The sar command writes to standard output the contents of selected cumulative activity counters in the operating system
Usage:
sar [ -A ] [ -b ] [ -B ] [ -C ] [ -d ] [ -h ] [ -i interval ] [ -m ] [ -p ] [ -q ] [ -r ] [ -R ] [ -S ] [ -t ] [ -u [ ALL ] ] [ -v ] [ -V ] [ -w ] [ -W ] [ -y ] [ -n { keyword [,...] | ALL } ] [ -I { int [,...] | SUM | ALL | XALL } ] [ -P { cpu [,...] | ALL } ] [ -o [ filename ] | -f [ filename ] ] [ -s [ hh:mm:ss ] ] [ -e [ hh:mm:ss ] ] [ interval [ count ] ]
Description:
The sar command writes to standard output the contents of selected cumulative activity counters in the operating system. The accounting system, based on the values in the count and interval parameters, writes information the specified number of times spaced at the specified intervals in seconds. If the interval parameter is set to zero, the sar command displays the average statistics for the time since the system was started. If the interval parameter is specified without the count parameter, then reports are generated continuously. The collected data can also be saved in the file specified by the -o filename flag, in addition to being displayed onto the screen. If filename is omitted, sar uses the standard system activity daily data file, the /var/log/sa/sadd file, where the dd parameter indicates the current day. By default all the data available from the kernel are saved in the data file.
The sar command extracts and writes to standard output records previously saved in a file. This file can be either the one specified by the -f flag or, by default, the standard system activity daily data file.
Without the -P flag, the sar command reports system-wide (global among all processors) statistics, which are calculated as averages for values expressed as percentages, and as sums otherwise. If the -P flag is given, the sar command reports activity which relates to the specified processor or processors. If -P ALL is given, the sar command reports statistics for each individual processor and global statistics among all processors.
You can select information about specific system activities using flags. Not specifying any flags selects only CPU activity. Specifying the -A flag is equivalent to specifying -bBdqrRSvwWy -I SUM -I XALL -n ALL -u ALL -P ALL.
The default version of the sar command (CPU utilization report) might be one of the first facilities the user runs to begin system activity investigation, because it monitors major system resources. If CPU utilization is near 100 percent (user + nice + system), the workload sampled is CPU-bound.
If multiple samples and multiple reports are desired, it is convenient to specify an output file for the sar command. Run the sar command as a background process. The syntax for this is:
sar -o datafile interval count >/dev/null 2>&1 &
All data is captured in binary form and saved to a file (datafile). The data can then be selectively displayed with the sar command using the -f option. Set the interval and count parameters to select count records at interval second intervals. If the count parameter is not set, all the records saved in the file will be selected. Collection of data in this manner is useful to characterize system usage over a period of time and determine peak usage hours.
Note: The sar command only reports on local activities.
