4.4. Charging

charge charge-grp direction other-grp [rate code [flags ...]]

The first three parameters, charge-grp direction other-grp specify the direction and endpoints of a flow to be charged. charge-grp is the group containing the network addresses to which this charge applies. other-grp refers to the network group (possibly any) on the other end of a charged group. direction indicates the direction of traffic to be charged, and may be -> for traffic going from the charged group, <- for traffic coming into the charged group and or <> for traffic going in both directions. (The <> operator is functionally identical to two separate lines specifying each direction.)

The rate parameter specifies a rate that must also match for the charge to apply. A dash ("-") may be used to indicate that any traffic not matching other charge statements between the same endpoints. Multiple rates may be used for the same set of end points.

code indicates the charge code assigned to any traffic matching the charge rule. If code is omitted, any flow data matching the charge will be discarded.

The remaining parameters are flags indicating the level of detail to be kept at the rating level for subsequent reporting. Keeping more detail offers more flexibility for reporting, but at the expense of requiring more disk space, memory and processing power to store and process it. These are as follows:

network	Store the network IP range specified in the ip statement that matched the charged IP address;
local	Store the specific IP address that is being charged;
remote	Store the other IP address in the flow. Note that this option significantly increases the load placed in ipacc to store and process charging data.
protocols	If a flow matches a defined protocol, store the protocol name. Otherwise accumulate all non-matched counts into a separate record.
phb	If the type-of-service matches a defined PHB, store the PHB name.
noname	Do not store the network (customer) name. (The default is to store the network name and charge code.