Tools for checking system status

HEALTH CHECK

Article from Issue 82/2007
Author(s):

A system monitor lets you query the system’s current health state. If you are unhappy with the spartan Top tool, try one of these easy alternatives.

Linux supports many sophisticated server monitoring tools that analyze a server’s health state, log the results, and print colorful graphs and reports. But if you are just interested in finding out why the hard disk LED on your desktop is flashing wildly, what you really need is a simple, at-a-glance overview of the system status. A quick look at the system status will show you which applications are hogging memory or which processes are hogging the CPU.

The KDE and Gnome desktop environments each have on-board tools for this task: Ctrl+Esc on KDE launches the KDE system monitor, KSysguard. Gnome has the Gnome System Monitor for the same task. The KDE application, in particular, requires a significant amount of system resources. Because users typically need a monitor to find out why a machine is overloaded, this seriously affects the tool’s usability.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subs
Digisubs
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Real-Time Monitoring Tools

    The Top system monitor is a useful aid for identifying system bottlenecks, and Htop, Atop, and Glances extend its possibilities.

    more »
  • Top Ten Tops

    The famous Unix admin utility known as Top has many imitators. We take a look at some of the top Top tools.

    more »
  • Charly's Column: Shell In A Box

    At some point, any service that can't run fast enough will be put on the web. So, why not do this for remote login? With a little JavaScript and CSS wizardry, a software tool called "Shell In A Box" sends a shell to the browser.

    more »
  • Nmon

    Administrators often assume that if all nodes are functioning, the system is fine. However, a common problem is poor or unexpected application performance. In this case, you need a simple tool to help you understand what's happening on the nodes: nmon.

    more »
  • Tool Tips

    We review htop 2.0.1, Metastore 1.1.0, fgallery 1.8.1, UniversalCodeGrep 0.2.1, hping 3.0.0, and NitroShare 0.3.1. 

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Visit Our Shop

Trial Subscription

Digital Subscription

Subscribe

Direct Download

Read full article as PDF:

System_Status_Tools.pdf  (401.11 kB)

DevOps

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Events Hardware Linux Linux New Media Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source