Monitoring your server’s resource usage helps you identify performance issues, plan capacity, and ensure your applications are running smoothly.
Command-Line Tools
htop: An interactive process viewer that shows real-time CPU, memory, and swap usage, along with a list of running processes. Install it with apt install htop or dnf install htop and run it by typing htop.
df -h: Displays disk usage for all mounted filesystems in a human-readable format. Use this to check how much storage space remains.
free -h: Shows current memory (RAM) and swap usage. Useful for a quick snapshot of memory availability.
top: Pre-installed on virtually all Linux systems. Similar to htop but with a simpler interface. Good for a quick glance at system load and running processes.
iotop: Monitors disk I/O usage by process. Helpful for identifying which processes are reading or writing the most data.
Using the Client Dashboard
Your SimplisticNode Client Dashboard may also provide a graphical overview of your server’s resource usage, including CPU, RAM, disk, and bandwidth statistics over time. Check the service page for your VPS or Dedicated Server to access these graphs.
Setting Up Alerts
For proactive monitoring, consider installing a lightweight monitoring agent such as Netdata (which provides a real-time web dashboard) or configuring simple scripts that send email alerts when CPU, RAM, or disk usage exceeds a threshold.
Tip: If your server is consistently running above 80% CPU or RAM utilisation, it may be time to consider upgrading your plan to avoid performance degradation.