Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help 
bwm-ng(1)		     Bandwidth Monitor NG		     bwm-ng(1)

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

SYNOPSIS
       bwm-ng [options]	... [configfile]

DESCRIPTION
       bwm-ng can be used to monitor the current bandwidth of all or some spe-
       cific network interfaces	or disks (or partitions). It shows total of in
       and  out	 as well as total of all interfaces/devices. Several different
       output methods are supported (curses, curses2, plain, csv and html).

       bwm-ng is not limited in	the number of interfaces or disks and can han-
       dle new ones dynamically	while its running or hide those	which are  not
       up.

INPUT METHODS
       The  input methods used pretty much depends on your OS and system.  You
       can choose the preferred	method either at start	or  in	curses	during
       run-time.   Each	 method	 can  only be used if bwm-ng was compiled with
       support for it.

       Currently supported network input methods:

	      proc:
		  This is the default for Linux	based systems. It  parses  the
		  special procfs file /proc/net/dev. This should be used if in
		  doubt	in Linux.

	      getifaddrs:
		  This	is  the	 default  on BSD systems like FreeBSD, NetBSD,
		  OpenBSD and recent Mac OS X (>=10.3).	This should be used if
		  in doubt on those systems. It	uses  the  getifaddrs  system-
		  call.

	      kstat:
		  This	is  the	default	for Solaris. It	uses the kstat system-
		  call.

	      sysctl:
		  This is the default on Systems like IRIX and other UNIX.  It
		  can  be  used	 on  many other	systems	like early Mac OS X as
		  well.	It uses	the sysctl systemcall.

	      netstat:
		  This is a Backup for systems without	the  above,  or	 other
		  problems.

	      libstatgrab:
		  bwm-ng  can  use  the	external library libstatgrab to	gather
		  the data. please refer  to  http://www.i-scream.org/libstat-
		  grab for more	info about this.

       Currently supported disk	input methods:

	      disk:
		  Shows	   the	  diskio   on	Linux	2.6+   systems	 using
		  /proc/diskstats.  Instead   of   packets   the   number   of
		  read/writes will be shown.

	      kstatdisk:
		  same	as  kstat  network  input but for disk io. It uses the
		  kstat	systemcall from	Solaris.

	      sysctl:
		  Written for NetBSD and OpenBSD, but maybe working  on	 other
		  Platforms aswell.

	      devstat:
		  devstat  library  based  input. You can find this on FreeBSD
		  based	systems.

	      ioservice:
		  framework IOKit based	input. You can	find  this  on	Darwin
		  systems like MacOSX.

	      libstatdisk:
		  same	 as   libstatgrab   but	 for  disk  io	(http://www.i-
		  scream.org/libstatgrab/).

OUTPUT METHODS
       You can select several different	ways to	output the  data  gathered  by
       bwm-ng.

       You can use one of:

	      curses:
		  This is the default output method. Usually this fits you the
		  most.	  In  curses  mode you can control bwm-ng with several
		  keys.	 Press 'h' for a online	help. To quit using this  mode
		  either press 'q' or ctrl-c.

	      curses2:
		  Shows	bar charts of the current IO, using curses output.

	      plain:
		  Plain	 or  ASCII  is mostly a	backup if curses is not	avail-
		  able.	You cannot control bwm-ng at all in this mode. To quit
		  press	ctrl-c.	 But for one single single output  using  this
		  is the mode that fits	the best.

	      csv:
		  CSV is designed to use with scripts for easy parsing.

		  Type rate:
		  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

		  Type svg, sum, max:
		  unix timestamp;iface_name;bytes_out;bytes_in;bytes_total;packets_out;packets_in;packets_total;errors_out;errors_in\n

		  To skip the first output with	only zeros use:
		  bwm-ng -o csv	-c 0

	      html:
		  This	is  designed  for use in the WWW. It uses the CSS file
		  bwm-ng.css in	current	working	dir. "--htmlrefresh" only  af-
		  fects	 the  refresh of the page by the browser. For best re-
		  sults	use the	same value for --timeout and --htmlrefresh.

OPTIONS
       The options that	are recognized by bwm-ng can be	divided	into 3 differ-
       ent groups. The long versions can only be used if bwm-ng	 was  compiled
       with getopt_long.

   INPUT
       These  options specify the method to gather the data as well as differ-
       ent options for them.

       -i, --input method
	      selects which method to use. It can be one of the	above (see IN-
	      PUT METHODS) if support for it was compiled in.

       -f, --procfile filename
	      selects the file to parse	in proc	input method. This is  usually
	      /proc/net/dev.

	   --diskstatsfile filename
	      selects  the file	to parse in disk input method. This is usually
	      /proc/diskstats.

	   --partitionsfile filename
	      selects the file to parse	in disk	input method on	older  Kernel.
	      This is usually /proc/partitions.

       -n, --netstat path
	      specifies	 the  binary  to execute for netstat input method. Be-
	      cause this may be	a security flaw	support	for this option	is not
	      compiled in bwm-ng by default.

   OUTPUT
       These options select the	way to output the data and several options for
       the output.

       -o, --output method
	      selects which method to use for output. It can  be  one  of  the
	      above (see OUTPUT	METHODS) if support for	it was compiled	in.

       -u, --unit value
	      selects  which unit to show. It can be one of bytes, bits, pack-
	      ets or errors.

       -T, --type value
	      specifies	the type of stats to show. Use one  of	rate  for  the
	      current rate/s, max for the maximal value	achieved since startup
	      of bwm-ng, sum for the total sum counted since startup of	bwm-ng
	      or avg for the average over the last 30 seconds.

       -c, --count number
	      number  of  outputs  for	Plain and CSV output mode. Use '1' for
	      once single output. Using	'0' in CSV mode	will skip first	output
	      that always consists of zero values.

       -C, --csvchar char
	      specifies	the delimiter char for CSV mode. The default is	';'.

       -F, --outfile filename
	      specifies	the use	of a outfile instead of	 stdout.  This	option
	      only affects CSV and HTML	mode.

       -R, --htmlrefresh seconds
	      sets  the	HTML Meta refresh field	to seconds in HTML mode.  This
	      will result in a reload of the  page  every  n  seconds  by  the
	      browser. If this is set you want to use --htmlheader as well.

       -H, --htmlheader	[value]
	      if  this	option	is  used,  bwm-ng  will	print the correct HTML
	      header (<html></html>) including Meta fields  before  and	 after
	      data.  This is only useful in HTML mode. value can be 0 (off) or
	      1	(on), if the value is not given	'1' is used.

       -N, --ansiout
	      disable ANSI Codes for Plain output.

	   --longdisknames
	      show long	realnames of disks in Darwin (ioservice	input)

   OTHER
       These options specify the general behavior of bwm-ng.

       -t, --timeout msec
	      displays and gathers stats every n msec (1msec = 1/1000sec). The
	      default is 500msec.

       -d, --dynamic [value]
	      shows  bytes  and	 bits  with dynamic unit like K, M or G	(Kilo,
	      Mega, Giga).  value can be 0 (off) or 1 (on),  without  a	 value
	      '1' is used.

       -a, --allif [mode]
	      specifies	 whether only up and selected interfaces (mode=0), all
	      which are	up but maybe not selected (mode=1) or all,  even  down
	      and not selected interfaces (mode=2). If no interface list given
	      (--interfaces) mode=1 and	mode=2 are the same.

       -I, --interfaces	list
	      show  only  interfaces  which  are  in this comma	separated list
	      (whitelist).  If the list	is prefixed by a '%'  its  meaning  is
	      negated  and  interfaces	in  this  list	are hidden from	output
	      (blacklist). (Example: %eth0,tun0)

       -S, --sumhidden [value]
	      if given and the optional	value is not 0,	count also hidden  and
	      not shown	interfaces for total value.

       -A, --avglength seconds
	      sets the span in which the stats for average mode	are collected.
	      Default is 30 seconds or 2*timeout.

       -D, --daemon [value]
	      fork  into  background  and  daemonize if	given and the optional
	      value is not 0.  This only affects HTML and CSV mode and	--out-
	      file is required.

       -h, --help
	      show a help of command line options.

       -V, --version
	      print version info

CONFIGFILE
       The  behavior of	bwm-ng can be also controlled by a configfile.	By de-
       fault bwm-ng first reads	/etc/bwm-ng.conf and then  ~/.bwm-ng.conf.  If
       specified  on command line bwm-ng skips those.  It consists of the same
       long-options as used for	command	line as	keys followed by a '=' and the
       value. Lines starting with a # or unknown key will be ignored.

       For example:
       DYNAMIC=1
       UNIT=bits
       PROCFILE=/proc/net/dev
       OUTPUT=plain

OTHER FILES
       bwm-ng.css the CSS file used for	html output.

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

AUTHORS
       Volker Gropp <bwmng@gropp.org> wrote bwm-ng and is current maintainer.
       For further Authors please refer	to AUTHORS file	which should come with
       bwm-ng.

				  2007-03-01			     bwm-ng(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bwm-ng&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.0.quarterly>

home | help