Create a graph of your system’s performance

"If you have a server which is being used to host a website or to run a web application, it helps to know what kind of load it is handling. This information is particularly useful when you start finding the website or application to be running slower than usual. You can run a check on the performance of the system and compare it with prior results to see the increase in load. Then you can take the necessary action to fix the problem. To gather the performance data of your computer you need to set up system monitoring software on the server and let it gather information which will give you an idea of the performance of the server.

"Technical people can often interpret the numbers that a monitoring tool would generate, but a lot of people in upper management might not find it so easy and would relate more easily to information presented to them in the form of graphs. If you need to upgrade your server, you often need to make a case for it to the management of your organisation. You need to present the performance data to them in a form that they can relate to – fancy-looking graphs. In this article we'll look at how to gather this monitoring information and then how to convert this data into neat graphs."

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