Internet monitoring devices

[Topband]

I tried putting this in PCA but no one seems to be able to answer, so I wonder if you ladies/gents can give me an answer please.

A lot of people seemed to be using net monitors of various types. I have tried several, but all of them seemed to record not only uploads and downloads but also broadcast traffic. This broadcast traffic is making a mockery of any meaningful results, this is a screen shot:

http://img166.echo.cx/img166/7832/vnstat5gw.png

The first figures are for a week, the second is for a month, I installed this program last week so the April figures are for about one week only. The May figures are for two days! The computer has been on, but the Internet Hasn't been used all the time. Even when the internet is not being used the network card is still connected, therefore the monitor is still recording traffic as it should.

The question I really want answered is, if you are on a capped service, is the broadcast traffic included or excluded in the cap? If its excluded it seems a bit of a waste of time trying to monitor your own personal traffic using all the normal Internet monitors I've tried.

Any comments please?

By the way, I've tried both Windows and Linux monitors, they're both the same as I would expect.

[scuzzman]

Are you looking for a packet monitor? If so, try tethereal (or just ethereal if you're using X -- I assume you are, I see you're using Xandros)...

Keep in mind tethereal/ethereal require libpcap in case you've not got it installed (but you probably do)... If this isn't your answer, could you please rephrase the question as I don't really understand what you mean by "broadcast traffic"

[Topband]

Hi scuzzman,

Thanks for replying.

I've used Ethereal and this is what is running in the background: Ethereal screen shot

When I use vnstat to check my total RX/TX usage, all the traffic that is running in the background is recorded as well.

The question I'm asking is, if you are on an ISP that has a capped usage rate, e.g. 2GB per month, how are you supposed to monitor your own Internet usage excluding all that traffic in the background to get a true picture?

I'm sure the ISP doesn't include all the background traffic, otherwise you would exceed your monthly usage just having the computer switch on and doing nothing.

I'm sorry if I'm not making myself clear, I'm not sure how else I can rephrase it.

[Topband]

Incidentally, if first noticed all this going on in the background when I had Knetload running and was not using the Internet.

[scuzzman]

This is relatively simple. You'll want to issue this command:

/sbin/ifconfig

You get output similar to this:

[scuzzy@slackdell /home/scuzzy]$ /sbin/ifconfig

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0D:56:2A:52:F4

         inet addr:**.**.***.**  Bcast:**.**.***.***  Mask:255.255.252.0

         inet6 addr: fe80::20d:56ff:fe2a:52f4/64 Scope:Link

         UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

         RX packets:650528 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

         TX packets:581225 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:3

         collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

         RX bytes:447205639 (426.4 Mb)  TX bytes:71538939 (68.2 Mb)

         Interrupt:3

There's a lot of information here, I know... You'll want to pay attention to what's in bold face -- that's your usage. The RX is Receive, or download, and the TX is Transmit, or upload.

[Topband]

scuzzman,

Thanks.