Basic Linux Systems Monitoring Tools for System Admininstrators
How important is monitoring tools for our IT infrastructure? The best way to ensure a healthy infrastructure is through systems monitoring tools in order to verify performance and resources, act on alerts as well as planning for future improvements and upgrades. Let’s look at Linux monitoring tools for systems administrators:
MPSTAT
Usage: To monitor multiprocessor usage in Linux.
Command: sudo mpstat
TCPDUMP
Usage: Tcpdump is a packet analyzer that allows a user to display TCP/IP and other packets being transferred over the network.
IOTOP
Usage: A python based I/O monitoring tool.
Command: sudo iotop
TOP
Usage: Top is a process activity monitor that gives you a real-time view of a running system.
Command: sudo top
HTOP
Usage: A similar command to TOP. It is used to view the interactive process.
Command: sudo htop
ATOP
Usage: Used to monitor the load(resources) of your Linux system.
VMSTAT
Usage: This command gives you an overview of CPU activity, traps, paging, block I/O, memory, and processes.
Command: sudo vmstat
PS
Usage: This command allows you to take a snapshot of the current processes.
Command: sudo ps
PMAP
Usage: Monitors the process memory usage on Linux.
Command: sudo pmap PID
NETSTAT
Usage: A built-in Linux monitoring and statistics tool used to list network connections, routing tables and network interfaces on the system.
Command: sudo netstat
IPTRAF
Usage: Used to gather real-time network statistics on a Linux system.
Command: sudo iptraf
IOSTAT
Usage: Helps to monitor the average CPU load and disk activity.
Command: sudo iostat
SAR
Usage: Unix based system to check memory, CPU activity, and network.
Command: sudo mpstat

Chad is an experienced systems administrator with exposure to various technologies and enterprise ICT environments. He has a huge passion for technologies, specifically Linux, open source software, electronics, and IoT technologies.
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