Chapter7.System Management and Monitoring

Chapter 7. System Management and Monitoring

The main focus of this chapter is to introduce you to a number of processes that should be included in daily checks of the server environment. The level of attention given to a specific system depends on the system being managed. Some long-established static systems may require little attention. Other, newer, or more dynamic systems may need to be monitored much more closely. Only time will tell how much monitoring you need to do. Keep in mind, however, that the older, more static systems are also running on older hardware. Monitoring their health is just as important, if not more so.

This chapter describes the following topics:

• Common Linux commands

• A review of the root directory

• Health checks and system monitoring

• System tuning opportunities

It is impossible to eliminate all aspects of hardware failures from an environment. Applying redundancy such as RAID for disk subsystems and, when possible, clustering will enhance the robustness of the services offered. In the following sections, we look at a number of techniques that you can use to monitor a system's health. Proper monitoring allows you to take more proactive measures when logs indicate resource consumption issues or problematic hardware.