5 Of My Favorite Linux System-monitoring Tools - And Why I Use Them

Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

Key takeaways

• System capacity is cardinal to getting nan astir retired of Linux.
• There are respective bid statement and GUI devices to make this task easy.
• Here you'll study astir htop, glances, Mission Center, and much apps. 

Linux users are notorious for wanting to cognize arsenic overmuch accusation arsenic they tin astir their systems and really they run. There are moreover apps and widgets (such arsenic Conky) that tin beryllium installed and configured to show specified accusation correct connected nan desktop.

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If you want to show strategy capacity connected your Linux desktop, what apps should you use? Well, location are several, but not each of them are created equal. There are GUI apps and command-line apps, each of which has its pros and cons. I'm going to present you to nan apps I for illustration for this task -- immoderate GUI, immoderate command-line based.

1. htop

For nan longest time, top was my instrumentality of choice. Eventually, however, I realized that top could beryllium a spot frustrating to usage and didn't see features for illustration colour aliases rodent interaction. For those features, I move to htop, which is 1 of nan champion command-line–based strategy monitoring devices for Linux. 

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With htop, you tin termination and select processes, position processes successful a character view, position representation and CPU usage, benignant processes by CPU usage, position tasks, strategy load averages and moreover uptime. One very useful characteristic is nan expertise to termination processes wrong nan htop interface. You tin position nan process pinch a bid for illustration htop -p 1234, prime nan listed process and past property F9 to termination it.

The htop instrumentality is free to usage and tin beryllium installed via your distribution's modular repositories.

Htop is 1 of nan much celebrated command-line strategy monitoring tools.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

2. Glances

Glances is simply a very celebrated terminal-based Linux strategy show that offers a fewer other bits complete htop, specified arsenic instrumentality monitoring, logged-in users, somesthesia monitors, voltages and instrumentality speeds. Even though Glances presents a ton of information, it's laid retired successful a dashboard that makes it reasonably easy to read. 

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One superpower Glances includes is nan expertise to show distant systems, truthful if you person different Linux machines connected your LAN that you want to support tabs on, you tin do that from nan convenience of your desktop. You tin besides tally Glances successful circumstantial modes, specified arsenic web server, client/server and moreover successful a WebUI mode, wherever you tin position Glances via a web browser (glances -w and past constituent your browser to nan URL successful nan output).

Glances is free to instal via nan modular repositories aliases Snap.

Glances is an outstanding terminal-based strategy show that makes nan analyzable a spot little so.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

It's clip to get to nan GUIs.

3. Mission Center

Mission Center is simply a comparatively caller strategy show GUI app, and it very quickly roseate to prominence. In fact, Mission Center became my default instrumentality for monitoring strategy performance. With Mission Center, you tin show successful existent clip CPU, memory, disk and network; position process assets usage; and extremity aliases force-stop applications. 

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You tin besides configure update speeds, grip process authorities merging and person nan app retrieve your sorting. Although Mission Center doesn't see a cornucopia of features, its UI is well-designed and user-friendly capable that anyone tin activity pinch this tool. The only drawback is that it's disposable for free only via Flatpak.

Mission Center came retired of obscurity and became galore users' favourite strategy show GUI.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

4. GNOME System Monitor

GNOME System Monitor is different outstanding GUI that makes monitoring your strategy a breeze. With this well-designed interface, you tin position processes, resources, record systems, progressive processes, personification processes, limitations and CPU, I/O, memory, disk sounds and writes and priorities. You tin customize nan update interval, stop, extremity aliases termination processes, position representation maps, position files that person been opened by a process, alteration nan privilege of a process and more. 

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The assets page is nan highlight, arsenic it gives you an at-a-glance look astatine each CPU core, representation and switch and web usage… each successful a well-laid-out GUI. GNOME System Monitor comes preinstalled connected astir desktop distributions that usage nan GNOME environment.

If you usage nan GNOME desktop environment, it includes each nan strategy monitoring you need.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

5. KDE System Monitor

System Monitor is nan KDE Plasma return connected nan instrumentality and, if I'm being honest, it has a superior GUI. For example, alternatively of right-clicking a process and past selecting to termination aliases extremity it, you tin simply prime a process and click nan End Process button. Then there's nan Applications tab, which shows you moving applications and nan History tab, which gives you real-time information connected CPU, GPU, representation and web usage. The Process tab picks up wherever nan Applications tab leaves off. Right-click a process and you tin either quickly extremity it aliases nonstop a circumstantial awesome to it (such arsenic STOP, CONT, HUP, INT and more). 

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You tin besides position processes successful database aliases character mode. Tree mode makes it imaginable to spot what kid processes beryllium to a parent, because if you unwittingly termination a genitor process, you could besides termination its kid processes. KDE System Monitor comes preinstalled pinch nan KDE Plasma desktop, truthful there's nary request to manually instal it.

KDE System Monitor is simply a beautiful app for monitoring strategy resources.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

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