Achieve better Linux server performance through system monitoring

Before you can tweak your Linux sever to increase performance you first have to measure its system performance. This chapter from Performance Tuning for Linux Servers (IBM Press) examines the system monitoring tools you should deploy to gather that vital information.A TechRepublic interview with this book's editors is also available.

Improving the overall performance of a Linux server requires that you first measure current performance and assess the problem areas and bottlenecks. Depending on how your Linux server is configured and which applications are running and when, the given workload of one server versus another similar server can be significantly different. Measuring workload with the proper system performance monitoring tools is vitally important.

This chapter on System Performance Monitoring from the book Performance Tuning for Linux Servers, published by IBM Press, explains and provides examples of the system monitoring tools that measure:

• Overall system CPU utilization
• Memory utilization
• Disk I/O utilization and latency
• Network utilization

In many cases, the Linux server performance information gathered by these tools will identify exactly where you need to concentrate your performance tweaking efforts for your particular installation.

Title: Performance Tuning for Linux Servers
Author: Edited by Sandra K. Johnson, Gerrit Huizenga, and Badari Pulavarty
Publisher: International Business Machines Corp.
Chapter 16: System Performance Monitoring
ISBN: 013144753X; Published: May 27, 2005; Copyright 2005
Web site

What system performance monitoring tools do you use for measuring workload on your Linux servers? Is there a particular tool that you would like to see examined and explained?