But it might still make some sense to have the Linux hobbitclient collect the data from /sbin/ifconfig. It does have byte counters:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0E:A6:CE:D6:85 RX bytes:2210282597 (2.0 GiB) TX bytes:2268014990 (2.1 GiB)
I dont think Hobbit should use these to populate the tcpOutDataBytes and tcpInInorderBytes fields in the netstat rrd - the ifconfig counters are per network interface, where the rest of the netstat data are global counters.
Correct, and I've never really trusted those counters for 'real bandwidth usage'. I think re-transmissions and other TCP counters need to be added.
But perhaps there should be a completely separate set of RRD files, with one graph per network interface ?
Yes. And for the other UNIXes you'll want to to run these local commands and send them to the server for parsing:
AIX|HP-UX: /usr/bin/netstat -v
Solaris: /usr/bin/kstat -p -s [or]bytes64
And a 'netstat -i' provides ethernet layer stats that can be useful. Not for bandwidth, but Input Errors and Output Errors are never a good thing.
Henrik, do you need sample outputs to do the parsing on the server?
-- Scott Walters -PacketPusher