Network activity monitor

[rikona]

Hello Bill,

Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 4:46:45 AM, Bill wrote:

B> On 10/26/2010 6:29 PM, rikona wrote:
>> B>    On 10/20/2010 5:14 PM, rikona wrote:
>>>> I'm having some ongoing issues with Comcast. I'd like to be able to
>>>> monitor network speed/activity [just on one Ubuntu box, not the
>>>> entire local net] on a continuous, moment-by-moment basis, and a
>>>> log to remember start/stop times might be nice but not necessary.
>>>> Graphical, like htop, would be preferred but not essential as long
>>>> as it is continuous. What is the best tool to do that?

>> B>  If you dont mind playing with snmp look up using mrtg.

>> I was looking for something simpler. My win box has a firewall status
>> popup that gives instantaneous speed + lots of other net info for that
>> box. An info display like that would be nice on the UB box too - don't
>> need the firewall part, though.
>>
>> Thanks much for the reply.
>>
B> What router are u using?

An old wired Netgear.

B> If your using a Linksys look up www.dd-wrt.com.

My router is not on their list. This agrees with the info I found on
the web re my router - no snmp.

B> I would suggest anyone using a Linksys change the OS to DD-WRT It
B> will alow to use snmp plus a hell of allot more. DD-WRT also has
B> graphs for its interfaces. DD-WRT works on several brands of
B> routers.

Checked their site. Apparently DD-WRT does not work with wired
routers.

B> To run MRTG it takes snmp and a web server. That server can be M$ or 
B> Unix. Here is a down and dirty quick guide to the basics of the whole 
B> thing.
B> http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Multi_Router_Traffic_Grapher

It's interesting, but a bit of overkill for what I need. I was hoping
for something I could easily put on the UB box, fire it up, and watch
the speed - something like what I can easily do on a Win box.

As I was looking around for info on this topic, I ran across darkstat,
which sounds more like the app I was thinking about. I installed it,
got it running, but so far it is not displaying info for me via a web
page.

B> I will say that due to MRTG and SNMP I was able to tell that one of
B> my servers had been hijacked. It showed way to much traffic one
B> night on its network interface. Seems someone had installed some
B> script through IRC do they could store a mp3 of some CD. People
B> were downloading it. 

Impressive detective work!! You are clearly beyond my technical
capabilities... 

Thanks again for the info,  

-- 

 rikona