Watching Linux disks with iotop and iostat
Summary
Hackaday assesses tools that show process I/O, device throughput, latency and utilisation from different angles. iotop is operated much like top. iostat usually belongs to the sysstat package.
Ideas
- iotop attributes read and write work to individual processes.
- iostat shows throughput and device state over time intervals.
- Filters hide inactive processes.
Insights
- The process view and the device view answer different diagnostic questions.
- Disk problems need time series rather than individual snapshot values.
Recommendations
- Record queue, latency and utilisation together.
- Compare readings with the workload causing them.
References
Links to the original source and the Web Archive open in a new tab.