Iotop
Iotop is a Linux program that provides detailed monitoring of disk I/O usage by processes. It shows a table of current I/O usage with columns for process IDs, process names, type of I/O, bandwidth used, and more.
disk
io
monitoring
processes
Iotop: Linux Disk I/O Monitoring Program
Detailed monitoring of disk I/O usage by processes, displaying current I/O usage with process details and performance metrics.
What is Iotop?
Iotop is an open source command line utility found in Linux operating systems that provides detailed monitoring of disk I/O usage by processes running on the system. It displays information in a table showing process IDs (PIDS), process names, the type of I/O (read or write), the amount of data processed, and more.
Some key features of Iotop include:
- Real-time monitoring of I/O bandwidth usage, updated every second by default
- Ability to show accumulated I/O metrics rather than bandwidth rates
- Color coding of processes for quick identification of heavy I/O usage
- Breakdowns for disk reads vs writes
- Filtering and search capabilities to narrow down processes shown
Iotop is useful for identifying processes on a Linux system that are performing a lot of disk I/O operations. This can help troubleshoot performance issues and sluggish systems by pinpointing heavy disk activity. Some common use cases include:
- Identifying and optimizing disk-intensive applications
- Finding processes using excessive I/O during high load
- Checking for misbehaving batch jobs reading/writing too much data
- Comparing I/O usage of different operations as part of performance profiling
Overall, Iotop provides low-level insight into disk I/O similar to top's CPU usage view, giving Linux administrators and developers a tool to recognize and analyze disk I/O bottlenecks on servers and desktops.
Iotop Features
Features
- Monitors disk I/O usage in real time
- Displays table of processes sorted by I/O usage
- Shows bandwidth used, I/O type (read/write), process ID, process name
- Interactive terminal based UI
- Color coded output for easy identification of high I/O processes
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Lightweight and low overhead
Easy to use terminal interface
Helps identify processes causing disk I/O bottlenecks
Open source and free
Cons
Terminal based only, no GUI available
Limited to monitoring disk I/O only
Requires some Linux/Unix command line knowledge to use effectively
Official Links
The Best Iotop Alternatives
Top System & Hardware and System Monitoring and other similar apps like Iotop
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Htop
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