FAQ

Question: Where should I describe the iptables rules for traffic accounting?
Answer: netacct works as userspace daemon so no kerner-based firewall rules 
for traffic accounting are used and needed!

Question: With Fedora Core 2/3/x netacct sometimes starts and sometimes the 
message Segmentation Fault appears?
Answer: Delete all comments from the configuration files. The problem exists 
only with Fedora Core and will be fixed in the next version. 

Question: Whenever I write 'make' on *BSD, it gives me error?!
Answer: This problem has already been fixed from version 0.78. The solution 
for the older versions is: Install gnu make (gmake).

Question: sniff 0 or 1 or when should the interface be placed in promiscuous 
mode?
Answer: In very rare cases you will need sniff 1, i.e. in specific cases when 
for example the default gateway is connected with HUB (yes! with HUB exactly) 
and a server for traffic accounting is connected to it by netacct,(I haven't 
experienced this case for the time being) or if your network is with HUBs, 
then netacct doesn't work obligatorily at the default gateway.

Question: I compiled and installed successfully but nothing was written in the 
base
Answer: The most common mistake is with people who love compiling manually 
without having enough knowledge for that (Believe me, they are thousands!)The 
guy installed XXX linux default install with mysql package in /usr and after 
that decided to install a newer version, which he put in /usr/local/mysql. 
Everything's fine but when netacct is compiled the configure script finds 
first that mysql which is in /usr and when linked it connects with the older 
library from /usr/lib/libmysql* and not that from /usr/local/mysql/lib/libmysql*. In this case the following error appears: 
	can't connect through socket /var/run/mysql.sock
	when as a matter of fact it has to connect to mysql  via:
	/usr/local/var/run/mysql.sock or via somewhere else.

	These are the steps to follow in order to eliminate the problem:

	0. Check /var/log/syslog, messages for errors. If you try to write in 
	the base and an error occurs, go to the next step. If it simply doesn't
	account correctly the traffic, go to the next Question/Answer.
	1. Check whether you have more than one mysql installation. In most 
	cases it brings about problems. If you have more than one, delete the 
	older version.  
	2. Check whether nacctd is connected with the correct library in this 
	way:
	$ ldd `which nacctd`
	libmysqlclient.so.10 => /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.10 (0x00176000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x001ab000)
	.....
	3. Check whether you can connect with the acct user with the relevant 
	password in this way: 
	$ mysql -u acct -p
	4. (For idiots) Check whether mysql is started :)

Question: Everything works but the traffic is accounted as international, as 
peering or is not accounted at all?
Answer: Well... ... ... indeed: Did you read carefully README and INSTALL 
files!!!? The popular variants for network configuration and traffic accounting
are described there. If your configuration is not in the  README file and you 
don't know how to set up naccttab, ask in the forum at: 
http://netacct-mysql.gabrovo.com/ or in the last resort (when you have done 
everything possible) contact me personally at geroy@stemo.bg. Anyway, bear 
in mind that I don't have much free time, so before you dare ask me, read 
something here and there!