System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration

Monitoring System Activities (Task Map)

Task 

Description 

For Instructions 

Check file access. 

Display file access operation status by using the sar command with the -a option.

How to Check File Access (sar -a)

Check buffer activity. 

Display buffer activity statistics by using the sar command with the -b option.

How to Check Buffer Activity (sar -b)

Check system call statistics. 

Display system call statistics by using the sar command with the -c option.

How to Check System Call Statistics (sar -c)

Check disk activity. 

Check disk activity by using the sar command with the -d option.

How to Check Disk Activity (sar -d)

Check page-out and memory. 

Use the sar command with the -g option to display page-out memory freeing activities.

How to Check Page-Out and Memory (sar -g)

Check kernel memory allocation. 

The kernel memory allocation (KMA) allows a kernel subsystem to allocate and free memory, as needed. Use the sar command with the -k option to check KMA.

How to Check Kernel Memory Allocation (sar -k)

Check interprocess communication. 

Use the sar command with the -m option to report interprocess communication activities.

How to Check Interprocess Communication (sar -m)

Check page-in activity. 

Use the sar command with the -p option to report page-in activity.

How to Check Page-In Activity (sar -p)

Check queue activity. 

Use the sar command with the -q option to check the following:

  • Average queue length while queue is occupied

  • Percentage of time that the queue is occupied

How to Check Queue Activity (sar -q)

Check unused memory. 

Use the sar command with the -r option to report the number of memory pages and swap file disk blocks that are currently used.

How to Check Unused Memory (sar -r)

Check CPU utilization. 

Use the sar command with the -u option to display CPU utilization statistics.

How to Check CPU Utilization (sar -u)

Check system table status. 

Use the sar command with the -v option to report status on the following system tables:

  • Process

  • Inode

  • File

  • Shared memory record

How to Check System Table Status (sar -v)

Check swapping activity. 

Use the sar command with the -w option to check swapping activity.

How to Check Swapping Activity (sar -w)

Check terminal activity. 

Use the sar command with the -y option to monitor terminal device activity.

How to Check Terminal Activity (sar -y)

Check overall system performance. 

The sar -A command displays statistics from all options to provide overall system performance information.

How to Check Overall System Performance (sar -A)

Set up automatic data collection. 

To set up your system to collect data automatically and to run the sar commands, do the following:

  • Run the svcadm enable system/sar:default command

  • Edit the /var/spool/cron/crontabs/sys file

How to Set Up Automatic Data Collection