# What is vnStat vnStat is a console-based network traffic monitor that uses the network interface statistics provided by the kernel as information source. This means that vnStat won't actually be sniffing any traffic and also ensures light use of system resources regardless of network traffic rate. By default, traffic statistics are stored on a five minute level for the last 48 hours, on a hourly level for the last 4 days, on a daily level for the last 2 full months and on a yearly level forever. The data retention durations are fully user configurable. Total seen traffic and a top days listing is also provided. Optional png image output is available in systems with the gd library installed. Optional png image output is available in systems with the gd library installed. See the webpage https://humdi.net/vnstat/ for output examples. # Getting started vnStat works best when installed. See the INSTALL or INSTALL_BSD file depending on used operating system. These files contain all needed information for the installing process. Instructions for upgrading from a previous version are included in the UPGRADE file. Release notes can be found from the CHANGES file. # Available options and documentation A list of commonly used options is available with `vnstat --help`. The complete list can be accessed with `vnstat --longhelp`. The following man pages are available with more detailed descriptions of each option including some usage examples: vnstat general documentation and console query parameters vnstatd daemon documentation vnstati image output documentation vnstat.conf configuration file # Contacting the author email: Teemu Toivola irc: Vergo (IRCNet) git: https://github.com/vergoh/vnstat The current version of vnStat is always available from https://humdi.net/vnstat/ Bug reports, improvement ideas, feature requests and pull requests should be sent using the matching features on GitHub as those are harder to miss or forget.