iostat: See current usage rather than average

Question

I need to log disk statistics (MB/read, MB/write) of block devices. As I understand, iostat shows an average value. This is not exactly what I want when I'm about to monitor a server. Is there a way to show current values rather than the average?

Thanks

Janne Pikkarainen · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-24T06:47:34.737

4

Try

iostat 1

or for more detailed view

iostat -x 1

You should also check out command sar. Actually, in your case sar is probably what you want since you need the actual readings instead of averages. For example, sar -d 1 1 shows you I/O statistics.

edited Oct 24 '11 at 06:47

answered Oct 24 '11 at 06:37

Janne Pikkarainen

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`iostat 1` prints the statistics every 1 second. This is not suitable for monitoring. `iostat 1 1` limits it to one output, but it seems the values are average again. I got exactly the same stats as yesterday. – Daniel Oct 24 '11 at 06:43
OK then, I edited my reply a bit. – Janne Pikkarainen Oct 24 '11 at 06:47

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 29 '15 at 15:09

4

Use the -y option to suppress the first print being averages:

iostat -y 1 1

answered Apr 29 '15 at 15:09

Maurice Robert

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This should be the accepted answer as the `-y` actually accomplishes what the OP was asking for. – Tony Cesaro Jul 06 '15 at 16:36
This should be the accepted answer. We can use this command line for benchmark scripts. – hqt Jul 09 '19 at 09:40

iostat: See current usage rather than average

2 Answers2