I am using Vnstat to monitor my monthly used bandwidth as my server has a useage cap in place. At the end of the month Vnstat didn't reset its totals. I tried the command
but that made the totals display a huge number and didn't reset the counters to zero.

How would I reset the total counter ?

How would I reset the total counter?
By deleting the /var/lib/vnstat/devicename file or by logrotating (nocreate, just --enable) the file out of /var/lib/vnstat/?

I deleted the file /var/lib/vnstat/eth0 but all that happened was a new database was made with the smae stats as when it was deleted

I want to use this to monitor the total bandwidth through the computers only ethernet port and hence monitor total bandwidth used by the server. As the server has a monthly bandwidth cap I want the program to reset on the first of every month. Vnstat did a good job for 1 month but now it won't reset I have no way of knowing the monthly bandwidth use.

I have read that I could setup a rule in IP tables to monitor the total bandwidth used. Any ideas how I could achieve this ? I have looked at other programs but they all give to much info for what I want to achieve. Simply, all I want is the total traffic stat. Im not worried about incoming, outgoing or transfer speeds. I just need the total.

I deleted the file /var/lib/vnstat/eth0 but all that happened was a new database was made with the smae stats as when it was deleted
Then you've done something wrong. I tested it here and it definately works as advertised.


I have read that I could setup a rule in IP tables to monitor the total bandwidth used. Any ideas how I could achieve this ?
Add a rule without a target (-j) at the start of the chain you want to measure. Note "iptables -L -v -n" will not give precise measurements and the counters get reset on firewall reload unless otherwise configured.