Best way to monitor system load on Ubuntu?

[scripting]

I have several servers running Ubuntu, Node and Forever.

I would love to have something like the Activity Monitor on the Mac, but I'd just settle for a snapshot of CPU, memory and disk usage.

I want to know if it's time to launch a new server, or if I can add another app to the mix?

Basically "How is this server doing?

[stefanwild]

Sounds like overkill for what you want, but I like https://github.com/firehol/netdata

Downside: You only get the last few minutes (since it's in memory) unless you pipe it into a backend like graphite (even more overkill)

Upside: Low profile, high resolution, quick to set up

[andrewshell]

I usually use the top command. https://linuxaria.com/howto/understanding-the-top-command-on-linux

[imsickofmaps]

top is probably enough, but if you want a little nicer, apt-get install htop and you have https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Htop

[scotthansonde]

It's overkill if you just want a quick snapshot, but back in the day when I monitored servers (real, not virtual), we used Nagios and cacti to make graphs and send out alerts. I see they're both still around... here's what a cacti page looks like.

[MacRonin]

If you have 5 or less hosts it is free, but costs do mount if you go over 5.

It installs a data gatherer that collects info and sends to their servers where you can access overview (and detail) webpages. The free version only holds data for a day. They also have integrations with many products and can send alerts. ( I don't work there, but do use it at my job. which reminds me, they owe me a T-Shirt)

https://www.datadoghq.com/product/
https://www.datadoghq.com/pricing/

Now if you want to get adventurous and experiment snowplowanalytics.com looks interesting, but I haven't tried it myself. It would probably be overkill for your use though

https://snowplowanalytics.com/products/snowplow-open-source/

[pjz]

If you're on AWS, set up a cloudwatch dashboard - easy, free, and reasonably pretty.