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nmon: Analyze system performance

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Unveiling the Power of nmon: Your Tool for Analyzing Linux System Performance

In the complex world of Linux, monitoring and diagnosing system performance plays a crucial role for administrators and power users. Whether you're managing a server farm or tuning your personal workstation, having deep insights into your system's behavior is indispensable. One powerful tool that stands out in this domain is nmon — short for Nigel's Monitor. In this post, we'll dive into what nmon can do for you, and provide step-by-step installation instructions across various Linux distributions.

What is nmon?

Nmon is a highly versatile performance monitoring tool designed for Linux systems. It provides a comprehensive view of computer performance data, including CPU, memory, disk I/O, network, NFS, and top processes. One of the standout features of nmon is its ability to run both interactively and in logging mode, which means you can view performance data in real-time or save it for later analysis.

Key Features of nmon

  • Real-time monitoring: View live data of system’s resources.

  • Saving data: Allows the performance data to be saved to a file, which can be analyzed later with the help of spreadsheets.

  • Comprehensive coverage: Tracks CPU, memory, network, disk I/O, NFS, and more.

  • Versatility: Supports a vast range of systems including POWER, x86, x86_64, Mainframe, and ARM processors.

How to Install nmon

Debian and Ubuntu-Based Distros:

For systems using apt like Debian, Ubuntu, and their derivatives, installing nmon is straightforward. Open up a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nmon

Fedora and RHEL/CentOS (with EPEL):

If you're on a Fedora system or a RHEL/CentOS system with EPEL repository enabled, you can use dnf to install nmon:

sudo dnf install nmon

For RHEL/CentOS systems that do not have the EPEL repository enabled, you can add it using:

sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install nmon

openSUSE or SUSE Linux Enterprise:

On openSUSE or SUSE systems, the package is available via zypper:

sudo zypper install nmon

Using nmon

To start nmon, simply type nmon in your terminal. You will be greeted by the main screen showcasing various system metrics. Pressing different keys toggles the display of specific system metrics:

  • c: CPU usage

  • m: Memory usage

  • d: Disk I/O

  • n: Network statistics

  • k: Kernel statistics and run queue information

  • q: Quit nmon

To save data for later analysis, you can start nmon in logging mode by using:

nmon -f -s 2 -c 600

This command tells nmon to save data to a file every 2 seconds, collecting a total of 600 snapshots.

Conclusion

Nmon is a powerful and efficient tool for Linux performance monitoring, used widely by system administrators for both problem diagnosis and performance tuning. Its ability to provide real-time data makes it invaluable for on-the-spot assessments, while its ability to log data offers long-term performance insights.

By understanding how to install and use nmon on your Linux system, you're equipped with another robust tool in your arsenal for maintaining an efficient and stable system environment. Give nmon a try and discover the insights and depth it adds to your system performance analysis capabilities.

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