sysperfstat prints utilisation and saturation for CPU, Mem, Disk and Network. Here we demonstrate running sysperfstat while CPU load is introduced, $ sysperfstat 1 ------ Utilisation ------ ------ Saturation ------ Time %CPU %Mem %Disk %Net CPU Mem Disk Net 22:57:22 0.85 44.11 2.40 0.19 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:23 2.00 77.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:24 3.00 77.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:25 3.00 77.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:26 17.00 77.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:27 38.00 77.79 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:28 100.00 77.85 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:29 100.00 77.89 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:30 100.00 77.84 0.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:31 100.00 77.80 0.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:32 100.00 77.80 0.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:33 100.00 77.80 0.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:34 100.00 77.80 0.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:35 100.00 77.84 0.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:36 100.00 77.84 0.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:37 100.00 77.84 0.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:38 100.00 77.84 0.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:39 100.00 77.84 0.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:40 33.00 77.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:41 19.00 77.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22:57:42 2.00 77.77 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 ^C The first line is the summary since boot. We can see the CPU utilisation quickly reach 100%, then the saturation steadily grow as more cpu bound programs are executed. The following is a demonstration of sysperfstat with Memory load, $ sysperfstat 1 ------ Utilisation ------ ------ Saturation ------ Time %CPU %Mem %Disk %Net CPU Mem Disk Net 23:07:10 0.85 44.11 2.40 0.19 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:11 7.00 95.17 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:12 4.00 95.63 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:13 5.00 96.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:14 5.00 96.55 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:15 5.00 97.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:16 6.00 97.47 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:17 5.00 97.92 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:18 9.00 97.84 2.00 0.00 0.00 20.51 0.04 0.00 23:07:19 6.00 97.92 2.75 0.00 0.00 13.04 0.04 0.00 23:07:20 6.00 97.91 2.85 0.00 0.00 18.22 0.04 0.00 23:07:21 9.00 97.88 8.87 0.00 0.00 13.46 0.04 0.00 23:07:22 5.00 97.91 2.71 0.00 1.00 12.06 0.03 0.00 23:07:23 6.00 98.02 2.27 0.00 0.00 6.90 0.03 0.00 23:07:24 7.00 98.01 2.75 0.00 0.00 9.25 0.03 0.00 23:07:25 6.00 98.04 3.82 0.00 0.00 19.28 0.04 0.00 23:07:26 6.00 97.99 3.34 0.00 0.00 26.05 0.05 0.00 23:07:27 11.00 97.95 3.47 0.00 0.00 21.79 0.05 0.00 23:07:28 6.00 97.84 3.00 0.00 0.00 21.41 0.04 0.00 23:07:29 6.00 97.86 2.85 0.00 0.00 16.05 0.04 0.00 23:07:30 7.00 97.89 3.90 0.00 0.00 19.42 0.04 0.00 23:07:31 6.00 97.93 2.50 0.00 0.00 24.07 0.03 0.00 ------ Utilisation ------ ------ Saturation ------ Time %CPU %Mem %Disk %Net CPU Mem Disk Net 23:07:32 7.00 97.99 1.15 0.00 0.00 27.64 0.02 0.00 23:07:33 8.00 97.94 2.75 0.00 0.00 20.14 0.04 0.00 23:07:34 6.00 98.08 3.30 0.00 0.00 17.88 0.04 0.00 23:07:35 29.00 77.29 2.45 0.00 0.00 2.71 0.02 0.00 23:07:36 21.00 77.28 10.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:37 3.00 77.28 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:07:38 2.00 77.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 ^C a program was executed that rapidly used memory. At 23:07:18, the page scanner began scanning as indicated by the saturation value. At 23:07:35 the memory load program was terminated. The following is a demonstration of disk load, $ sysperfstat 1 ------ Utilisation ------ ------ Saturation ------ Time %CPU %Mem %Disk %Net CPU Mem Disk Net 23:15:35 0.85 44.11 2.40 0.19 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:36 2.00 78.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:37 4.00 78.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:38 19.00 78.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:39 43.00 78.32 31.46 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:40 84.00 78.31 17.65 0.00 4.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:41 70.00 78.31 32.71 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:42 66.00 78.41 50.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:43 88.00 78.47 57.14 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:44 100.00 78.55 30.09 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:15:45 100.00 78.56 44.72 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.03 0.00 23:15:46 98.00 78.55 51.16 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.06 0.00 23:15:47 84.00 78.58 88.13 0.00 4.00 0.00 0.19 0.00 23:15:48 93.00 78.59 76.20 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.11 0.00 23:15:49 73.00 78.60 100.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 0.31 0.00 23:15:50 91.00 78.63 57.28 0.00 10.00 0.00 0.11 0.00 23:15:51 83.00 78.70 100.00 0.00 4.00 0.00 0.62 0.00 23:15:52 75.00 78.67 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.99 0.00 23:15:53 73.00 78.69 100.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.93 0.00 ^C several programs were run that used the disks. The utilisation steadily rises and eventually the disk saturation can be seen. This is a demonstration of network load, $ sysperfstat 1 ------ Utilisation ------ ------ Saturation ------ Time %CPU %Mem %Disk %Net CPU Mem Disk Net 23:27:41 0.85 44.11 2.40 0.19 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:42 3.00 80.98 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:43 2.00 80.98 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:44 17.00 80.98 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:45 46.00 80.49 22.05 54.20 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:46 50.00 79.83 14.19 78.18 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:47 48.00 79.39 8.04 80.94 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:48 54.00 79.62 3.06 70.89 4.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:49 39.00 79.43 6.78 74.52 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:50 3.00 79.43 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:51 3.00 79.43 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:52 3.00 79.43 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:27:53 4.00 79.43 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 ^C a large file was copied over the network, the network utilisation shows clearly that this is happening. This also caused some CPU and Disk utilisation. Demonstrating network saturation is difficult - the values available to measure this are not as responsive as one would hope (network saturation is only visable when it is really saturated! also not all NICs provide the saturation values). sysperfstat can (and often should) be used with larger time intervals. Here we sample a fairly idle system every 30 seconds, $ sysperfstat 30 ------ Utilisation ------ ------ Saturation ------ Time %CPU %Mem %Disk %Net CPU Mem Disk Net 23:34:51 0.85 44.11 2.40 0.19 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:34:21 6.83 79.42 0.00 0.01 0.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:34:51 5.07 79.42 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:35:21 5.43 79.42 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:35:51 5.23 79.42 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:36:21 5.70 79.41 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:36:51 5.50 79.41 0.13 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:37:21 4.27 79.41 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:37:51 5.60 79.41 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:38:21 3.37 79.41 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:38:51 4.07 79.41 0.07 0.01 0.13 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:39:21 4.13 79.41 0.07 0.01 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 23:39:51 5.67 79.41 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 [...]