nethogs Installation Guide Installation Guide

nethogs is a free and open-source bandwidth monitor. NetHogs groups bandwidth by process

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 128MB minimum

Storage: 100MB for data

Network: CLI tool

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port N/A (default nethogs port)

None

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install nethogs
sudo dnf install -y nethogs

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now nethogs

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=N/A/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install nethogs
sudo apt install -y nethogs

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now nethogs

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow N/A

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Install nethogs
sudo pacman -S nethogs

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now nethogs

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Install nethogs
apk add --no-cache nethogs

# Enable and start service
rc-update add nethogs default
rc-service nethogs start

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Install nethogs
sudo zypper install -y nethogs

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now nethogs

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=N/A/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install nethogs

# Start service
brew services start nethogs

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install nethogs

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'nethogs_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service nethogs start

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install nethogs

# Or using Scoop
scoop install nethogs

# Verify installation
nethogs --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/nethogs

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
nethogs --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable nethogs

# Start service
sudo systemctl start nethogs

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop nethogs

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart nethogs

# Check status
sudo systemctl status nethogs

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u nethogs -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add nethogs default

# Start service
rc-service nethogs start

# Stop service
rc-service nethogs stop

# Restart service
rc-service nethogs restart

# Check status
rc-service nethogs status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'nethogs_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service nethogs start

# Stop service
service nethogs stop

# Restart service
service nethogs restart

# Check status
service nethogs status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start nethogs
brew services stop nethogs
brew services restart nethogs

# Check status
brew services list | grep nethogs

powershell

# Start service
net start nethogs

# Stop service
net stop nethogs

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service nethogs
Stop-Service nethogs
Restart-Service nethogs

# Check status
Get-Service nethogs

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream nethogs_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:N/A;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name nethogs.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name nethogs.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/nethogs.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/nethogs.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://nethogs_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName nethogs.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://nethogs.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName nethogs.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/nethogs.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/nethogs.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:N/A/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:N/A/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend nethogs_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/nethogs.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend nethogs_backend

backend nethogs_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server nethogs1 127.0.0.1:N/A check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R nethogs:nethogs /etc/nethogs
sudo chmod 750 /etc/nethogs

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=N/A/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status nethogs

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u nethogs -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep nethogs)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/nethogs"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/nethogs-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/nethogs /var/lib/nethogs

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/nethogs-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop nethogs

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/nethogs/nethogs-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start nethogs

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u nethogs -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/nethogs/nethogs.log

# Check configuration
nethogs --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/nethogs

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep N/A

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost N/A

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep nethogs)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep nethogs)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep N/A

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  nethogs:
    image: nethogs:latest
    ports:
      - "N/A:N/A"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/nethogs
      - ./data:/var/lib/nethogs
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update nethogs

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade nethogs

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu nethogs

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade nethogs

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update nethogs

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade nethogs

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/nethogs-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/nethogs

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart nethogs

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/nethogs

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/nethogs -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/nethogs

Official Documentation: https://docs.nethogs.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/nethogs/nethogs

Community Forum: https://forum.nethogs.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.nethogs.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

Related Network monitoring Guides

bandwidthd Installation Guide

darkstat Installation Guide

iftop Installation Guide