Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu Server has taken data centers around the world by storm. Whether you're deploying Ubuntu for a large-scale project or for a small office, it is a stable, customizable, and powerful Linux distribution with innovative and cutting-edge features. For both simple and complex server deployments, Ubuntu's flexible nature can be easily adapted to meet to the needs of your organization. This third edition is updated to cover the advancements of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and further train you to understand how to use Ubuntu Server, from initial deployment to creating production-ready resources for your network. The book begins with the concepts of user management, group management, and file system permissions. Continuing into managing storage volumes, you will learn how to format storage devices, utilize logical volume management, and monitor disk usage. Later, you will learn how to virtualize hosts and applications, which will include setting up QEMU & KVM, as well as containerization with both Docker and LXD. As the book continues, you will learn how to automate configuration with Ansible, as well as take a look at writing scripts. Lastly, you will explore best practices and troubleshooting techniques when working with Ubuntu Server that are applicable to real-world scenarios. By the end of this Ubuntu Server book, you will be well-versed in Ubuntu server’s advanced concepts and attain the required proficiency needed for Ubuntu Server administration.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
24
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Index

Monitoring System Resources

In the last chapter, we learned how we can manage tasks that are running on our server. We now know how to see what's running in the background, how to enable or disable a unit from starting at boot time, and also how to schedule tasks to run in the future. But in order for us to be able to effectively manage the tasks that our servers carry out, we also need to keep an eye on system resources. If we run out of RAM, fill up our disk, or overload our CPU, then a server that normally processes tasks very efficiently might come to a screeching halt. In this chapter, we'll take a look at these resources and how to monitor them.

Our discussion on resource management will include:

  • Viewing disk usage
  • Monitoring memory usage
  • Understanding load average
  • Viewing resource usage with htop

One resource that is extremely important on our servers is storage, and keeping track of such things as available disk space is...