graph showing
maximum possible
usage with the current
inbound or outbound
usage shown as a
differently colored bar.
Current Stable
Version :- 1.2.3
Install bwbar in
ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
bwbar
This will complete the
installation
There is a
/etc/default/bwbar file
to configure before
this package will work
and here is my config
# Directory to put files
into
DIR=/var/www
# Who to run as
RUNAS=www-data
# What are the
options (eth0, scale of
1.5mbps)
OPTIONS="eth0 1.5
Now you need to
chnage the
permissions using the
following command
sudo chown -R www-
data:www-data
/var/www/bwbar/
Start the bwbar using
the following command
sudo /etc/init.d/bwbar
start
You can also launch
bwbar using the
following command
bwbar eth0 100 -x 200
-y 7 -t 10 -p
network.png -f
network.txt -d
/var/www/bwbar &
Now you need to go to
http://serverip/bwbar
you should see the
bandwidth bar as
follows
If you want to know
about available option
check man page
bwm
BandWidth Monitor
This is a very tiny
bandwidth monitor
(not X11). Can monitor
up to 16 interfaces in
the in the same time,
and shows totals too.
Current Stable
Version :- 1.1.0
Install bwm ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
bwm
This will complete the
installation now
If you want to run the
application use the
following command
bwm
Output looks like
below
If you want more
details and available
options check man
page
bwm-ng
small and simple
console-based
bandwidth
monitor.Bandwidth
Monitor NG is a small
and simple console-
based live bandwidth
monitor.
Current Stable
Version :- 0.5
features
supports
/proc/net/dev, netstat,
getifaddr, sysctl, kstat
and libstatgrab
unlimited number of
interfaces supported
interfaces are added
or removed
dynamically from list
white-/blacklist of
interfaces
output of KB/s, Kb/s,
packets, errors,
average, max and
total sum
output in curses, plain
console, CSV or HTML
configfile
Install bwm-ng in
ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
bwm-ng
This will complete the
installation
If you want to run the
application you need
to use the following
command
bwm-ng
Output looks like
below
If you want more
details and available
options check man
page
iftop
iftop does for network
usage what top does
for CPU usage. It
listens to network
traffic on a named
interface and displays
a table of current
bandwidth usage by
pairs of hosts.
Current Stable
Version :- 0.17
Install iftop in
ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
iftop
This will complete the
installation
If you want to run the
application you need
to use the following
command
iftop
Output looks like
below
If you want more
details and available
options check man
page
ipfm
IP Flow Meter (IPFM)
is a bandwidth
analysis tool, that
measures how much
bandwidth specified
hosts use on their
Internet link.
Current Stable
Version :- 0.11.5
Install ipfm in
Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
ipfm
This will complete the
installation
Now if you want to
configure this for your
network you need to
copy example
configuration file from
/usr/share/doc/ipfm/ex
amples if you want to
check this file click
here
once you configure
this file you need to
start the service using
the following command
sudo /etc/init.d/ipfm
start
If you want more
details and available
options check man
page
Speedometer
Measure and display
the rate of data across
a network connection
or data being stored in
a file.
Current Stable
Version :- 2.4
Install speedometer
in ubuntu
Check which version
of python is the
default by running
python -V
Then issue the
following commands
as root to install
speedometer (choose
the correct Urwid
package for your
python version, ie. if
python -V reports
version 2.3.X then
install python2.3-
urwid)
apt-get install
python2.4-urwid
Download the
speedometer.py
source file.
As user issue the
following commands in
the directory that you
downloaded the
source file
sudo cp
speedometer.py
/usr/local/bin/speedom
eter
sudo chown root:
/usr/local/bin/speedom
eter
sudo chmod 755
/usr/local/bin/speedom
eter
Now you can run the
speedometer
application using the
following
/usr/local/bin/speedom
eter
Now you should see
the following screen
output
Speedometer Usage
Usage: speedometer
[options] tap [[-c] tap]
Available options
speedometer -h
Usage: speedometer
[options] tap [[-c]
tap]...
Monitor network traffic
or speed/progress of
a file transfer. At least
one tap must be
entered. -c starts a
new column, otherwise
taps are piled
vertically.
Taps:
[-f] filename [size]
display download
speed [with progress
bar]
-f must be used if
directly following
another
file tap without an
expected size
specified
-rx network-interface
display bytes received
on network-interface
-tx network-interface
display bytes
transmitted on
network-interface
Options:
-i interval-in-seconds
eg. "5" or "0.25"
default: "1"
-p use plain-text
display (one tap only)
-b use old blocky
display instead of
smoothed display
even when UTF-8
encoding is detected
-z report zero size on
files that don't exist
instead of waiting for
them to be created
Usage Examples
How long it will take for
my 38MB transfer to
finish?
speedometer
favorite_episode.rm
$((38*1024*1024))
How quickly is another
transfer going?
speedometer dl/big.avi
How fast is this LAN?
$ cat /dev/zero | nc -l -
p 12345
$ nc host-a 12345 >
/dev/null
$ speedometer -rx
eth0
How fast is the
upstream on this
ADSL line?
speedometer -tx ppp0
How fast can I write
data to my filesystem?
(with at least 1GB
free)
dd bs=1000000
count=1000
if=/dev/zero
of=big_nothing &
speedometer
big_nothing
cbm
cbm the Color
Bandwidth Meter
displays the current
traffic on all network
devices.
Current Stable
Version :- 0.1-1
Install cbm in
ubuntu
First you need to
download the .deb
package from here
once you have the
.deb package you
need to install using
the following comamnd
sudo dpkg -i cbm_0.1-
1_i386.deb
this will complete the
installation now if you
want to use the
appltcation use the
following command
cbm
Output looks like
below
pktstat
pktstat listens to the
network and shows
the bandwidth being
consumed by packets
of various kinds in
realtime. It
understands some
protocols (including
FTP,HTTP, and X11)
and adds a descriptive
name next to the entry
(e.g., RETR cd8.iso',
GET
http://slashdot.org/' or
xclock -fg blue').
Current Stable
Version :- 1.8.3
Install pktstat in
Ubuntu
First you need to
download .rpm
package from here
once you have the
.rpm package you
need to convert this
.rpm file to .deb file
using alien
Install alien
sudo apt-get install
alien
Now you need to use
the follwoing command
to convert .rpm to .deb
sudo alien -k pktstat-
1.7.2q-0.i386.rpm
Now you should be
having pktstat_1.7.2q-
0_i386.deb package
Install pktstat in
Ubuntu
sudo dpkg -i
pktstat_1.7.2q-
0_i386.deb
This will complete the
installation now you
can open the
application using the
following command
pktstat
output looks like below
If you want more
available options for
pktstat check man
page
ibmonitor
ibmonitor is an
interactive linux
console application
which shows
bandwidth consumed
and total data
transferred on all
interfaces.
Current Stable
Version :- 1.4
Its main features are:
Shows received,
transmitted and total
bandwidth of each
interface
Calculates and
displays the combined
value of all interfaces
Displays total data
transferred per
interface in KB/MB/GB
Values can be
displayed in
Kbits/sec(Kbps)
and/or
KBytes/sec(KBps)
Can show maximum
bandwidth consumed
on each interface
since start of utility
Can show average
bandwidth
consumption on each
interface since start of
utility
The output with all
features (max, avg
and display in Kbps
and KBps) easily fits
on a 8024 console or
xterm
Can interactively
change its output
display format
depending on key
pressed by user.
Install ibmonitor in
Ubuntu
First you need to
download the latest
version from here
wget
http://ovh.dl.sourcefor
ge.net/sourceforge/ib
monitor/ibmonitor-
1.4.tar.gz
Now you have
ibmonitor-1.4.tar.gz
Extract this file using
the following
commands
tar xvfz ibmonitor-
1.4.tar.gz
cd ibmonitor
If you want to run the
application use the
following command
Once you are in
ibmonitor folder use
./ibmonitor
Output looks like the
following screen
iperf
While tools to
measure network
performance, such as
ttcp, exist, most are
very old and have
confusing options.
Iperf was developed
as a modern
alternative for
measuring TCP and
UDP bandwidth
performance.
Iperf is a tool to
measure maximum
TCP bandwidth,
allowing the tuning of
various parameters
and UDP
characteristics. Iperf
reports bandwidth,
delay jitter, datagram
loss.
Current Stable
Version :- 2.0.2
Install iperf in
ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
iperf
iperf Syntax
iperf [-s|-c host]
[options]
Example
iperf -c server address
-F file-name
iperf -c server address
-I
The -F option is for file
input.
The -I option is for
input from stdin.
If you want more
details and available
options check man
page
tcptrack
tcptrack is a sniffer
which displays
information about TCP
connections it sees on
a network interface. It
passively watches for
connections on the
network interface,
keeps track of their
state and displays a
list of connections in a
manner similar to the
unix top' command. It
displays source and
destination addresses
and ports, connection
state, idle time, and
bandwidth usage.
Current Stable
Version :- 1.1.5
Install tcptrack in
Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install
tcptrack
this will complete the
installation
tcptrack Syntax
tcptrack [-dfhvp] [-r ] -i
[]
Examples
tcptrack requires only
one parameter to run:
the -i flag followed by
an interface name that
you want tcptrack to
monitor. This is the
most basic way to run
tcptrack
tcptrack -i eth0
tcptrack can also take
a pcap filter
expression as an
argument. The format
of this filter expression
is the same as that of
tcpdump and other
libpcap-based sniffers.
The following example
will only show
connections from host
10.45.165.2
tcptrack -i eth0 src or
dst 10.45.165.2
The next example will
only show web traffic
(ie, traffic on port 80)
tcptrack -i eth0 port 80
The following output
screen will show you
more details
MRTG
The Multi Router
Traffic Grapher or just
simply MRTG is free
software for
monitoring the traffic
load on network links.
It allows the user to
see traffic load on a
network over time in
graphical form.
Current Stable
Version :- 2.15.0
Project Homepage
http://oss.oetiker.ch/m
rtg/
Cacti
Cacti is a complete
network graphing
solution designed to
harness the power of
RRDTool's
data storage and
graphing functionality.
Cacti provides a fast
poller, advanced
graph templating,
multiple data
acquisition methods,
and user management
features out of the
box. All of this is
wrapped in an
intuitive,easy to use
interface that makes
sense for LAN-sized
installations up to
complex networks with
hundreds of devices.
Current Stable
Version :- 0.8.6i
Project Homepage
http://www.cacti.net
Regarding MRTG and
Cacti i am going write
detailed articles in
future
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Older Comments
Monitoring Tools
for Ubuntu
Users
ashoka1 on
December 18, 2008 at
3:45 am said:
hi
i am using GPRS
modem to connect to
the internet.do you
have idea how i can
check the bandwidth?
nice article. thanks.
[Reply]
Arun Khan on May
29, 2009 at 10:54 am
said:
A very comprehensive
list of b/w monitoring
tools. Thanks very
much for putting the
list together with
example screen shots.
@ashoka1:
You can list your
interfaces with the
following command
/sbin/ifconfig -a | less
Since you are using a
modem, your network
interface is most likely
ppp0. In the above
tools specify ppp0
for the interface
parameter.
[Reply]
Ken on September 8,
2009 at 11:41 am
said:
Which program will
also monitor other
PCs bandwidth on the
network?
[Reply]
Nuwan on October 1,
2009 at 9:03 am said:
I have tried to install
and run some of the
above mentioned
programs. But they
are either too complex
for me to understand
or they are too simple
for me to get all the
information and
capability required. I
have noticed there is
an idea posted in
ubuntu idea sand box
to develop a simple,
effective tool for
bandwidth metering
for ubuntu.
The best solution for
me for the moment is
to use something
developed for
Windows, through
Wine. I and trying
networx and it seems
to be working.
[Reply]
Martin on November
12, 2009 at 10:22 am
said:
Good list, thanks.
Dont forget that
Ubuntu has a
graphical monitor
installed by default.
Check out the System
Monitor in System
Administration.
[Reply]
guest on July 7, 2010
at 1:34 pm said:
Ive run into this
information while
looking for info on how
to monitor traffic and
connections. I just
wanted to comment it
has been really useful
for me, specially
pktstat. Thank you.
[Reply]
Michael Brewer on
September 18, 2010
at 1:49 am said:
Excellent synopsis of
great monitoring tools,
thanks.
[Reply]
Erdem U. Altinyurt
on November 7, 2010
at 1:53 am said:
Netmon Screenlet is
the best for linux for
me..
[Reply]
nelson on September
1, 2011 at 3:32 pm
said:
how to get the track of
Older Comments
total amount of data
uploaded and
downloaded from
server through web by
different IP
[Reply]
nelson on September
1, 2011 at 3:35 pm
said:
Is there any tool for
ubuntu to perform the
above task
[Reply]
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