Lesser-known but extremely handy Linux tools
Kristóf Kovács has a fantastic post about some lesser-known Linux tools that can really come in handy in different situations.
If you haven’t tried dstat (I hadn’t until I saw Kristóf’s post), this is a great one to try. You can keep a running tally on various server metrics including load average, network transfer, and disk operations.
Here is some sample output:
----total-cpu-usage---- ---paging-- ---load-avg--- ------memory-usage----- -net/total- ---procs--- --io/total- ---system-- ----tcp-sockets----
usr sys idl wai hiq siq| in out | 1m 5m 15m | used buff cach free| recv send|run blk new| read writ| int csw |lis act syn tim clo
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1314B 180B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 70 80 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1779B 1004B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 84 78 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 904B 362B|1.0 0 1.0| 0 0 | 75 86 | 13 9 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 386M|2203B 1559B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 180 127 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 386M| 260B 130B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 53 66 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 52B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 54 77 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|2271B 872B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 94 79 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 52B 130B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 54 74 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1126B 1254B| 0 0 0| 0 24.0 | 80 87 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.07 0.25 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1030B 130B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 88 82 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 578B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 53 64 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1597B 890B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 85 79 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 552B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 63 77 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1624B 1254B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 81 75 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 478B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 67 73 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 418B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 59 74 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1265B 874B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 82 73 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 758B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 60 80 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1236B 1255B| 0 0 0| 0 4.00 | 93 79 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.06 0.24 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 52B 130B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 71 70 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.05 0.23 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 214B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 55 73 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.05 0.23 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1201B 890B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 80 80 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.05 0.23 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 108B 114B| 0 0 0| 0 0 | 53 66 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.05 0.23 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M|1344B 1254B| 0 0 0| 0 10.0 | 119 85 | 13 7 0 0 5
0 0 100 0 0 0| 0 0 |0.05 0.23 0.25| 866M 249M 537M 387M| 172B 130B| 0 0 0| 0 8.00 | 80 82 | 13 7 0 0 5
Learn more about dstat on Dag Wieërs’ site.