how do i know if my server is running good/fair/bad

[Addy]

Hello all,

 

I would like you know if there is a rule of thumb or a chart that could feel me how the server is coping.

 

I have a Bandwidth hourly monitor, and in shell using "TOP" i can see the load and the CPU usage and Memory usage.

 

What i would like to know is, for example:

 

the server is using 1Mbit of the connection constantly, the load fluctuates from 0.85 - 1.57 and the CPU is about 30% including Hyper-Threading

 

How would i know, maybe by a calculation if the server is coping well or not with the values given. I do not have a problem with the server, but i would like to know more on how to see if there is a problem with the capabilities of the server at anytime if a problem comes up, and if its the server doing to much or not.

 

I hope this is explained ok.

 

Thank you.

[znx]

load fluctuates from 0.85 - 1.57

Average usage is 1, top of the line is 2, anything above and beyond 2 you can leave until it reaches 3/4, at which point you should investigate what is causing the high load (top and free will tell you).

 

CPU is about 30% including Hyper-Threading

Ok make sure you have built an SMP kernel because HT will look like 2 CPUs.

 

If it is a web server make sure to check stuff like total apache processes:

Code:

ps -ef | grep apache | wc -l

Compare it to MaxServers in your httpd.conf, if too high look into the status of the threads kill the bad ones and hopefully that will settle your server.

 

There is a lot of other process handling tips required but from the stats you are showing here, nothing untoward is going on.

[Addy]

Cool, ok thank you znx

 

okay... so... is there a way to find out how it's running overall, I mean, i understand what you said, and its not a web server, but its a multi-funcation server.

 

But i know what the load should be under... but is there a way to know how the server is running, as i said like a calculation?

 

Load * connection / cpu

 

or something. I need to know what to look out for as a whole, not just the load.

 

I have a connection graph, and i have 10Mbit to play with, so i know if there is to much traffic or not, but how do i know if the server is coping with the traffic or not.

 

Is that where LOAD comes in, and CPU usage ? this is what im not 100% sure on.

 

thanks

[znx]

But i know what the load should be under... but is there a way to know how the server is running, as i said like a calculation?

 

I haven't heard of any calculation with regards to working out the status of a box as a whole. Some obvious things to ensure are:

 

Server Checks

Connection - Can you connect (ping testing is the simplest)

CPU - What is the loadavg at anything > 3 investigate. (notice CPU% isn't required)

Disks - What is the space free on the system, if >90% look into getting more storage.

Processes - Simple, count the number of processes. Like I expect httpd, mysqld and ftpd to be running so a quick count of the number will tell me that all is well.

Logs - Grep the logs for information about errors that are occuring.

 

Service Checks

DNS - FTP - HTTP - IMAP / SMTP / POP3 - SSH - ETC!

- Run similar checks on these, for instance with nc you can test several of those, expect will do the others.

 

I know this maybe isn't what you are looking for but in short there is not an easy way to quantify all of those checks.

[z0ny]

znx said everything, there is no such formula. In fact it wouldn't make any sense as every server is built different for its own purpose. You might wanna have a look at some monitoring software like Nagios and/or Cacti.