Data Engineering Journey - no. 07 | Hands On Programming

btop, an aesthetically pleasing system resource monitor showing usage and stats for processor, memory, disks, network, and processes. btop is the lighter and faster C++ version and continuation of bashtop and bpytop.

: btop tool

btop features

An easy-to-use and esthetically pleasing user interface that features a beautiful system stats overview.
Full mouse support, all buttons with a highlighted key are clickable and mouse scroll work in the process list and menu boxes.
Fast and responsive UI with UP and DOWN keys process selection.
Function for showing detailed stats for the selected process.
Ability to filter processes.
Easy switching between sorting options.
Tree view of processes.
Send any signal to the selected process.
UI menu for changing all config file options.
Auto-scaling graph for network usage.
Shows IO activity and speeds for disks
Battery meter
Selectable symbols for the graphs
Custom presets
Available in a growing list of official repos of recent distros. For example, Manjaro install = pacman -S btop.
Also compatible with Mac and FreeBSD.
Uses less CPU and RAM compared to bashtop and bpytop.

(Esc, m)                - Shows the main menu. 
(F2, o)                 - Shows options. 
(F1, h)                 - Shows the help screen. 
(Ctrl-C, q)             - Quits the program.
(+, -)                  - Add/Subtract 100ms to/from update timer. 
(Up arrow) (Down arrow) - Select in the process list. 
(Enter)                 - Show detailed information for the selected process. 
(Pg Up) (Pg Down)       - Jump 1 page in the process list. 
(Home) (End)            - Jump to the first or the last page in the process list. 
(Left) (Right)          - Select previous/next sorting column. 
(b, n)                  - Select previous/next network device. 
(e)                     - Toggle processes tree view. 
(r)                     - Reverse sorting order in processes box. 
(f, /)                  - Input a string to filter processes with.

1. What have you learned?

Usefull commands:

ip - from Iproute2, a collection of utilities for controlling TCP/IP networking and traffic control in Linux
ls - list directory contents
df - display disc space
du - estimate file space usage
free - dipslay memmory usage
scp - securely Copy Files Using SCP
find - locates files based on some userspace criteria
ncdu - disk utility for Unix systems, provides fast way to see what dirctories are using your disk space
pstree - displaye a tree of processes
last - shows a listing of last loggged in user
w - w displays information about the users currently on the machine, and their processes. The header shows, in this order, the current time, how long the system has been running, how many users are currently logged on, and the system load averages for the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes.
grep - search a file for a pparten of characters , then dispaly all matching lines. This command is often used for creating more complexx matches
uptime - shows system uptime and load average
top - shows Linux processes
vmstat - shows virtual memory statistics report
htop - interactive process viewer
dstat - versatile tool for generating system resources statistics
atop - advaned system and process monitor
ss - utility to invesigate sockets
mv - moving files and folders
rm - removing files and folders
mkdir - create or make new directory
touch - chage file timestamps
man - system referene manual
rsync - remote file transfer and sync
apropos - search man page names and descriptions
tar - archiving utility
gzip - file compression and decompresion
zip - packaging and compression
locate - search files in Linux
ps - information about the currentlny runnig processes
corn - setup scheduled tasks to run
nmcli - command line tool for controlling network manager
mtr - netrok diagnostic tool
dig - DNS lookup utility
wget - retrieve files over HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS
curl - transfering data using various network protocols
fdisk - manipulate the disk partition table
blkid - commandline utility to locate block device attributes
mkfs - build a Linux file system
fsck - tool for checking the consistency od a file system
chmod - change the access permisions ot fole systems objects
nc - TCP and UDP connections and listens
vi - programmer’s text editor
cat - display file contents
tac - concatenate output file contnet in reverse
less - similar to the more command with addictional features
journalctl - query systemd jounal
kill - terminate a process
killall - sends kill signal to all instances of process by name
sleep - suspends program execution for a specified time
wait - suspend script execution untill all jobs running in the background have been terminated
nohup - runs command in the background
tmux - terminal multiplexer
passwd - change user password
chpassword- allows users to chnage the password for various user accounts
mount\unmount - provides access to and entire filesystem in one directory
env - run command in a modified environment
cheat - allows to create an view interactive cheatsheet on the command line
tldr - collaboratibe cheatsheets for console commands
nload - commandline network interfcae montoring tool
history - display list of commands used over time
tree - lists contents of directories in a tree-like format
awk - patern scanning and processing language
sed - steam editor for filtering and transforming text
diff - compare files line by linie
crontab - maintain crontab files for individual users
alias - create an alias for Linux commands
lsusb - list USB devices

2. What were 2-3 interesting points?

btop’s features and performance: The aesthetically pleasing UI, tree view of processes, and detailed stats for selected processes are very useful for system monitoring. The fact that it uses less CPU and RAM compared to its predecessors is particularly interesting.
Integration with Linux distributions: The availability of btop in many official repositories (e.g., easy installation via pacman -S btop on Manjaro) and its compatibility with Mac and FreeBSD highlight its versatility.
Mouse support and customizable UI: Full mouse support and the ability to adjust settings via an intuitive UI make it user-friendly, especially for those who prefer graphical tools over strictly command-line interfaces.

3. What were 2-3 points you didn’t understand?

Selectable symbols for graphs: How does customizing the graph symbols enhance usability or interpretation of system stats? It’s not immediately clear why or when this feature would be particularly useful.
Detailed process stats: While the tool provides detailed stats for selected processes, the specifics of what these stats include (e.g., memory usage breakdown, CPU cycles, I/O activity) could be clarified further.
Tree view processes: While the tree view for processes is mentioned, understanding how it visually differs from traditional list views would benefit from an example or screenshot.

4. Where does this skill or best practice fit?

System Monitoring and Troubleshooting: btop is ideal for identifying performance bottlenecks, such as high CPU or memory usage, and monitoring network or disk activity in real-time.
DevOps and Systems Administration: This tool fits into workflows for managing servers or systems where resource optimization and process management are critical.
Learning and Teaching Linux Basics: The visually appealing and user-friendly interface makes it a good choice for introducing Linux system monitoring concepts to beginners. It lowers the barrier compared to more traditional tools like top or htop.

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btop features

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