Top 4 Command-Line Monitoring Tools to Master Linux System Performance
This guide introduces four powerful command-line monitoring utilities—htop, iotop, apachetop, and Glances—explaining their features, installation commands, and visual output so you can quickly assess processes, I/O, web traffic, and overall system health on Linux servers.
htop – Interactive Process Viewer
While the classic top command shows real‑time processes, htop extends it with a richer overview, visual UI, mouse interaction, and many guides for process management.
Install and run: $ sudo apt-get install htop Screenshot:
iotop – Simple I/O Monitoring Like top
iotopmonitors real‑time I/O, showing per‑process thread I/O usage. It can be combined with tcpdump to inspect network traffic, e.g., $ tcpdump port 80 for HTTP traffic.
The most useful column is DISK WRITE , displaying each process’s I/O in K/s.
Install and run: $ sudo apt-get install iotop Screenshot:
apachetop – Real‑Time Apache Web Server Statistics
apachetopshows live statistics for Apache, including hits, requests, and request details, giving a clear picture of current web server activity.
For Nginx users, similar tools exist but are generally less detailed.
Install and run: $ sudo apt-get install apachetop Screenshot:
Glances – CLI‑Based System Monitoring with curses
Glancesdisplays a wide range of real‑time data (CPU, load, memory, swap, network, disk I/O, mounts, processes) in a compact, interactive interface, providing an excellent overall system overview.
Install and run: $ sudo apt-get install glances Screenshot:
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