Five Tools for Measuring and Improving Linux System Performance

“Out of the box, Linux runs just fine for many uses. But if you
find yourself needing to ferret out performance problems or tune
the kernel for better performance, Linux has more than enough tools
to measure and tweak system performance. In this guide, we’ll take
a look at five of the best utilities to measure system performance
and tweak the Linux kernel.

“You’ll find many, many, many utilities for measuring and
improving Linux system performance. The utilities discussed here
are chosen because they’re widely available, and provide a good
scope functionality. Also, I chose to avoid tools that have too
steep a learning curve. As an example, SystemTap is a bit more
complex than should be covered in an overview article. I left out
some of the more basic tools such as ps and top because most Linux
users are exposed to them fairly early on. And I didn’t try to
tackle any application-specific tools.

“This won’t be the last word on system performance and
administration on Linux.com, so don’t worry. In future tutorials,
I’ll dive in a bit deeper with specific tools and tuning: but this
should be a good starter kit for newer Linux admins.”

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