How to monitor network bandwidth using Iftop

Monitoring Network Bandwidth by using Iftop

Iftop is defined as an Interface Top. It is a command-line system monitoring tool that produces a frequently-updated list of network connections. It is a real time network bandwidth monitoring tool that displays a quick overview of network activities.

To Install Iftop

[root@linuxhelp Desktop]# yum install iftop
Loaded plugins: aliases, changelog, fastestmirror, kabi, presto, refresh-packagekit, security, tmprepo,
              : verify, versionlock
Loading support for CentOS kernel ABI
Setting up Install Process
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: centos.webwerks.com
 * extras: centos.webwerks.com
 * rpmforge: mirror.oscc.org.my
.
.
.
  Installing : iftop-1.0-0.pre3.el6.rf.x86_64                                                            1/1
  Verifying  : iftop-1.0-0.pre3.el6.rf.x86_64                                                            1/1
Installed:
  iftop.x86_64 0:1.0-0.pre3.el6.rf                                                                           
Complete!

Run the iftop command to monitor the network bandwidth.

[root@linuxhelp Desktop]# iftop

Press option ‘ S’ to view the port number of the source host.

Press option ‘ D’ to view the port number of the destination host.

To display both source and destination port number press ‘ p’ .

To Pause iftop press ‘ P’ .

To hide the source host ip address press ’ s’ .

To hide the destination host ip address press ‘ d’ .

To hide the statistics bar press ‘ b’ .

To display the cumulative totals press ‘ T’ .