Sysstat
The sysstat (system statistics) utilities are a collection of performance monitoring tools for Linux. They function as front ends to the kernel's /proc filesystem making statistics easy to access. Sysstat was written by Sebastien Godard.
Installation
USE flags
USE flags for app-admin/sysstat System performance tools for Linux
dcron
|
Adjust cronjobs to work properly under sys-process/dcron |
debug
|
Enable extra debug codepaths, like asserts and extra output. If you want to get meaningful backtraces see https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Quality_Assurance/Backtraces |
lm-sensors
|
Add linux lm-sensors (hardware sensors) support |
nls
|
Add Native Language Support (using gettext - GNU locale utilities) |
selinux
|
!!internal use only!! Security Enhanced Linux support, this must be set by the selinux profile or breakage will occur |
systemd
|
Enable use of systemd-specific libraries and features like socket activation or session tracking |
Add or remove the desired flags to /etc/portage/package.use or /etc/portage/make.conf:
/etc/portage/package.useSysstat package.use example...
app-admin/sysstat lm-sensors nls
...
Emerge
Emerge app-admin/sysstat:
root #emerge --ask app-admin/sysstatConfiguration
The /etc/sysstat file influences the behavior of /usr/lib/sa/sa1 and (sadc(8)) /usr/lib/sa/sa2 (sar(1)). This file sourced from /bin/sh and it's syntax should thus conform to IEEE Std 1003.1.
The following variables will have some effect:
| Variable | Description | Suggested Value | Affected Commands |
|---|---|---|---|
| HISTORY | How long to keep log files (in days). If value is greater than 28, then log files are kept in multiple directories, one for each month. | 365 | sa1
sa2 |
| COMPRESSAFTER | Compress (using gzip or bzip2) sa and sar files older than (in days) | 10 | sa2 |
| SADC_OPTIONS | Parameters for the system activity data collector (see sadc manual page) which are used for the generation of log files. | -S XALL | sa1 |
Statistics Collection and Aggregation
Statistics collection can be achieved by periodical execution of /usr/lib/sa/sa1 (which invokes sadc) and /usr/lib/sa/sa2 (which invokes sar).
The common approach is to use crontab(5) or /etc/cron.{hourly,daily,monthly,weekly}.
/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,monthly,weekly}
The
cron USE flag installs the files show below./etc/cron.hourly/sysstatSetting cron to run an accounting job#!/bin/sh
# Run system activity accounting tool every 10 minutes
/usr/lib/sa/sa1 600 6 &
/etc/cron.daily/sysstat#!/bin/sh
# Generate a daily summary of process accounting. Since this will probably
# get kicked off in the morning, it would probably be better to run against
# the previous days data.
/usr/lib/sa/sa2 -A &
crontab(5)
Ensure that the
cron USE flag is not set when this method is used.root #crontab -l... # app-admin/sysstat : collect system statistics every 10 minutes */10 * * * * /usr/lib/sa/sa1 1 1 # app-admin/sysstat : aggregate system statistics every day at 23h00 0 23 * * * /usr/lib/sa/sa2 -A & ...
Usage
The following tools are included with sysstat on Gentoo:[1]
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| cifsiostat | Reports CIFS statistics. |
| iostat | Reports CPU statistics and input/output statistics for devices, partitions and network filesystems. |
| mpstat | Reports individual or combined processor related statistics.e |
| nfsiostat-sysstat | Reports input/output statistics for network filesystems (NFS). |
| pidstat | Reports statistics for Linux tasks (processes): I/O, CPU, memory, etc. |
| sadf | Displays data collected by sar in multiple formats (CSV, XML, etc.) Useful to load performance data into a database, or import them to spreadsheets to make graphs. |
| sar | Collects, reports and saves system activity information (CPU, memory, disks, interrupts, network interfaces, TTY, kernel tables, etc.) |
Examples
Use iostat to watch the input/output of data to attached drives, display the output in megabytes:
user $watch iostat -mSee Also
- Iotop — a top-like utility that monitors system input/output.
- Atop
- Htop — a cross-platform interactive process viewer. It is a text-mode application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses.
External Resources
- The Sysstat source code repository on GitHub.
- Official tutorials on how to use Sysstat.
- Official Sysstat documentation.
Local man pages will only be available if the
doc USE was enabled at build time.- The cifsiostat man page locally (man cifsiostat) or online.
- The iostat man page locally (man iostat) or online.
- The mpstat man page locally (man mpstat) or online.
- The pidstatman page locally (man pidstat) or online.
- The sadf man page locally (man sadf) or online.
- The sar man page locally (man sar) or online.
- The sysstat man page locally (man sysstat) or online.
- The sa1 man page locally (man sa1) or online.
- The sa2 man page locally (man sa2) or online.
- The sadc man page locally (man sadc) or online.