Monitoring your VPS is critical for performance optimization and early detection of potential issues.
In this guide, we’ll introduce some of the most useful command-line tools every system admin should know.
⚙️ 1. top — Real-Time Process Viewer
top is one of the simplest and most widely used monitoring commands.
top
It displays CPU, memory, and process information in real time.
Press q to quit, or h for help.
📈 2. htop — Enhanced Interactive Viewer
htop is an improved, colorful version of top.
Install it with:
sudo apt install htop -y
htop
You can scroll horizontally and vertically, sort processes, and easily kill tasks.
💾 3. df — Disk Usage Overview
To check disk space usage:
df -h
The -h flag displays values in human-readable format (GB/MB).
🧠 4. free — Memory Usage
View total, used, and available memory:
free -m
🌐 5. netstat or ss — Network Connections
Check open ports and active connections:
sudo ss -tuln
This helps identify which services are listening on which ports.
⚡ 6. iotop — Disk I/O Monitor
Monitor which processes are using the most disk I/O:
sudo apt install iotop -y
sudo iotop
🔍 7. vnstat — Network Traffic Monitor
Track bandwidth usage over time:
sudo apt install vnstat -y
sudo vnstat
It’s lightweight and runs as a background service.
🧰 8. Bonus Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| glances | All-in-one system monitor (CPU, memory, disk, network) |
| iftop | Real-time network bandwidth usage |
| dstat | Detailed resource usage statistics |
Install example:
sudo apt install glances -y
✅ Best Practice for Tudcloud Users
Combine system monitoring with Tudcloud’s DDoS-protected VPS for continuous uptime.
Regularly review performance metrics, and schedule automatic reports if running production workloads.
🧩 Conclusion
Monitoring is not just for troubleshooting — it’s essential for performance tuning and reliability.
With these tools, you’ll always know what’s happening inside your VPS.