1bwm-ng(1)                    Bandwidth Monitor NG                    bwm-ng(1)
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NAME

6       bwm-ng - Bandwidth Monitor NG (Next Generation), a live bandwidth moni‐
7       tor for network and disk io.
8

SYNOPSIS

10       bwm-ng [options] ... [configfile]
11

DESCRIPTION

13       bwm-ng can be used to monitor the current bandwidth of all or some spe‐
14       cific network interfaces or disks (or partitions). It shows total of in
15       and out as well as total of all interfaces/devices.  Several  different
16       output methods are supported (curses, curses2, plain, csv and html).
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18       bwm-ng is not limited in the number of interfaces or disks and can han‐
19       dle new ones dynamically while its running or hide those which are  not
20       up.
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INPUT METHODS

25       The  input methods used pretty much depends on your OS and system.  You
26       can choose the preferred method either at start  or  in  curses  during
27       run-time.   Each  method  can  only be used if bwm-ng was compiled with
28       support for it.
29
30       Currently supported network input methods:
31
32              proc:
33                  This is the default for Linux based systems. It  parses  the
34                  special procfs file /proc/net/dev. This should be used if in
35                  doubt in Linux.
36
37              getifaddrs:
38                  This is the default on BSD  systems  like  FreeBSD,  NetBSD,
39                  OpenBSD and recent Mac OS X (>=10.3). This should be used if
40                  in doubt on those systems. It uses  the  getifaddrs  system‐
41                  call.
42
43              kstat:
44                  This  is  the default for Solaris. It uses the kstat system‐
45                  call.
46
47              sysctl:
48                  This is the default on Systems like IRIX and other UNIX.  It
49                  can  be  used  on  many other systems like early Mac OS X as
50                  well. It uses the sysctl systemcall.
51
52              netstat:
53                  This is a Backup for systems without  the  above,  or  other
54                  problems.
55
56              libstatgrab:
57                  bwm-ng  can  use  the external library libstatgrab to gather
58                  the data. please refer  to  http://www.i-scream.org/libstat
59                  grab for more info about this.
60
61       Currently supported disk input methods:
62
63              disk:
64                  Shows    the    diskio   on   Linux   2.6+   systems   using
65                  /proc/diskstats.  Instead   of   packets   the   number   of
66                  read/writes will be shown.
67
68              kstatdisk:
69                  same  as  kstat  network  input but for disk io. It uses the
70                  kstat systemcall from Solaris.
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72              sysctl:
73                  Written for NetBSD and OpenBSD, but maybe working  on  other
74                  Platforms aswell.
75
76              devstat:
77                  devstat  library  based  input. You can find this on FreeBSD
78                  based systems.
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80              ioservice:
81                  framework IOKit based input. You can  find  this  on  Darwin
82                  systems like MacOSX.
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84              libstatdisk:
85                  same   as   libstatgrab   but  for  disk  io  (http://www.i-
86                  scream.org/libstatgrab/).
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89

OUTPUT METHODS

91       You can select several different ways to output the  data  gathered  by
92       bwm-ng.
93
94       You can use one of:
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96
97              curses:
98                  This is the default output method. Usually this fits you the
99                  most.  In curses mode you can control  bwm-ng  with  several
100                  keys.   Press 'h' for a online help. To quit using this mode
101                  either press 'q' or ctrl-c.
102
103              curses2:
104                  Shows bar charts of the current IO, using curses output.
105
106              plain:
107                  Plain or ASCII is mostly a backup if curses  is  not  avail‐
108                  able. You cannot control bwm-ng at all in this mode. To quit
109                  press ctrl-c.  But for one single single output  using  this
110                  is the mode that fits the best.
111
112              csv:
113                  CSV is designed to use with scripts for easy parsing.
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115                  Type rate:
116                  unix timestamp;iface_name;bytes_out/s;bytes_in/s;bytes_total/s;bytes_in;bytes_out;packets_out/s;packets_in/s;packets_total/s;packets_in;packets_out;errors_out/s;errors_in/s;errors_in;errors_out\n
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118                  Type svg, sum, max:
119                  unix timestamp;iface_name;bytes_out;bytes_in;bytes_total;packets_out;packets_in;packets_total;errors_out;errors_in\n
120
121                  To skip the first output with only zeros use:
122                  bwm-ng -o csv -c 0
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124              html:
125                  This  is  designed  for use in the WWW. It uses the CSS file
126                  bwm-ng.css in  current  working  dir.  "--htmlrefresh"  only
127                  affects  the  refresh  of  the page by the browser. For best
128                  results use the same value for --timeout and --htmlrefresh.
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130

OPTIONS

132       The options that are recognized by bwm-ng can be divided into 3 differ‐
133       ent  groups.  The long versions can only be used if bwm-ng was compiled
134       with getopt_long.
135
136
137   INPUT
138       These options specify the method to gather the data as well as  differ‐
139       ent options for them.
140
141       -i, --input method
142              selects  which  method  to  use. It can be one of the above (see
143              INPUT METHODS) if support for it was compiled in.
144
145       -f, --procfile filename
146              selects the file to parse in proc input method. This is  usually
147              /proc/net/dev.
148
149           --diskstatsfile filename
150              selects  the file to parse in disk input method. This is usually
151              /proc/diskstats.
152
153           --partitionsfile filename
154              selects the file to parse in disk input method on older  Kernel.
155              This is usually /proc/partitions.
156
157       -n, --netstat path
158              specifies  the  binary  to  execute  for  netstat  input method.
159              Because this may be a security flaw support for this  option  is
160              not compiled in bwm-ng by default.
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162
163   OUTPUT
164       These options select the way to output the data and several options for
165       the output.
166
167       -o, --output method
168              selects which method to use for output. It can  be  one  of  the
169              above (see OUTPUT METHODS) if support for it was compiled in.
170
171       -u, --unit value
172              selects  which unit to show. It can be one of bytes, bits, pack‐
173              ets or errors.
174
175       -T, --type value
176              specifies the type of stats to show. Use one  of  rate  for  the
177              current rate/s, max for the maximal value achieved since startup
178              of bwm-ng, sum for the total sum counted since startup of bwm-ng
179              or avg for the average over the last 30 seconds.
180
181       -c, --count number
182              number  of  outputs  for  Plain and CSV output mode. Use '1' for
183              once single output. Using '0' in CSV mode will skip first output
184              that always consists of zero values.
185
186       -C, --csvchar char
187              specifies the delimiter char for CSV mode. The default is ';'.
188
189       -F, --outfile filename
190              specifies  the  use  of a outfile instead of stdout. This option
191              only affects CSV and HTML mode.
192
193       -R, --htmlrefresh seconds
194              sets the HTML Meta refresh field to seconds in HTML mode.   This
195              will  result  in  a  reload  of  the page every n seconds by the
196              browser. If this is set you want to use --htmlheader as well.
197
198       -H, --htmlheader [value]
199              if this option is used,  bwm-ng  will  print  the  correct  HTML
200              header  (<html></html>)  including  Meta fields before and after
201              data.  This is only useful in HTML mode. value can be 0 (off) or
202              1 (on), if the value is not given '1' is used.
203
204       -N, --ansiout
205              disable ANSI Codes for Plain output.
206
207           --longdisknames
208              show long realnames of disks in Darwin (ioservice input)
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210
211   OTHER
212       These options specify the general behavior of bwm-ng.
213
214       -t, --timeout msec
215              displays and gathers stats every n msec (1msec = 1/1000sec). The
216              default is 500msec.
217
218       -d, --dynamic [value]
219              shows bytes and bits with dynamic unit like K,  M  or  G  (Kilo,
220              Mega,  Giga).   value  can be 0 (off) or 1 (on), without a value
221              '1' is used.
222
223       -a, --allif [mode]
224              specifies whether only up and selected interfaces (mode=0),  all
225              which  are  up but maybe not selected (mode=1) or all, even down
226              and not selected interfaces (mode=2). If no interface list given
227              (--interfaces) mode=1 and mode=2 are the same.
228
229       -I, --interfaces list
230              show  only  interfaces  which  are  in this comma separated list
231              (whitelist).  If the list is prefixed by a '%'  its  meaning  is
232              negated  and  interfaces  in  this  list  are hidden from output
233              (blacklist). (Example: %eth0,tun0)
234
235       -S, --sumhidden [value]
236              if given and the optional value is not 0, count also hidden  and
237              not shown interfaces for total value.
238
239       -A, --avglength seconds
240              sets the span in which the stats for average mode are collected.
241              Default is 30 seconds or 2*timeout.
242
243       -D, --daemon [value]
244              fork into background and daemonize if  given  and  the  optional
245              value  is not 0.  This only affects HTML and CSV mode and --out‐
246              file is required.
247
248       -h, --help
249              show a help of command line options.
250
251       -V, --version
252              print version info
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254

CONFIGFILE

256       The behavior of bwm-ng can be also  controlled  by  a  configfile.   By
257       default bwm-ng first reads /etc/bwm-ng.conf and then ~/.bwm-ng.conf. If
258       specified on command line bwm-ng skips those.  It consists of the  same
259       long-options as used for command line as keys followed by a '=' and the
260       value. Lines starting with a # or unknown key will be ignored.
261
262       For example:
263       DYNAMIC=1
264       UNIT=bits
265       PROCFILE=/proc/net/dev
266       OUTPUT=plain
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268

OTHER FILES

270       bwm-ng.css the CSS file used for html output.
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SEE ALSO

274       bwm-ng.conf-example for an example of the configfile, README for  other
275       comments and hints about bwm-ng.
276       http://www.gropp.org/ for new version or further help and links.
277

AUTHORS

279       Volker Gropp <bwmng@gropp.org> wrote bwm-ng and is current maintainer.
280       For further Authors please refer to AUTHORS file which should come with
281       bwm-ng.
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285                                  2007-03-01                         bwm-ng(1)
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