We keep a record of network activity in Mac OS X

Despite the fact that most people have long forgotten about any restrictions - so deeply penetrated into the unlimited Internet everyday life - yet sometimes it becomes necessary to calculate how much data was transmitted through a particular network interface. The reasons for it can be more, for example, avid provider or expensive mobile internet. Today I would like to tell you about a few simple steps by which you can monitor network activity, so as not to remain without a connection at the most inopportune moment.

Most interesting is that you can try to get by with regular means. To my surprise, the standard Network Utility can not provide such information to us, so try to use another tool - monitoring system. The last tab called Network, located in the lower part of the window shows the number of sent / received packets and data, as well as the total amount of information is sent and received. Unfortunately, the records are maintained only by the system boot, and the data for each protocol are summarized into a single figure. Therefore, this method is suitable only for those who want to learn the approximate "consumption rate" of the Internet.

The second application - iStat Menus - not an example of a monitoring system (although it is clearly not for creating it) allows the element menu bar to see a very detailed information on each connection, including download graphics, data rate and its amount for Ethernet, Airport, Bluetooth and VPN (PPTP). Unfortunately, the problem of resetting statistics after you restart your computer with this utility can not be solved. A second disadvantage is the inability to specify the display data according to the protocol, which is not currently connected (for example, information about the use of VPN):

However, the most unprepossessing (of those surveyed) program SurplusMeter sdela allows the use of all network traffic better and provides the most detailed information :) We immediately see that the utility was writing typical programmer. Its operating principle is that the user defines the beginning of the "reporting period", a limit on data downloads (you can plyusovat and outgoing traffic) then start with sadness follow the prefilled three bands progress and cherished graphs «Megabytes left in allowance», displays the number of megabytes available.

Also, as the user pleases me that the statistics does not disappear after you restart the application, as in the previous two versions. So I no longer worry about suddenly Ended the mobile Internet because of its cost overruns.

Use more advanced tools? Tell us about it in the comments!