Stat-like command-line tools for admins
Get Info, Stat
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ASCII tools can be life savers when they provide the only access you have to a misbehaving server. However, once you're on the node what do you do? In this article, we look at stat-like tools: vmstat, dstat, and mpstat.
Previously, I looked at some Top-like tools [1] that are useful when diagnosing misbehaving servers and you only have a shell to the node or a crash cart with no X Window System. When this happens, you have to rely on ASCII tools.
However, I don't rely just on Top-like tools to help me diagnose a problem; rather, I use them as a starting point if I can get a login. Top tells me a little of what is happening, but not everything. To get more detail, I turn to "stat" tools, particularly vmstat and vmstat-like tools.
The cool thing about these tools is that not only are they good for diagnosing problems, they also are good for examining application performance. In this article, I will show how I use vmstat and a similar tool called dstat. As a bonus, I will also discuss mpstat, which can be of great use, particularly for multiprocessing code.
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