sar (Unix)
{{Short description|Unix command to collect, report or save system activity information}}
{{lowercase title}}
{{how-to|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox software
|name = sar
|logo =
|caption =
|screenshot =
|screenshot size =
|developer =
|latest_release_version = sysstat 12.7.6{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/sysstat/sysstat/tags|title = Sysstat: Tags|website = GitHub}}
|latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2024|07|03}}
|operating_system = AIX, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX
|genre = System reporting
|license =
|programming_language= C
|repo = {{URL|github.com/sysstat}}
|website = {{URL|sysstat.github.io}}
}}
File:Sysstat tools sadc and sar.svg
System Activity Report (sar) is a Unix System V-derived system monitor command used to report on various system loads, including CPU activity, memory/paging, interrupts, device load, network and swap space utilization. Sar uses /proc filesystem for gathering information.{{Cite web|url=http://sebastien.godard.pagesperso-orange.fr/man_sar.html|title=SYSSTAT|website=sebastien.godard.pagesperso-orange.fr}}
Platform support
Sar was originally developed for the Unix System V operating system; it is available in AIX, HP-UX, Solaris and other System V based operating systems but it is not available for macOS or FreeBSD. Prior to 2013 there was a bsdsar tool, but it is now deprecated.{{Cite web|url=https://www.freshports.org/sysutils/bsdsar|title=FreshPorts -- sysutils/bsdsar: System Activity Reporter for FreeBSD|website=www.freshports.org}}
Most Linux distributions provide sar utility through the sysstat package.
Syntax
sar [-flags] [ -e time ] [ -f filename ] [-i sec ] [ -s time ]
; {{mono|-f}} : filename Uses filename as the data source for sar. The default is the current daily data file /var/adm/sa/sadd.
; {{mono|-e}} : time Selects data up to time. The default is 18:00.
; {{mono|-i}} : sec Selects data at intervals as close as possible to sec seconds.
Example
[user@localhost]$ sar # Displays current CPU activity.
Sysstat package
Additional to sar command, Linux sysstat package in Debian,{{Cite web|url=https://packages.debian.org/sid/sysstat|title=Debian -- Details of package sysstat in sid|website=packages.debian.org}} RedHat Enterprise Linux and SuSE provides additional reporting tools:
- {{man|1|sar |die.net| Collect, report, or save system activity information.}}
- {{man|8|sa1 |die.net| Collect and store binary data in the system activity daily data file.}}
- {{man|8|sa2 |die.net| shell variant of
sar, supporting the same flags assarcommand which write a daily report in the /var/log/sa directory.}} - {{man/format|1|sadf|http://sebastien.godard.pagesperso-orange.fr/man_sadf.html|, similar to
sarbut can write its data in different formats (CSV, XML, etc.). This is useful to load performance data into a database, or import them in a spreadsheet to make graphs.}} - {{man|1|iostat|die.net|reports basic CPU statistics and input/output statistics for devices, partitions and network filesystems.}}
- {{man|1|mpstat|die.net|reports individual or combined processor related statistics.}}
- {{man|1|pidstat|die.net|reports statistics for Linux tasks (processes) : I/O, CPU, memory, etc.}}
- {{man|1|nfsiostat|die.net|reports input/output statistics for network filesystems (NFS).}}
- {{man|1|cifsiostat|die.net| reports I/O statistics for CIFS resources.}}
See also
{{cite web
| url = https://www.filibeto.org/sun/lib/solaris2.5-docs/40.3/802-1930-01.pdf
| title = sag(1)
| date = 1993-02-24
| work = SUNOS Reference Manual
| publisher = Sun Microsystems
| location = Mountain View, California
| pages = 1–895
| accessdate = 2010-05-04
| quote = sag - system activity graph [...] DESCRIPTION sag graphically displays the system activity data stored in a binary data file by a previous sar(1) run.
}}
References
- {{man|1|sar|Solaris}}
- [http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-unix-perfmonsar.html Easy system monitoring with SAR (IBM developerWorks)]
- [http://www.softpanorama.org/Admin/Monitoring/sar.shtml System Activity Reporter (Softpanorama)]
- [http://www.computerhope.com/unix/usar.htm Article on sar at Computerhope]