RE: RE: RE: Re: [cobalt-users] Network Usage by ip

[travis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

thanks for the great info Rick.  Basically, my host is charging me for traffic based on what the cobalt admin says (which I think is a pretty unreliable/unrealistic way of tracking actual outgoing/incoming bandwidth).  

So would the cobalt admin network usage reports be valid for actual bandwidth used?  If almost all of that is traced to the 127.0.0.1 ip (in the network usage choosing usage by ip).  It says I have used about 3800 GB in the past six months, 3750 GB of it being on that ip.

Travis


---- Original Message ----
From: Rick Ewart <cobalt@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 2003-07-06
To: cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: RE: Re: [cobalt-users] Network Usage by ip

> So this means it would not actually be bandwidth leaving the 
> computer/network?  Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I have to 
> be sure.  My provider is saying i used huge amounts of 
> bandwidth, but most of it is on the localhost ip.  Is there 
> anyway I can prove/verify that this is the case? 

Well Travis,

Ips are bound to an interface. 127.0.0.1 binds to the interface called
lo, as opposed to a public IP which is generally bound on eth0 or eth1.
Thus, traffic going to to 127.0.0.1 goes to the loopback interface, NOT
to an ethernet interface (or other interface such as serial one or
whatever).

You can verify your 127.0.0.1 is bound to the local interface (loopback
interface) by issuing the ifconfig command at a command prompt. You
should see an eth0, eth1 (if you have 2 ethernet jacks on your box) and
an lo. If you have multiple Ips on your box, you will probably see
eth0:0, eth0:1, eth0:2, etc. for each IP that is bound to it.

So long as 127.0.0.1 is actually bound to the lo interface (not sure its
even possible to be otherwise), you can disregard that traffic. Just
like one ethernet jack would not see the traffic going in/out a second
jack on the same box, the eth jacks don't see traffic on lo. Similarly,
your provider does not see this traffic either.

So, if you have a discrepancy between what they say and what you say,
you must consider all the angles. For example, does your "meter" sit
behind the firewall (i.e. ipchains) and not see anything that is
blocked, or not see broadcast traffic? Both of these would be traffic on
your port that your machine would not necessarily process.

Good luck.
Rick

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