10.1. Configuring the Kernel for IP Accounting

The Linux IP accounting feature is very closely related to the Linux firewall software. The places you want to collect accounting data are the same places that you would be interested in performing firewall filtering: into and out of a network host, and in the software that does the routing of datagrams. If you haven't read the section on firewalls, now is probably a good time to do so, as we will be using some of the concepts described in Chapter 9.

To activate the Linux IP accounting feature, you should first see if your Linux kernel is configured for it. Check to see if the /proc/net/ip_acct file exists. If it does, your kernel already supports IP accounting. If it doesn't, you must build a new kernel, ensuring that you answer “Y” to the options in 2.0 and 2.2 series kernels:

Networking options  --->
	[*] Network firewalls
	[*] TCP/IP networking
	 ...
	[*] IP: accounting

Networking options  --->
    [*] Network packet filtering (replaces ipchains)