How to watch a server's HDD activity (opened files and simple hddled) in SSH?

Question

I'd like to see if a hard disk is being actively used right now (a hddled-like indicator) and what particular files are being accessed. How can I achieve this in command line with SSH?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 16 '10 at 00:10

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You can see the usage by using a tool like iotop. You can see a list of open files by using the command lsof.

answered Jul 16 '10 at 00:10

Zoredache

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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

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In addition to iotop/lsof that was already mentioned, some other options include nmon, iostat, or atop. See this post on StackOverflow or this other question here on ServerFault.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

Community

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answered Jul 16 '10 at 00:33

runlevelsix

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 16 '10 at 05:03

Assuming you wanted to run the command through ssh and not just ssh directly to the machine. The command from ssh will look some thing like this:

ssh <hostname> lsof <options>

If you need this to run as root from a script, slightly fancy use of sudo and ssh keys should get you no requirement for a password. But be careful slightly to fancy use of sudo and ssh keys can just up and give anybody root access to your box.

How to watch a server's HDD activity (opened files and simple hddled) in SSH?

3 Answers3