DIY usage meter?

[me-5yx05kfkO/aqeI1yJSURBw at public.gmane.org (Matthew Gillen)]

On 03/17/2010 03:09 PM, R. Luoma wrote:
> Can one setup an linux-based router with multiple
> network ports so that it will record
> the flow of bytes through whatever interface
> one has to the internet?

"usage meter" and "record the flow of bytes" mean different things to me, so
I'm not sure exactly what you're asking for.

I like 'iptraf' as a simple command-line based monitoring (runs locally on the
machine in question).  It allows you to view aggregate stats for each
interface (see: General Interface statistics), view per-protocol stats for a
specific interface (see: Detailed Interface statisics), monitor individual TCP
connections, etc.

If you want pretty graphs and multi week histories, use mrtg+apache (will
allow you to montior other machines as well via SNMP).

Matt