Table of Contents
Monitoring your VPS is essential to ensure your server runs smoothly, detect issues early, and maintain uptime. A basic monitoring system tracks CPU, memory, disk usage, network traffic, and system load.
Step 1: Update Your VPS
Before installing monitoring tools, ensure your server is up to date.Keeps your server secure and ready for monitoring tools.
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Step 2: Install htop for Real-Time Resource Monitoring
htop allows you to monitor CPU, memory, and processes in real time.Displays real-time system resource usage.
sudo apt install htop -y
Shows real-time CPU, memory, and process usage:
htop
Step 3: Install iftop for Network Monitoring
iftop helps track network traffic and identify bandwidth usage.Shows live network traffic on the VPS.
sudo apt install iftop -y
Displays real-time network traffic on your VPS:
sudo iftop
Step 4: Set Up Disk Usage Monitoring
Checking disk usage prevents full storage from crashing the server.Displays disk space usage in human-readable format.
df -h
Step 5: Monitor System Load
uptime helps detect high load that may indicate problems.Shows server load averages over time.
uptime
Step 6: Set Up Alerts
You can configure basic alert notifications using scripts or monitoring software like monit or email alerts for high CPU, memory, or disk usage.
sudo apt install monit -y
Monitors services and sends alerts automatically:
sudo systemctl enable --now monit
