Step 1: Update Your System

Before installing vnStat, it’s important to update your system to ensure that all software packages are up to date. Run the following commands to update and upgrade your system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

This ensures that your system has the latest security patches and software updates. Keeping your system updated is important whether you’re using a local server or hosting on a UK Windows VPS.

Step 2: Install vnStat

vnStat is available in the official Ubuntu repositories, making it easy to install. Run the following command to install vnStat on Ubuntu 22.04:

sudo apt install vnstat

After installation, enable the vnStat service to start automatically at boot:

sudo systemctl enable vnstat
sudo systemctl start vnstat
            

vnStat is now running and ready to start collecting data. This setup applies whether you're monitoring a local network or using a Windows VPS hosting UK server.

Step 3: Verify Network Interfaces

By default, vnStat monitors all active network interfaces on your server. To verify which interfaces are being monitored, run the following command:

vnstat --iflist

This command will list all available network interfaces on your system. You can specify a particular interface to monitor by configuring vnStat. For example, to monitor the eth0 interface, use the following command:

sudo vnstat -u -i eth0

Replace eth0 with the interface you want to monitor. Whether you are using a local server or a VPS Windows Servers setup, vnStat can be configured to track the interfaces you need.

Step 4: Check Network Traffic Statistics

Once vnStat has started collecting data, you can view the network traffic statistics for a specific interface by using the following command:

vnstat -i eth0

This command will display detailed traffic statistics, including the amount of data transmitted and received over the interface. You can also view daily, weekly, and monthly usage reports by running:

vnstat -d

vnstat -m

These reports help you monitor bandwidth usage over time, whether you're running vnStat locally or using it to track traffic on a Windows VPS Italy server.

Step 5: Generate Graphical Reports

vnStat can also generate graphical reports to visualize network traffic. To use this feature, you need to install the vnstati package:

sudo apt install vnstati

Once installed, you can generate a graphical image of your network traffic statistics using the following command:

vnstati -s -i eth0 -o /var/www/html/vnstat.png

This will generate a summary image of the traffic on the eth0 interface and save it to your web directory. You can access this image via your browser to monitor network activity visually. This feature is useful whether you're managing traffic on a local server or a Windows Virtual Private Server hosting platform.

Step 6: Automate Data Collection

vnStat runs as a background service and automatically collects data on the interfaces you specify. However, you can manually update the database if needed by running:

sudo vnstat --forceupdate

This command will force vnStat to update its database with the latest traffic information. Whether you're hosting locally or on a Windows VPS hosting UK, this feature ensures that your traffic statistics are always up to date.