Server statistics (processor usage and bandwidth usage)

Question

How can I find out how much of a load my webserver is under? I tried top but I don't know how to interpret the information it's showing me for CPU. While top may give me the CPU usage I also need to find out the bandwidth (load on the NIC) to see if the server is being overwhelmed or not. I tried netstat but all I could see is what the active connections are.

I don't know much about serve maintenance, I'm a programmer and my sysadmin is on jury duty. Any hints are much appreciated.

I'm running Apache on Ubuntu server, with a few small PHP scripts. The majority of the traffic is some large binary files which are being downloaded.

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '11 at 19:02

5

For processor usage install htop:

$ sudo apt-get install htop
$ htop

For bandwidth usage install iptaf:

$ sudo apt-get install iptraf
$ iptraf

But I suggest Cacti, Munin, Zabbix.

answered Feb 01 '11 at 19:02

alvosu

8,437
25
22

Could you suggest which of these network statistics trackers would take the least resources? If the server is already under heavy load I don't want to put a bulky daemon on it. – Daisetsu Feb 01 '11 at 19:07
Ubuntu doesn't have iptraf in it's repsoitories. I made sure to do apt-get update also. – Daisetsu Feb 01 '11 at 19:10
If you already use Apache, Cacti/Munin take the least resources. Because, it doesn't use database. – alvosu Feb 01 '11 at 19:12
http://packages.ubuntu.com/ru/lucid/iptraf – alvosu Feb 01 '11 at 19:13
iptraf is a really nice monitor with a simple GUI, recommend for quick, temporary monitorings – Cedric Meury Sep 28 '12 at 08:30

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 03 '11 at 16:23

0

i second htop as a replacement for top. also i like bmon for live network useage checks, IIRC its in the ubuntu repros too.

answered Feb 03 '11 at 16:23

kuhkatz

101

Server statistics (processor usage and bandwidth usage)

2 Answers2