VNSTATD(1)
NAME
vnStatd - the alternative for cron based updating
SYNOPSIS
vnstatd [ -Ddnpsv? ] [ --config file ] [ --daemon ] [ --debug ] [ --help ] [ --nodaemon ] [ --pidfile file ] [ --sync ] [ --version ]
DESCRIPTION
The purpose of vnstatd is to provide a more flexible way for updating
vnstat(1) databases than what using cron for updating can provide. The
daemon makes possible updating databases more often but at the same
time requires less disk access since data can be cached and written
only later to disk at a user configurable interval. It is also able to
track how interfaces come and go without the need of additional scripts
that are required with cron based updates.
vnstatd is the command for starting the daemon. The daemon can either fork itself to run as a background process or stay attached to the terminal. It supports logging to a user selectable file or using syslog.
Once started, the daemon will check if there are any databases available in the database directory that has been specified in the configuration file and exit if no databases can be found. The reason for this
behaviour is to avoid starting the daemon when it's clear that it
wouldn't have anything to do.
OPTIONS
- --config file
- Use file as config file instead of using normal config file search function.
- -d, --daemon
- Fork process to background and run as a daemon.
- -D, --debug
- Provide additional output for debug purposes. The process will stay attached to the terminal for output.
- -n, --nodaemon
- Stay in foreground attached to the current terminal and start update process.
- -p, --pidfile file
- Write the process id to file and use it for locking so that another instance of the daemon cannot be started if the same file is specified.
- -s, --sync
- Synchronize internal counters in the database with interface counters for all available interfaces before starting traffic monitoring. Use this option if the traffic between the previous shutdown and the current startup of the daemon needs to be ignored. This option isn't required in normal use because the daemon will automatically synchronize the internal counters after a system reboot, if enought time has passed since the daemon was previously running or if the internal counters are clearly out of sync.
- -v, --version
- Show current version.
- -?, --help
- Show a command summary.
CONFIGURATION
The behaviour of the daemon is configured mainly using the configuration keywords UpdateInterval, PollInterval and SaveInterval in the configuration file.
UpdateInterval defines in seconds how often the interface data is
updated. This is similar to the run interval for alternative cron
based updating. However, the difference is that the data doesn't get
written to disk during updates.
PollInterval defines in seconds how often the list of available interfaces is checked for possible changes. The minimum value is 2 seconds
and the maximum 60 seconds. PollInterval also defines the resolution
for other intervals.
SaveInterval defines in minutes how often cached interface data is
written to disk. A write can only occur during the updating of interface data. Therefore, the value should be a multiple of UpdateInterval
with a maximum value of 60 minutes.
The default values of UpdateInterval 20, SaveInterval 5 and PollInterval 2 are usually suitable for most systems and provide a similar behaviour as cron based updating does but with a better resolution for
interface changes and fast interfaces.
For embedded and/or low power systems more tuned configurations are
possible. In such cases if the interfaces are mostly static the
PollInterval can be rised to around 10-30 seconds and UpdateInterval
set to 60 seconds. Higher values up to 300 seconds are possible if the
interface speed is 10 Mbit or less. SaveInterval can be rised for
example to 15, 30 or even 60 minutes depending on how often the data
needs to be viewed.
SIGNALS
The daemon is listening to signals SIGHUP, SIGINT and SIGTERM. Sending
the SIGHUP signal to the daemon will cause cached data to be written to
disk, a rescan of the database directory and a reload of settings from
the configuration file. However, the pid file will not be updated even
if it's configuration setting has been changed.
SIGTERM and SIGINT signals will cause the daemon to write all cached
data to disk and then exit.
FILES
- /var/lib/vnstat/
- Default database directory. Files are named according to the monitored interfaces.
- /etc/vnstat.conf
- Config file that will be used unless $HOME/.vnstatrc exists. See the configuration chapter and vnstat.conf(5) for more information.
- /var/log/vnstat.log
- Log file that will be used if logging to file is enable and no other file is specified in the config file.
- /var/run/vnstat.pid
- File used for storing the process id if no other file is specified in the configuration file or using the command line parameter.
RESTRICTIONS
- Updates needs to be executed at least as often as it is possible for
the interface to generate enough traffic to wrap the kernel interface
traffic counter. Otherwise it is possible that some traffic won't be
seen. This isn't an issue for 64 bit kernels but at least one update
every hour is always required in order to provide proper input. With
32 bit kernels the maximum time between two updates depends on how fast
the interface can transfer 4 GiB. Calculated theoretical times are:
- 10 Mbit: 54 minutes
100 Mbit: 5 minutes
1000 Mbit: 30 seconds - However, for 1000 Mbit interfaces updating once every minute is usually a working solution.
- Virtual and aliased interfaces cannot be monitored because the kernel doesn't provide traffic information for that type of interfaces. Such interfaces are usually named eth0:0, eth0:1, eth0:2 etc. where eth0 is the actual interface being aliased.
AUTHOR
Teemu Toivola <tst at iki dot fi>