Noob rx tx question when using vnstat

An easier way to think about it is:

tx = transmit rx = receive

What kind of content are you serving? If it’s just static html, then your actual outgoing bandwidth will not be very high. One reason you might see the rx value being higher than you’d think is that on Ubuntu, <code>apt-get update</code> is run in the background occasionally. If you want to disable that, edit the file <code>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic</code> and make sure that all the values are set to “0”.

Heya,

Just came across this answer and decided to write some general guidelines for anyone who comes across this in the future despite the old question.

If you’re observing high RX (receive) statistics and low TX (transmit) statistics on your server, it indicates that your server is receiving a considerable amount of data but sending out relatively little. This scenario is common for servers that deliver content to users, as users are actively downloading data from the server.

While high RX and low TX stats are expected for content-serving servers, there could be a few reasons why your server’s TX stats remain low despite serving content:

• Caching: If your server is configured to cache content, it may repeatedly deliver the same content without the need for retransmission. This caching mechanism reduces the amount of data that needs to be transmitted, leading to low TX stats.

• Static Content: If your server primarily serves static content, such as images, CSS files, and other non-dynamic content, users’ browsers may cache these resources locally. As a result, subsequent requests for the same static content may not require data transmission from your server, contributing to low TX stats.

• Small Response Sizes: If your server’s responses are relatively small in size, they may not have a significant impact on the overall TX statistics. This is particularly true for servers that serve lightweight content, such as JSON data or API responses.

To gain a clearer understanding of your server’s traffic patterns, consider accessing it from a different network, such as using a VPN. If TX stats increase when you request content from a different network, it suggests that local caching is likely the reason for the low TX stats observed on your primary network.

Additionally, investigating your server’s caching settings and the types of content it’s serving can provide valuable insights into the factors influencing TX statistics.