Get interface statistic (TZ-1145)

[motters]

Checklist

• Checked the issue tracker for similar issues to ensure this is not a duplicate.
• Described the feature in detail and justified the reason for the request.
• Provided specific use cases and examples.

Feature description

It would be nice to be able to obtain interface statistics to monitor data usage.

Global stats for all interfaces seem to be available at lwip/stats.h easily enough. However it combines all interfaces (OpenThread, Wifi, Ethernet etc).

It would be better if these stats were accessible for each interface. These seem to be available through via stats_mib2_netif_ctrs at:
esp_netif_get_handle_from_ifkey("WIFI_STA_DEF")->lwip_netif->mib2_counters

However i cannot access this struct without getting compiler errors:
error: invalid use of incomplete type 'esp_netif_t' {aka 'struct esp_netif_obj'}

With stats_mib2_netif_ctrs, lwip/stats.h and OpenThread History Functions it would be possible to gain useful statistics on each interface.

Use cases

This would help when the border router is using a cellular interface. Allowing you to keep track for any data increases and where the increase came from.

It also gives a deep in sight into the use of the OpenThread network and backbone.

Alternatives

lwip/stats.h and OpenThread History Functions are available but they don't give all the information such as total number of octets received on the interface which stats_mib2_netif_ctrs does.

Additional context

How can we access the stats_mib2_netif_ctrs for each interface?

[motters]

Seem you can access netif via
auto if = (struct netif*) esp_netif_get_netif_impl(network::wifi::get_netif());

However i'm not sure how to enable MIB2_STATS

[zwx1995esp]

Hi @motters, thanks for addressing this. So just to confirm, for now, you only want to use the lwIP mib_stats feature, correct?

[motters]

Hi,

Yes.

How can we access mib_stats feature (struct stats_mib2_netif_ctrs) for each network interface (WiFi, Ethernet, OpenThread)? Then we can wrap some REST APIs around it.

Cheers!

[zwx1995esp]

Hi @motters , just ask the question how to enable the feature mib_stats in lwip to who is responsable to LwIP, and here are the replies:
For now, we do not have a menuconfigration to enable this feature via idf.py menuconfig. And if you want to use this feature, you can refer to here: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32/api-guides/lwip.html#customized-lwip-options-from-esp-idf-build-system.
I have tried this, and it might work with these two changes:

1. add these two lines in the file components/lwip/CMakeLists.txt

    idf_component_get_property(lwip lwip COMPONENT_LIB)
    target_compile_definitions(${lwip} PRIVATE "-DMIB2_STATS=1")

2. enable the LWIP_STATS via idf.py menuconfig
   

then build your apps.

Please have a try. The LwIP group will support to enable this feature via idf.py menuconfig later.

[motters]

Thanks @zwx1995esp I'll give this a try and report back what information can be obtained.

[motters]

@zwx1995esp Sorry slow on this. I've tried the about bit still cannot access.

I cannot access the lwip_netif struct
error: invalid use of incomplete type 'esp_netif_t' {aka 'struct esp_netif_obj'} 56 | auto wifi_data = esp_netif_get_handle_from_ifkey("WIFI_STA_DEF")->lwip_netif;

I cannot include the struct esp_netif_t as it's defined with esp_netif_lwip_internal.h which is not accessible.

[zwx1995esp]

Hi, @motters try this:

netif *wifi_data = esp_netif_get_netif_impl(esp_netif_get_handle_from_ifkey("WIFI_STA_DEF"));

[motters]

@zwx1995esp Thanks thats works netif *wifi_data = (struct netif*) esp_netif_get_netif_impl(esp_netif_get_handle_from_ifkey("WIFI_STA_DEF"));

However to gain access to wifi_data->mib2_counters i had to open esp/v5.1/esp-idf/components/lwip/lwip/src/include/lwip/opt.h and add #define MIB2_STATS 1to line 2251

The code now compiles however the values within mib2_counters are always zero no matter how much data is transferred via the interface.

[zwx1995esp]

The code now compiles however the values within mib2_counters are always zero no matter how much data is transferred via the interface.

Hi @motters , this seems to be related to the lwIP components. you can create an issue in ESP-IDF to ask for some help from the person responsible for lwIP components.

[chshu]

@motters please follow up in the IDF lwip component, feel free to link the new issue here.