diff --git a/src/emuvim/api/zerorpc/network.py b/src/emuvim/api/zerorpc/network.py
index 1b7e1e0..f21ce99 100644
--- a/src/emuvim/api/zerorpc/network.py
+++ b/src/emuvim/api/zerorpc/network.py
@@ -100,6 +100,16 @@
             logging.exception("RPC error.")
             return ex.message
 
+    # remove the rate measurement for a vnf interface
+    def remove_metric(self, vnf_name, vnf_interface, metric):
+        logging.debug("RPC CALL: setup metric")
+        try:
+            c = self.net.monitor_agent.remove_metric(vnf_name, vnf_interface, metric)
+            return c
+        except Exception as ex:
+            logging.exception("RPC error.")
+            return ex.message
+
     # setup the rate measurement for a vnf interface
     def monitor_setup_rate_measurement(self, vnf_name, vnf_interface, metric):
         logging.debug("RPC CALL: get rate")
diff --git a/src/emuvim/cli/monitor.py b/src/emuvim/cli/monitor.py
index 1d4abfb..bae0c07 100755
--- a/src/emuvim/cli/monitor.py
+++ b/src/emuvim/cli/monitor.py
@@ -36,19 +36,15 @@
             vnf_interface,
             args.get("metric"))
         pp.pprint(r)
-        '''
-        self.c.monitor_setup_rate_measurement(
+
+    def remove_metric(self, args):
+        vnf_name = self._parse_vnf_name(args.get("vnf_name"))
+        vnf_interface = self._parse_vnf_interface(args.get("vnf_name"))
+        r = self.c.remove_metric(
             vnf_name,
             vnf_interface,
             args.get("metric"))
-        while True:
-            r = self.c.monitor_get_rate(
-                vnf_name,
-                vnf_interface,
-                args.get("metric"))
-            pp.pprint(r)
-            time.sleep(1)
-        '''
+        pp.pprint(r)
 
     def _parse_vnf_name(self, vnf_name_str):
         vnf_name = vnf_name_str.split(':')[0]
diff --git a/src/emuvim/dcemulator/monitoring.py b/src/emuvim/dcemulator/monitoring.py
index d745069..7fa5e18 100755
--- a/src/emuvim/dcemulator/monitoring.py
+++ b/src/emuvim/dcemulator/monitoring.py
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 import time
 from prometheus_client import start_http_server, Summary, Histogram, Gauge, Counter
 import threading
-from subprocess import Popen
-from os import getcwd
+from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+import os
 
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 
@@ -25,16 +25,6 @@
         self.REST_api = 'http://{0}:{1}'.format(self.ip,self.port)
 
         # helper variables to calculate the metrics
-        # TODO put these in a list to support multiple metrics simultaneously
-        self.switch_dpid = 0
-        self.vnf_name = None
-        self.vnf_interface = None
-        self.previous_measurement = 0
-        self.previous_monitor_time = 0
-        self.metric_key = None
-        self.mon_port = None
-
-
         # Start up the server to expose the metrics to Prometheus.
         start_http_server(8000)
         # supported Prometheus metrics
@@ -66,13 +56,13 @@
         self.network_metrics = []
 
         # start monitoring thread
+        self.start_monitoring = True
         self.monitor_thread = threading.Thread(target=self.get_network_metrics)
         self.monitor_thread.start()
 
         # helper tools
-        self.prometheus_process = None
-        self.cAdvisor_process = None
-
+        self.prometheus_process = self.start_Prometheus()
+        self.cadvisor_process = self.start_cadvisor()
 
     # first set some parameters, before measurement can start
     def setup_metric(self, vnf_name, vnf_interface=None, metric='tx_packets'):
@@ -88,8 +78,6 @@
 
         network_metric['vnf_name'] = vnf_name
         network_metric['vnf_interface'] = vnf_interface
-        #self.vnf_name = vnf_name
-        #self.vnf_interface = vnf_interface
 
         for connected_sw in self.net.DCNetwork_graph.neighbors(vnf_name):
             link_dict = self.net.DCNetwork_graph[vnf_name][connected_sw]
@@ -99,7 +87,6 @@
                     # found the right link and connected switch
                     # logging.info("{0},{1}".format(link_dict[link]['src_port_id'], vnf_source_interface))
                     network_metric['mon_port'] = link_dict[link]['dst_port']
-                    # self.mon_port = link_dict[link]['dst_port']
                     break
 
         if 'mon_port' not in network_metric:
@@ -129,13 +116,11 @@
 
             network_metric['previous_measurement'] = 0
             network_metric['previous_monitor_time'] = 0
-            #self.previous_measurement = 0
-            #self.previous_monitor_time = 0
+
 
             network_metric['switch_dpid'] = int(str(next_node.dpid), 16)
             network_metric['metric_key'] = metric
-            #self.switch_dpid = int(str(next_node.dpid), 16)
-            #self.metric_key = '{0}_{1}'.format(direction, metric)
+
 
             self.network_metrics.append(network_metric)
 
@@ -146,10 +131,18 @@
             logging.exception("get_rate error.")
             return ex.message
 
+    def remove_metric(self, vnf_name, vnf_interface, metric):
+        for metric_dict in self.network_metrics:
+            if metric_dict['vnf_name'] == vnf_name and metric_dict['vnf_interface'] == vnf_interface \
+                    and metric_dict['metric'] == metric:
+                self.network_metrics.remove(metric_dict)
+                logging.info('Stopped monitoring: {2} on {0}:{1}'.format(vnf_name, vnf_interface, metric))
+                return 'Stopped monitoring: {2} on {0}:{1}'.format(vnf_name, vnf_interface, metric)
 
-    # get all metrics defined in the list
+
+    # get all metrics defined in the list and export it to Prometheus
     def get_network_metrics(self):
-        while True:
+        while self.start_monitoring:
             # group metrics by dpid to optimize the rest api calls
             dpid_list = [metric_dict['switch_dpid'] for metric_dict in self.network_metrics]
             dpid_set = set(dpid_list)
@@ -168,10 +161,10 @@
 
             time.sleep(1)
 
-    # call this function repeatedly for streaming measurements
+    # add metric to the list to export to Prometheus, parse the Ryu port-stats reply
     def set_network_metric(self, metric_dict, port_stat_dict):
-
-        metric_key = metric_dict['metric_key']
+        # vnf tx is the datacenter switch rx and vice-versa
+        metric_key = self.switch_tx_rx(metric_dict['metric_key'])
         switch_dpid = metric_dict['switch_dpid']
         vnf_name = metric_dict['vnf_name']
         vnf_interface = metric_dict['vnf_interface']
@@ -209,43 +202,6 @@
         return 'metric {0} not found on {1}:{2}'.format(metric_key, vnf_name, vnf_interface)
 
 
-    # call this function repeatedly for streaming measurements
-    def get_rate(self, vnf_name, vnf_interface=None, direction='tx', metric='packets'):
-
-            key = self.metric_key
-
-            ret = self.REST_cmd('stats/port', self.switch_dpid)
-            port_stat_dict = ast.literal_eval(ret)
-            for port_stat in port_stat_dict[str(self.switch_dpid)]:
-                if port_stat['port_no'] == self.mon_port:
-                    port_uptime = port_stat['duration_sec'] + port_stat['duration_nsec'] * 10 ** (-9)
-                    this_measurement = int(port_stat[key])
-                    #logging.info('packets:{0}'.format(this_measurement))
-
-                    # set prometheus metrics
-                    if metric == 'packets':
-                        self.prom_tx_packet_count.labels(self.vnf_name, self.vnf_interface).set(this_measurement)
-                    elif metric == 'bytes':
-                        self.prom_tx_byte_count.labels(self.vnf_name, self.vnf_interface).set(this_measurement)
-
-                    if self.previous_monitor_time <= 0 or self.previous_monitor_time >= port_uptime:
-                        self.previous_measurement = int(port_stat[key])
-                        self.previous_monitor_time = port_uptime
-                        # do first measurement
-                        time.sleep(1)
-                        byte_rate = self.get_rate(vnf_name, vnf_interface, direction, metric)
-                        return byte_rate
-                    else:
-                        time_delta = (port_uptime - self.previous_monitor_time)
-                        byte_rate = (this_measurement - self.previous_measurement) / float(time_delta)
-                        #logging.info('uptime:{2} delta:{0} rate:{1}'.format(time_delta,byte_rate,port_uptime))
-
-                    self.previous_measurement = this_measurement
-                    self.previous_monitor_time = port_uptime
-                    return byte_rate
-
-            return ret
-
     def REST_cmd(self, prefix, dpid):
         url = self.REST_api + '/' + str(prefix) + '/' + str(dpid)
         req = urllib2.Request(url)
@@ -253,18 +209,19 @@
         return ret
 
     def start_Prometheus(self, port=9090):
+        # prometheus.yml configuration file is located in the same directory as this file
         cmd = ["docker",
                "run",
                "--rm",
                "-p", "{0}:9090".format(port),
-               "-v", "{0}/prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml".format(getcwd()),
+               "-v", "{0}/prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml".format(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))),
                "--name", "prometheus",
                "prom/prometheus"
                ]
+        logging.info('Start Prometheus container {0}'.format(cmd))
+        return Popen(cmd)
 
-        self.prometheus_process = Popen(cmd)
-
-    def start_cAdvisor(self, port=8090):
+    def start_cadvisor(self, port=8090):
         cmd = ["docker",
                "run",
                "--rm",
@@ -276,13 +233,45 @@
                "--name=cadvisor",
                "google/cadvisor:latest"
                ]
-        self.cAdvisor_process = Popen(cmd)
+        logging.info('Start cAdvisor container {0}'.format(cmd))
+        return Popen(cmd)
 
     def stop(self):
+        # stop the monitoring thread
+        self.start_monitoring = False
+        self.monitor_thread.join()
+
         if self.prometheus_process is not None:
+            logging.info('stopping prometheus container')
             self.prometheus_process.terminate()
             self.prometheus_process.kill()
+            self._stop_container('prometheus')
 
-        if self.cAdvisor_process is not None:
-            self.cAdvisor_process.terminate()
-            self.cAdvisor_process.kill()
+        if self.cadvisor_process is not None:
+            logging.info('stopping cadvisor container')
+            self.cadvisor_process.terminate()
+            self.cadvisor_process.kill()
+            self._stop_container('cadvisor')
+
+    def switch_tx_rx(self,metric=''):
+        # when monitoring vnfs, the tx of the datacenter switch is actually the rx of the vnf
+        # so we need to change the metric name to be consistent with the vnf rx or tx
+        if 'tx' in metric:
+            metric = metric.replace('tx','rx')
+        elif 'rx' in metric:
+            metric = metric.replace('rx','tx')
+
+        return metric
+
+    def _stop_container(self, name):
+        cmd = ["docker",
+               "stop",
+               name]
+        Popen(cmd).wait()
+
+        cmd = ["docker",
+               "rm",
+               name]
+        Popen(cmd).wait()
+
+