# 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.

See the [official webpage](https://humdi.net/vnstat/) for additional details
and output examples.

## Getting started

vnStat works best when installed. It's possible to either use the latest
stable release or get the current development version from git.

Stable version
  1. `wget https://humdi.net/vnstat/vnstat-latest.tar.gz`
  2. optional steps for verifying the file signature
     1. `wget https://humdi.net/vnstat/vnstat-latest.tar.gz.asc`
     2. `gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-key 0xDAFE84E63D140114`
     3. `gpg --verify vnstat-latest.tar.gz.asc vnstat-latest.tar.gz`
     4. the signature is correct if the output shows "Good signature from Teemu Toivola"
  3. `tar zxvf vnstat-latest.tar.gz`
  4. `cd vnstat-*`

Development version
  1. `git clone https://github.com/vergoh/vnstat`
  2. `cd vnstat`

In both cases, continue with instructions from the [INSTALL](INSTALL.md) or
[INSTALL_BSD](INSTALL_BSD.md) file depending on used operating system.
Instructions for upgrading from a previous version are included in the
[UPGRADE](UPGRADE.md) file. Release notes can be found from the [CHANGES](CHANGES)
file.

## Contacting the author

  - **email** - Teemu Toivola <tst at iki dot fi>
  - **irc** - Vergo ([IRCNet](http://www.irchelp.org/networks/ircnet/))
  - **git** - https://github.com/vergoh/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.