100 Essential Linux System Monitoring Tools
Introduction
Monitoring is crucial for maintaining healthy Linux systems. This comprehensive guide covers 100 essential monitoring tools for system administrators.
📑 Table of Contents
- Introduction
- System Performance Monitoring
- 1. htop
- 2. btop
- 3. glances
- 4. nmon
- 5. atop
- 6. dstat
- 7. sar (sysstat)
- 8. vmstat
- 9. iostat
- 10. mpstat
- Network Monitoring
- 11. iftop
- 12. nethogs
- 13. iptraf-ng
- 14. bmon
- 15. vnStat
- 16. nload
- 17. cbm
- 18. speedometer
- 19. tcptrack
- 20. darkstat
- Disk and Storage Monitoring
- 21. iotop
- 22. ncdu
- 23. duf
- 24. gdu
- 25. dust
- 26. baobab
- 27. filelight
- 28. duc
- 29. hdparm
- 30. smartmontools
- Log Monitoring
- 31. lnav
- 32. multitail
- 33. goaccess
- 34. logwatch
- 35. journalctl
- Infrastructure Monitoring Platforms
- 36. Prometheus
- 37. Grafana
- 38. Zabbix
- 39. Nagios
- 40. Icinga
- 41. Netdata
- 42. Checkmk
- 43. Observium
- 44. LibreNMS
- 45. Cacti
- 46. Munin
- 47. Collectd
- 48. Telegraf
- 49. InfluxDB
- 50. VictoriaMetrics
- Application Performance Monitoring
- 51. Jaeger
- 52. Zipkin
- 53. SkyWalking
- 54. Pinpoint
- 55. OpenTelemetry
- Container Monitoring
- 56. cAdvisor
- 57. ctop
- 58. Portainer
- 59. Lazydocker
- 60. Dive
- Memory Monitoring
- 61. smem
- 62. ps_mem
- 63. memtester
- 64. valgrind
- 65. heaptrack
- CPU and Process Monitoring
- 66. perf
- 67. stress-ng
- 68. sysbench
- 69. fio
- 70. phoronix-test-suite
- GPU Monitoring
- 71. nvtop
- 72. nvidia-smi
- 73. radeontop
- 74. intel_gpu_top
- 75. gpustat
- Temperature Monitoring
- 76. lm-sensors
- 77. hddtemp
- 78. s-tui
- 79. psensor
- 80. acpi
- Uptime Monitoring
- 81. Uptime Kuma
- 82. Statping
- 83. Gatus
- 84. Monit
- 85. Healthchecks
- Security Monitoring
- 86. OSSEC
- 87. Wazuh
- 88. Suricata
- 89. Snort
- 90. Zeek
- Specialized Monitoring
- 91. mytop
- 92. pg_top
- 93. redis-stat
- 94. mongotop
- 95. apachetop
- 96. ngxtop
- 97. powertop
- 98. bandwhich
- 99. bottom
- 100. zenith
- Conclusion
System Performance Monitoring
1. htop
Interactive process viewer and system monitor with a colorful interface.
2. btop
Resource monitor with CPU, memory, disks, network, and process statistics.
3. glances
Cross-platform monitoring tool written in Python with web interface support.
4. nmon
Performance monitor for Linux with recording capabilities for analysis.
5. atop
Advanced system and process monitor with historical data logging.
6. dstat
Versatile resource statistics tool combining vmstat, iostat, netstat.
7. sar (sysstat)
System activity reporter for collecting and reporting system statistics.
8. vmstat
Virtual memory statistics reporter included in procps package.
9. iostat
CPU and I/O statistics for devices and partitions.
10. mpstat
Multiprocessor statistics reporter for individual CPU stats.
Network Monitoring
11. iftop
Display bandwidth usage on network interfaces in real-time.
12. nethogs
Network bandwidth monitoring per process.
13. iptraf-ng
Console-based network monitoring utility with detailed statistics.
14. bmon
Bandwidth monitor with graphical output for terminal.
15. vnStat
Network traffic monitor with persistent statistics database.
16. nload
Console application monitoring network traffic and bandwidth usage.
17. cbm
Color bandwidth meter showing current traffic on all interfaces.
18. speedometer
Console bandwidth monitor with graph display.
19. tcptrack
Displays TCP connections on a network interface.
20. darkstat
Network statistics gatherer with web interface.
Disk and Storage Monitoring
21. iotop
I/O monitor showing disk read/write per process.
22. ncdu
NCurses disk usage analyzer for finding large files.
23. duf
Disk usage/free utility with modern UI and colors.
24. gdu
Fast disk usage analyzer with console interface.
25. dust
More intuitive version of du written in Rust.
26. baobab
Graphical disk usage analyzer for GNOME.
27. filelight
Disk usage visualizer with sunburst chart for KDE.
28. duc
Disk usage calculator and visualization tool.
29. hdparm
Get/set SATA/IDE device parameters and benchmarking.
30. smartmontools
Control and monitor storage systems using S.M.A.R.T.
Log Monitoring
31. lnav
Log file navigator with search, filtering, and SQL queries.
32. multitail
Monitor multiple log files in split windows.
33. goaccess
Real-time web log analyzer with terminal and HTML output.
34. logwatch
Log analysis and reporting system.
35. journalctl
Query systemd journal logs (part of systemd).
Infrastructure Monitoring Platforms
36. Prometheus
Open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit with time-series database.
37. Grafana
Open-source analytics and interactive visualization platform.
38. Zabbix
Enterprise-class monitoring solution for networks and applications.
39. Nagios
Industry-standard IT infrastructure monitoring.
40. Icinga
Monitoring system checking availability of network resources.
41. Netdata
Real-time performance and health monitoring with beautiful dashboards.
42. Checkmk
Comprehensive IT monitoring solution.
43. Observium
Network monitoring platform with autodiscovery.
44. LibreNMS
Auto-discovering network monitoring system.
45. Cacti
Complete network graphing solution using RRDTool.
46. Munin
Networked resource monitoring tool with plugins.
47. Collectd
System statistics collection daemon.
48. Telegraf
Plugin-driven server agent for collecting metrics.
49. InfluxDB
Time series database for metrics and events.
50. VictoriaMetrics
Fast and scalable time series database.
Application Performance Monitoring
51. Jaeger
Open-source distributed tracing system.
52. Zipkin
Distributed tracing system for latency problems.
53. SkyWalking
APM system for distributed systems and microservices.
54. Pinpoint
APM tool for large-scale distributed systems.
55. OpenTelemetry
Observability framework for cloud-native software.
Container Monitoring
56. cAdvisor
Container resource usage and performance analyzer.
57. ctop
Top-like interface for container metrics.
58. Portainer
Container management UI for Docker and Kubernetes.
59. Lazydocker
Terminal UI for Docker and Docker Compose.
60. Dive
Tool for exploring Docker image layers.
Memory Monitoring
61. smem
Memory reporting tool showing PSS, USS, and RSS.
62. ps_mem
Accurate memory usage reporting per program.
63. memtester
Userspace memory testing utility.
64. valgrind
Memory debugging and profiling tool.
65. heaptrack
Heap memory profiler for Linux.
CPU and Process Monitoring
66. perf
Linux profiling with performance counters.
67. stress-ng
Stress test tool for CPU, memory, I/O.
68. sysbench
Scriptable multi-threaded benchmark tool.
69. fio
Flexible I/O tester for benchmarking.
70. phoronix-test-suite
Comprehensive benchmarking and testing platform.
GPU Monitoring
71. nvtop
NVIDIA GPU process monitor like htop.
72. nvidia-smi
NVIDIA System Management Interface.
73. radeontop
AMD Radeon GPU utilization viewer.
74. intel_gpu_top
Intel GPU utilization tool.
75. gpustat
Simple GPU statistics command-line utility.
Temperature Monitoring
76. lm-sensors
Hardware monitoring package for Linux.
77. hddtemp
Hard disk drive temperature monitoring.
78. s-tui
Terminal UI for CPU temperature and frequency.
79. psensor
Graphical hardware temperature monitor.
80. acpi
Battery status and thermal information.
Uptime Monitoring
81. Uptime Kuma
Self-hosted monitoring tool like Uptime Robot.
82. Statping
Status page and monitoring server.
83. Gatus
Automated developer-oriented status page.
84. Monit
Utility for managing and monitoring processes.
85. Healthchecks
Cron job monitoring service.
Security Monitoring
86. OSSEC
Host-based intrusion detection system.
87. Wazuh
Security monitoring and threat detection.
88. Suricata
Network threat detection engine.
89. Snort
Network intrusion detection and prevention.
90. Zeek
Network analysis framework for security monitoring.
Specialized Monitoring
91. mytop
Console-based MySQL performance monitor.
92. pg_top
Top-like monitoring for PostgreSQL.
93. redis-stat
Real-time Redis monitoring tool.
94. mongotop
MongoDB collection-level performance statistics.
95. apachetop
Real-time Apache log monitoring.
96. ngxtop
Real-time Nginx log analyzer.
97. powertop
Power consumption and management diagnosis.
98. bandwhich
Terminal bandwidth utilization tool.
99. bottom
Cross-platform graphical process/system monitor.
100. zenith
Terminal system monitor with zoom and scroll.
Conclusion
These 100 monitoring tools cover everything from basic system stats to enterprise-grade infrastructure monitoring. Choose the tools that best fit your monitoring requirements and infrastructure scale.
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About Ramesh Sundararamaiah
Red Hat Certified Architect
Expert in Linux system administration, DevOps automation, and cloud infrastructure. Specializing in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Ubuntu, Docker, Ansible, and enterprise IT solutions.
