
# 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 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 <tst at iki dot fi>
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.
