wlan@mac.com wrote:

I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion of the right meaning for input vs. output with respect to acct-in/output-octets/packets?

In RFC 2866, it says:

Acct-Input-Octets = This attribute indicates how many octets have been received from the port over the course of this service being provided.

Remember, this is from the view that users connect to a port on the NAS. So data received "from the port" means "from the user". See also the Livingston Portmaster documentation: http://portmasters.com/tech/docs/radius/accounting.html They are the people who wrote the original RADIUS specification, so they should know what it means.

In the manual of a popular commercial access controller, it says:

Acct-Input-Octets = Number of octets/bytes received by the customer.

That is wrong. It is number of bytes received FROM the customer, TO the NAS.

Which is a rather "outward" way of looking at the "port" referred to in RFC. I have also seen it defined in the reverse way. To be standard with commercial gear, I have taken the above definition as being the 'right way' ... other opinions?

Follow the standards. Do not follow broken vendors. Alan DeKok.