How to use usbmon for knowing amount of data transferred from usb (pendrive )?

Question

Please someone explain me in simple terms how to use usbmon to track the amount of data transferred from pendrive ?

Solution 1

usbmon.txt and usbmon.txt Examples gives a clear explanation about usbmon or usbdump.

You have to find which bus connected to your device. For that open your terminal and type:

cat /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices

It will give you an output similar to:

T:  Bus=03 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=0557 ProdID=2004 Rev= 1.00
S:  Manufacturer=ATEN
S:  Product=UC100KM V2.00

In the above sample output, T has Bus with its ID. So, Bus id is 03.

or

To see Bus ID you can also use lsusb , open terminal & type:

lsusb

It will give you an output similar to:

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0557:2004 ATEN UC100KM V2.00

Which means Bus ID 003.

You now know that the USB gets connected to BUS ID 003. Then in terminal type:

cat /sys/kernel/debug/usb/usbmon/3u > /tmp/1.mon.out

In the above command, you are monitoring the data transmission happening in Bus ID 03. If you want to monitor the data transmission at all Buses, then type:

cat /sys/kernel/debug/usb/usbmon/0u > /tmp/1.mon.out

Which will scan until the transmission goes to the end. If you want to interrupt then use CTRL+C.

To understand the output read: The usbmon: USB monitoring framework

Solution 2

Install wireshark than easiest way is to:

1. Check device "Bus" and Number "Device" with lsusb ( in "" are lsusb fields)
2. Mount usbmon sudo modprobe usbmon
3. Start wireshark sudo wireshark
4. In wireshark select what to listen to: usbmon{Bus nr form lsusb} fe: usbmon1
5. Add filter for your "Device" number

Cleaner way is to add rule for usbmon for your user, than you can use it (and wireshark) without root privileges

Solution 3

Find the bus number your device is on (see shekar's answer). Then on the raw /dev/usbmonX, use pipemeter (or pipebench) to measure throughput, or dump it to a file and visualize its growth with speedometer..f.e. for device on bus number 2:

# next three commands are equivalent - use any one
# pipemeter /dev/usbmon2 > /dev/null
# pipemeter < /dev/usbmon2 > /dev/null
# cat /dev/usbmon2 | pipemeter > /dev/null

# in 1st terminal
# cat /dev/usbmon2 > /tmp/usbdump
# in 2nd terminal
# speedometer /tmp/usbdump

The formatted text output from the /sys/kernel/debug/usb/usbmon/Xu files produces overhead for small amounts of traffic but seems to truncate bigger data blocks, so the raw usbmon device should give you more exact figures.

Comments

[user3529205]

But that file 1.mon.out is showing very weird output , how to use that output to calculate the data transferred in Bytes ?

[user3529205]

pastebin.com/b6U7Je7h

[shekhar]

@user3529205 Found it. Please look at 2nd link in my answer.

[user3529205]

still i think there is no way to find the size of packet file ?

[shekhar]

@user3529205 yes , its explaining the output.

[user3529205]

please can you point out in line 1-5 of pastebin link what would be the length field ? actually after " Number of isochronous frame descriptors and descriptors themselves" and before " < > = " signs there are two numbers