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Mastering netdata: Find Bottlenecks Fast for with htop and netdata

Paul
March 21, 2025 • 2 minutes read
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Mastering Netdata: Find Bottlenecks Fast with Htop and Netdata

As a system administrator or developer, it’s essential to have the right tools at your disposal to optimize performance, identify bottlenecks, and troubleshoot issues on your servers. Two powerful tools that can help you achieve this are htop and netdata. In this article, we’ll delve into how to master these tools, combining their power to find bottlenecks quickly.

Understanding Htop

Htop is an interactive version of the classic Unix command-line utility top, which provides real-time system information. It allows you to sort and filter processes by various criteria, making it easier to identify resource-intensive applications or processes that are consuming excessive CPU, memory, or other resources.

Installing Htop

You can install htop on most Linux distributions using the package manager:

  • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install htop
  • Fedora/CentOS/RHEL: sudo dnf install htop

Understanding Netdata

Netdata is a real-time system monitoring tool that provides an in-depth look at your server’s performance. It collects data on various metrics, including CPU usage, memory consumption, disk I/O, network traffic, and more.

Installing Netdata

You can install netdata on most Linux distributions using the package manager:

  • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install netdata
  • Fedora/CentOS/RHEL: sudo dnf install netdata

Using Htop to Identify Resource-Intensive Processes

Once you have htop installed, run it with the following command:

bash
htop

Here are some tips for using htop effectively:

  • Sort by CPU usage: Press F6 and select CPU% to sort processes by CPU usage.
  • Filter by memory usage: Press F7 and enter the desired memory threshold (e.g., 1000) to filter processes that consume more than 1 GB of memory.

Integrating Htop with Netdata

Now, let’s combine the power of htop and netdata to find bottlenecks quickly. Here are some steps:

Step 1: Launch Htop

Launch htop using the command htop.

Step 2: Get Process IDs (PIDs)

Identify the process you’re interested in troubleshooting, note its PID.

Step 3: Use Netdata to Analyze System Data

Open a new terminal and launch netdata with the following command:

bash
sudo netdata-net

Alternatively, use the shortcut systemd-run --pty netdata-net.

In another terminal, navigate to the netdata web interface by accessing https://localhost:19999.

Step 4: Drill Down into Metrics

Navigate through the netdata dashboard and drill down into specific metrics that might be related to your identified process.

Some useful metrics to investigate include:

  • CPU usage
  • Memory consumption
  • Disk I/O
  • Network traffic
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