Missing statistics for `tx_bytes`, `tx_packets`, `rx_bytes` and `rx_packets` since Ubuntu 13.10

[Aditya]

I am using Ubuntu 13.10 and have an Ethernet connection to connect to the Internet.

If I set my ISP username and password in router-cum-modem (ADSL) itself (i.e.; I get connected to internet automatically by just powering on my router); I don't get the information about `tx_bytes`, `tx_packets`, `rx_bytes` and `rx_packets` anymore.

If I don't put the username and password in router; and instead use `sudo pppoeconf` to configure my connection by providing my ISP username and password; I get the information about `tx_bytes`, `tx_packets`, `rx_bytes` and `rx_packets` as expected.

It is probably because of this bug, that Gnome System Monitor doesn't update Network History as reported earlier: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-system-monitor/+bug/1241894

===================================================================================

I have run the following commands on Ubuntu 13.10 installed on my system as per the answers given to this question: http://serverfault.com/questions/533513/how-to-get-tx-rx-bytes-without-ifconfig

    $ uname -a
    Linux aditya-desktop 3.11.0-18-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Tue Feb 18 21:13:28 UTC 2014 i686 athlon i686 GNU/Linux

    $ ifconfig
    eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 94:de:80:34:47:7b
              inet addr:192.168.1.8 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
              inet6 addr: fe80::96de:80ff:fe34:477b/64 Scope:Link
              UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
              RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
              RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
              Interrupt:18

    lo Link encap:Local Loopback
              inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
              inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
              UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
              RX packets:49 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:49 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
              RX bytes:4819 (4.8 KB) TX bytes:4819 (4.8 KB)

    $ route -n
    Kernel IP routing table
    Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
    0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
    192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 1 0 0 eth0

    $ cat /proc/net/dev
    Inter-| Receive | Transmit
     face |bytes packets errs drop fifo frame compressed multicast|bytes packets errs drop fifo colls carrier compressed
        lo: 190070 1601 0 0 0 0 0 0 190070 1601 0 0 0 0 0 0
      eth0: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

    $ netstat -i
    Kernel Interface table
    Iface MTU Met RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
    eth0 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 BMRU
    lo 65536 0 1601 0 0 0 1601 0 0 0 LRU

    $ ip -s link
    1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT
        link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
        RX: bytes packets errors dropped overrun mcast
        190070 1601 0 0 0 0
        TX: bytes packets errors dropped carrier collsns
        190070 1601 0 0 0 0
    2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT qlen 1000
        link/ether 94:de:80:34:47:7b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
        RX: bytes packets errors dropped overrun mcast
        0 0 0 0 0 0
        TX: bytes packets errors dropped carrier collsns
        0 0 0 0 0 0

    $ cat /sys/class/net/eth0/statistics/rx_bytes
    0

    $ cat /sys/class/net/eth0/statistics/rx_packets
    0

    $ cat /sys/class/net/eth0/statistics/tx_bytes
    0

    $ cat /sys/class/net/eth0/statistics/tx_packets
    0

===================================================================================

It is working upto Ubuntu 12.04.3 and Ubuntu 13.04. I have run the following commands in Ubuntu 12.04.3 Live environment, which reports those statistics:

    $ uname -a
    Linux this 3.8.0-29-generic #42~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 14 15:31:16 UTC 2013 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

    $ ifconfig
    eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 94:de:80:34:47:7b
              inet addr:192.168.1.8 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
              inet6 addr: fe80::96de:80ff:fe34:477b/64 Scope:Link
              UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
              RX packets:49 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:109 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
              RX bytes:26744 (26.7 KB) TX bytes:14380 (14.3 KB)
              Interrupt:18

    lo Link encap:Local Loopback
              inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
              inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
              UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
              RX packets:25 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:25 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
              RX bytes:2175 (2.1 KB) TX bytes:2175 (2.1 KB)

    $ route -n
    Kernel IP routing table
    Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
    0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
    169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 1000 0 0 eth0
    192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 1 0 0 eth0

===================================================================================

The bug was introduced in 13.10 and is still present in the development version of 14.04 as of today.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: linux-image-3.11.0-18-generic 3.11.0-18.32
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-18.32-generic 3.11.10.4
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-18-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: aditya 1390 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDmesg: [ 44.202948] systemd-hostnamed[1875]: Warning: nss-myhostname is not installed. Changing the local hostname might make it unresolveable. Please install nss-myhostname!
Date: Fri Mar 14 17:55:53 2014
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=3d3ddc24-09de-4fd8-8d48-3fb947c0fc74
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-06 (8 days ago)
InstallationMedia: This
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-78LMT-S2PT
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB: 0 radeondrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-18-generic root=UUID=b36eb8ca-34bb-41af-8b4f-c9514488396f ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-18-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-18-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.116.2
RfKill:
 0: hci0: Bluetooth
  Soft blocked: yes
  Hard blocked: no
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/05/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: FC
dmi.board.name: GA-78LMT-S2PT
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrFC:bd11/05/2012:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnGA-78LMT-S2PT:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnGA-78LMT-S2PT:rvr:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: GA-78LMT-S2PT
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.14 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-rc6-trusty/

[Aditya (code-aditya)]

Hi Joseph,

The has been fixed in v3.14-rc6-trusty mainline kernel. But I guess, 14.04 LTS would ship with kernel v3.13. Can the fix be back-ported from v3.14 to v3.13 before release?

Moreover, this bug relating to bluetooth has also been fixed in v3.14: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1245150

Thanks :)

[Carsten (carstenkoenig92)]

Hi, i have the exact same problem with archlinux, but i cant tell if it worked before - just noticed it today while trying to setup a network widget for awesome wm.
Are there any fixes yet, or do i have to wait for a kernel update?

[Bryan (k1cd)]

Trusty on Toshiba i7 laptop wity Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10) shows this problem in gkrellm and the system monitor. iftop needed to see network traffic volume.

[waffen (mlacunza)]

Confirmed for Ubuntu 14.04 with Qualcomm Atheros QCA8172 Fast Ethernet