Looking at the stats it generates in the control panel I'm assuming it just parses the apache access log for the # of requests per file, multiplies that by the size of the file and gives you the amount of traffic up to the current month..

I'm wondering 2 things:

1) Is there any program out there that could show 'live' stats for bandwidth usage (on the raq itself) ?

2) If you have a site with a lot of big files (music..or videos) then obviously a lot of the http requests logged by apache are not completed or others use programs like GetRight to resume the program (which can download the file in 3 parts simultaneously & then concatenate at the end)
-- Is there any way to come up with 'accurate' stats?

Thanks.

On each log line Apache can record KB sent and KB received, this gives an extremely accurate picture.

FTP logs similarly.

SMTP traffic can also be logged, although not very accurately, filter logs for inbound outbound traffic from @userdomains.com of course this can be easily fooled on the outbound part if he changes the from header.

Thanks for your suggestions...

Although with the apache stuff are you referring to 'server-status' ? I turned that on and it doesn't seem to give an accurate byte count..

I've been fiddling with MRTG (http://www.mrtg.org) but for some reason it's only showing incoming snmp traffic and not outgoing.. I can't figure it out..

Did you use the cfgmaker script? MRTG used to be a pain in the ass when it came to determining the right port to monitor for SNMP (basically had to flip between 1 and 2, putting negative signs, etc). Cfgmaker simplified things a ton. Take a look through the documentation; it should help clear some things. I have run MRTG on several Cobalt boxes for clients, and it works great. Alternatives include IP Meter and Bandmin (do a search on freshmeat.net or sourceforge).

Hope this helps...

Check out http://www.bandmin.org - Not sure if it will work with a raq though.