Ubuntu Linux Toolbox: 1000+ Commands for Power Users, 2nd Edition

10

Managing the System

IN THIS CHAPTER

Checking memory use with free, top, vmstat, and slabtop

Viewing CPU use with iostat, dstat, and top

Monitoring storage devices with iostat, vmstat, and lsof

Working with dates/time using date, hwclock, cal, and NTP

Changing GRUB boot loader behavior

Rebuilding the initial ramdisk

Dealing with run levels with runlevel and init

Adding, removing, and listing services with chkconfig and service

Shutting down the system with reboot, halt, and shutdown

Checking and changing kernel driver settings with lsmod, modinfo, and modprobe

Watching hardware settings with lspci, dmidecode, and hdparm

Without careful management, the demands on your Linux system can sometimes exceed the resources you have available. Being able to monitor your system's activities (memory, CPU, and device usage) over time can help you make sure that your machine has enough resources to do what you need it to. Likewise, managing other aspects of your system, such as the device drivers it uses and how the boot process works, can help avoid performance problems and system failures.

This chapter is divided into several sections that relate to ways of managing your Ubuntu or other Linux system. The first section can help you monitor the resources (processing power, devices, and memory) on your Linux system. The next section describes how to check and set your system clock. Descriptions of the boot process and subsequent runlevels follow. The last sections describe how to work with ...