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4

Ubuntu background network usage

rated 0 times [ 4] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 6649 / 3 Years ago, fri, june 11, 2021, 11:06:07

I'm using Ubuntu 12.04, and I'd like to understand the source of background network usage.

While I'm not using the network (e.g. reading ebooks or using offline apps), Ubuntu keeps fetching data from the internet. From ifconfig, I see the download usage increasing. This happens all the time I'm connected to the 'net, not just when updates are downloading. Because I have a download quota plan I don't want to use the internet when I'm doing offline work.

Why could my internet use be increasing? What's responsible for these downloads?

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answered 3 Years ago allally · Accepted Answer

Try using nethogs to see which processes are using the network:

Install nethogs using the Software Center or a package manager (sudo apt-get install nethogs).

Open a terminal and run "ifconfig" to list your network interfaces. If you connect your computer with a wire the relevant interface will likely be something like eth8. If you connect wirelessly it'll be something like wlan5.

Open a terminal and run "sudo nethogs interface", according to the relevant interface from before. Wait a bit. When a program accesses the internet, it will show up in the display.

To see what websites are being accessed, try running in a terminal:

netstat --protocol=inet --program

to list connections currently open. The output will show lines like

tcp        0      0 myhostname.local:59957      stackoverflow.com:http  ESTABLISHED 23331/firefox