CentOS is a popular Linux distribution known for its stability and reliability. System monitoring is crucial for CentOS administrators to ensure the smooth operation of their systems and identify any performance issues or bottlenecks. In this blog post, we will explore how to perform system monitoring in CentOS using Bash.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• CentOS installed and running on your system
• Basic knowledge of Bash scripting

Monitoring CPU Usage

Monitoring CPU usage is essential to understand the overall performance of your CentOS system. Bash provides various commands and tools to extract and display CPU-related information.

To monitor CPU usage, you can use the following commands:

# Display CPU utilization as a percentage
top

# Display CPU utilization summary
mpstat

# Display CPU load average
uptime

# Display CPU temperature
sensors

Monitoring Memory Usage

Next, let’s explore how to monitor memory usage in CentOS using Bash. Monitoring memory usage gives insights into the amount of RAM being utilized by different processes.

Bash commands to monitor memory usage include:

# Display system memory usage
free

# Display memory usage summary
vmstat

# Display detailed memory statistics
cat /proc/meminfo

Monitoring Disk Usage

Monitoring disk usage is crucial to avoid running out of storage space and identify any disk-related performance issues. Bash provides convenient commands to monitor disk usage.

Some commonly used commands to monitor disk usage include:

# Display disk usage for all mounted filesystems
df -h

# Display disk usage summary
du -sh <directory_path>

# List top disk space-consuming directories
du -sh * | sort -rh | head -n 10

Monitoring Network Usage

Keeping an eye on network usage helps administrators understand the network traffic patterns, identify potential bandwidth bottlenecks, and troubleshoot network-related issues.

Bash commands to monitor network usage include:

# Display network interface statistics
ifconfig

# Display network connections and their status
netstat -tulpn

# Monitor real-time network traffic
nethogs

Monitoring System Logs

System logs provide valuable information about the overall health and performance of your CentOS system. Monitoring system logs helps identify errors, warnings, or any abnormal behavior.

To monitor system logs, you can use the following commands:

# Display the last few lines of system logs
tail -n 100 /var/log/messages

# Monitor system logs in real-time
tail -f /var/log/messages

Conclusion

In this blog post, we explored how to perform system monitoring in CentOS using Bash. By monitoring CPU usage, memory usage, disk usage, network usage, and system logs, administrators can proactively detect and resolve performance issues.

Remember to regularly monitor your CentOS system to ensure its stability and optimal performance. Monitoring should be an integral part of your system administration routine, enabling you to identify and address issues before they impact your system’s functionality.

Keep in mind that there are numerous other tools and commands available in CentOS for system monitoring. Feel free to explore them based on your specific monitoring requirements.