Much has been written about how to set up different monitoring tools to look after the health of your Linux servers. This article attempts to present a concise overview of the most important metrics available on Linux and the associated tools.
CPU utilization
CPU usage is usually the first place we look when a server shows signs of slowing down (although more often than not, the problem is elsewhere). The top command is arguably the most common performance-related utility in Linux when it comes to processes and CPU. By default, top displays summary percentages for all CPUs on the system. These days, most CPUs are dual-core or even quad-core – essentially two or four CPUs in one chip, so to view the statistics broken down by CPU (or core), use the “1″ command in top. To sort processes by CPU usage type “O” followed by a “k”. Read more…
