Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of Free and Open Source Software
System monitor
Sysdig
When it comes to system monitoring, most of us have our own regimen built around the simple tools typically installed on most Linux systems. But sometimes, it helps to have all these tools wrapped into a single package, and that's exactly what Sysdig attempts to do. It's capable of watching raw network traffic and monitoring processes and filesystems as a stream of activity that you can either watch as raw data, save for later, or process with a command-line GUI. You can then filter and focus just as you might with an individual tool. Sysdig uses a kernel module to perform this magic, and the default installation is via curl
with root privileges. You obviously don't want some random code shuffling through your kernel and your clock cycles with that kind of power. Therefore, I'd strongly recommend that anyone installing this on anything other than a test system should take a look at the source code or at least find a package from a maintainer you trust.
One target platform for Sysdig is the world of containers; it includes Docker monitoring, alerting and troubleshooting with Kubernetes, Mesos, and Swarm integration, so a level of isolation may be tolerable. By default, running Sysdig will throw a flow of system activity to your terminal that can, for example, be saved or filtered with arguments to show network connections. For general use, though, it makes better sense to run sudo csysdig
. This command presents the data through a very useful and rather easier-to-handle curses interface. Pressing F2 cycles through the various monitoring modes, from processes and threads to running containers and Kubernetes controllers, which is ideal for remote servers, especially when monitoring both network traffic and the processes using the connections.
Project Website

Profile eye candy
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
2024 Open Source Professionals Job Survey Now Open
Share your expectations regarding open source jobs.
-
Arch Linux 2023.12.01 Released with a Much-Improved Installer
If you've ever wanted to install Arch Linux, now is your time. With the latest release, the archinstall script vastly simplifies the process.
-
Zorin OS 17 Beta Available for Testing
The upcoming version of Zorin OS includes plenty of improvements to take your PC to a whole new level of user-friendliness.
-
Red Hat Migrates RHEL from Xorg to Wayland
If you've been wondering when Xorg will finally be a thing of the past, wonder no more, as Red Hat has made it clear.
-
PipeWire 1.0 Officially Released
PipeWire was created to take the place of the oft-troubled PulseAudio and has finally reached the 1.0 status as a major update with plenty of improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Rocky Linux 9.3 Available for Download
The latest version of the RHEL alternative is now available and brings back cloud and container images for ppc64le along with plenty of new features and fixes.
-
Ubuntu Budgie Shifts How to Tackle Wayland
Ubuntu Budgie has yet to make the switch to Wayland but with a change in approaches, they're finally on track to making it happen.
-
TUXEDO's New Ultraportable Linux Workstation Released
The TUXEDO Pulse 14 blends portability with power, thanks to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU.
-
AlmaLinux Will No Longer Be "Just Another RHEL Clone"
With the release of AlmaLinux 9.3, the distribution will be built entirely from upstream sources.
-
elementary OS 8 Has a Big Surprise in Store
When elementary OS 8 finally arrives, it will not only be based on Ubuntu 24.04 but it will also default to Wayland for better performance and security.