Introducing bmon, a monitoring and debugging tool that captures network statistics and makes them easily digestible.
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Bmon is a monitoring and debugging tool that runs in a terminal window and captures network statistics, offering options on how and how much data will be displayed and displayed in a form that is easy to understand.
For Red Hat and related distributions, you might be able to install with `yum install bmon` or `sudo dnf install bmon`. Alternately, you may have to resort to a more complex install with commands like these that first set up the required `libconfuse` using the root account or sudo:
The simplest way to start `bmon` is simply to type `bmon` on the command line. Depending on the size of the window you are using, you will be able to see and bring up a variety of data.
The top portion of your display will display stats on your network interfaces– the loopback (lo) and network-accessible (e.g., eth0). If you terminal window has few lines, this is all you may see, and it will look something like this:
[RELATED: 11 pointless but awesome Linux terminal tricks][2]
```
lo bmon 4.0
Interfaces x RX bps pps %x TX bps pps %
>lo x 4B0 x0 0 0 4B 0
qdisc none (noqueue) x 0 0 x 0 0
enp0s25 x 244B0 x1 0 0 470B 2
qdisc none (fq_codel) x 0 0 x 0 0 462B 2
q Increase screen height to see graphical statistics qq
q Press d to enable detailed statistics qq
q Press i to enable additional information qq
Wed Oct 23 14:36:27 2019 Press ? for help
```
In this example, the network interface is enp0s25. Notice the helpful "Increase screen height" hint below the listed interfaces. Stretch your screen to add sufficient lines (no need to restart bmon) and you will see some graphs:
Notice, however, that the graphs are not showing values. This is because it is displaying the loopback `>lo` interface. Arrow your way down to the public network interface and you will see some traffic.
The change allows you to view a graph displaying network traffic. Note, however, that the default is to display bytes per second. To display bits per second instead, you would start the tool using `bmon -b`
Detailed statistics on network traffic can be displayed if your window is large enough and you press `d`. An example of the stats you will see is displayed below. This display was split into left and right portions because of its width.
[1]: https://www.networkworld.com/article/3440100/take-the-intelligent-route-with-consumption-based-storage.html?utm_source=IDG&utm_medium=promotions&utm_campaign=HPE20773&utm_content=sidebar ( Take the Intelligent Route with Consumption-Based Storage)
