CPview Mbits vs Mbps columns

[iSu10]

Searching through docs and forums, can't seem to get the difference between Mbits and Mbps in cpview under Network, Interfaces, Traffic

We kinda understand Mbps numbers here, but Mbits column is throwing us off.

Thanks again checkmates!!


checkpoint 77.30.. just in case

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

Hi @iSu10,

Mbps = Mbits = Megabits per Second

Is exactly the same.

Some programmers will not have agreed on this point. 😀

[iSu10]

But the numbers shown in cpview are not, so the confusion.

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

Maybe someone has confused bit and byte.
In networking, only bits make sense.

In cpview some display values are also wrong.

[HristoGrigorov]

My favorite in R80.40 is this one:

# fwaccel stats -s
Accelerated conns/Total conns : 18446744073709551613/18446744073709551038 (0%)

I have even seen it to be negative value, like -5% 😀

[iSu10]

An example of the cpview data in those columns:

Mbits          Mbps

2,578          0
6,482          0
26,368        39
6,484          21
15,500        0
.
.
.

and so...

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

Something seems to have gone wrong with the programming:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data-rate_units#Megabit_per_second

[Timothy_Hall]

Perhaps Mbits is being expressed as some kind of average utilization over a time period such as 60 seconds, and Mbps is second-by-second utilization in more or less real time?

[Maarten_Sjouw]

Mbits is just what is says: a number of Megabits that have passed the interface, since the last reset and the Mbps is just the current Megabits per second.

[iSu10]

We thought that, but the Mbits sometimes lowers in value.
We were thinking it was some number that increments and resets every now and then, but it didn't.

[Arik_Ovtracht]

Hi,

Mbits is current network traffic (MB per second).

Mbps is aggregated network traffic since sampling started (MB per second).

So you understand why they display different results.

[HeikoAnkenbrand]

Hi @Arik_Ovtracht 

This is confusing from my point of view. If you average values over time, you should output this as an average value. 

And you should specify the time period (for example 60 seconds, 1 day or since the last boot). Otherwise the values are mathematically useless.

For example I would then display it:

Mbps average 1 day

[Maarten_Sjouw]

On top of what @HeikoAnkenbrand said, the industry standard is that you use Mb for mega bits and MB for mega bytes.

[Noam]

Hi

like @Maarten_Sjouw  said:

Mbits is a number of Megabits that have passed since the last reset (/proc/net/dev reset) and the Mbps is current Megabits per second.

[HristoGrigorov]

I have ran into this log entry inside test_ad_connectivity.elg that made me fall off the chair:

hash_drbg_add_sample: Adding 55 bytes worth 27500 milibits. Total: 27500. Required: 0

Is someone mining bitcoins on my gateway ? 😀