sar
Latest release versionsysstat 12.7.6[1]
Latest release dateJuly 3, 2024 (age 2)
Operating systemAIX, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX
GenreSystem reporting
Programming languageC
Repogithub.com/sysstat
Websitesysstat.github.io

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.[2]

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.[3]

Most Linux distributions provide sar utility through the sysstat package.

Syntax

sar [-flags] [ -e time ] [ -f filename ] [-i sec ] [ -s time ]

-f
filename Uses filename as the data source for sar. The default is the current daily data file /var/adm/sa/sadd.
-e
time Selects data up to time. The default is 18:00.
-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,[4] RedHat Enterprise Linux and SuSE provides additional reporting tools:

See also

  • atopsar
  • Nmon
  • sag - "system activity graph" command[5]
  • ksar- BSD licensed Java-based application to create graph of all parameters from the data collected by Unix sar utilities.
  • CURT, IBM AIX CPU Usage Reporting Tool
  • isag, tcl based command to plot sar/sysstat data

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Sysstat: Tags". GitHub
  2. ^ "SYSSTAT". sebastien.godard.pagesperso-orange.fr
  3. ^ "FreshPorts -- sysutils/bsdsar: System Activity Reporter for FreeBSD". www.freshports.org
  4. ^ "Debian -- Details of package sysstat in sid". packages.debian.org
  5. ^ "sag(1)". SUNOS Reference Manual. Mountain View, California: Sun Microsystems. 1993-02-24. pp. 1–895. Retrieved 2010-05-04. sag - system activity graph [...] DESCRIPTION sag graphically displays the system activity data stored in a binary data file by a previous sar(1) run.