Keep Your VPS Running Smoothly: A Complete Guide to Resource Monitoring with htop, Glances, and Netdata

As a web developer or business owner in Nepal, you’ve probably invested in a VPS (Virtual Private Server) to host your website or application. But here’s the thing, simply having a VPS isn’t enough. You need to keep a close eye on how it’s performing to ensure your visitors get the best experience possible.

Think of it like owning a car. You wouldn’t just drive it without ever checking the fuel gauge, engine temperature, or oil levels, right? Your VPS needs the same kind of attention. That’s where resource monitoring comes in, and today we’re going to explore three fantastic tools that’ll help you keep tabs on your server’s health: htop, Glances, and Netdata.

Why VPS Monitoring Matters (More Than You Think)

Before we dive into the tools, let’s talk about why monitoring your VPS is crucial, especially for businesses operating in Nepal’s growing digital landscape.

Performance Issues Cost Money When your server runs out of memory or your CPU is constantly maxed out, your website slows down. Slow websites lose visitors, and lost visitors mean lost business. In fact, a one-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by up to 7%.

Proactive vs Reactive Management Instead of waiting for things to break (and scrambling to fix them at 2 AM), monitoring helps you spot problems before they affect your users. It’s like having a health checkup, better to catch issues early than deal with emergencies later.

Resource Optimization Monitoring shows you exactly what resources you’re using and when. Maybe you’re paying for more RAM than you need, or perhaps it’s time to upgrade your CPU. Data-driven decisions save money and improve performance.

Meet Your Monitoring Squad: htop, Glances, and Netdata

Let’s break down each tool and see what makes them special:

Tool	Best For	Difficulty Level	Resource Usage
htop	Quick system overview	Beginner	Very Low
Glances	Detailed system analysis	Intermediate	Low
Netdata	Real-time web dashboard	Intermediate to Advanced	Medium

htop: Your First Line of Defense

htop is like the Swiss Army knife of system monitoring, simple, reliable, and always there when you need it. If you’re new to VPS management, this is where you should start.

What Makes htop Great

Visual and Intuitive Unlike the basic top command, htop presents information in a colorful, easy-to-read format. You can see CPU usage, memory consumption, and running processes at a glance.

Interactive Interface You can scroll through processes, sort by different columns, and even kill problematic processes directly from the interface. No need to remember complex command combinations.

Installing htop

On most Linux distributions, installing htop is straightforward:

# For Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt install htop

# For CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install htop

# For newer CentOS/RHEL versions
sudo dnf install htop

Reading htop Like a Pro

When you run htop, here’s what you’re looking at:

Top Section (System Overview):

• CPU bars show individual core usage
• Memory (Mem) shows RAM usage
• Swap shows virtual memory usage
• Tasks shows total processes and their states

Bottom Section (Process List):

• PID: Process ID
• USER: Who’s running the process
• CPU%: CPU usage percentage
• MEM%: Memory usage percentage
• COMMAND: What the process is doing

Pro Tip: Press F6 to sort processes by different criteria. Sorting by CPU% or MEM% helps you quickly identify resource hogs.

htop Best Practices for VPS Owners

1. Check regularly but don’t obsess: A quick daily check is usually enough
2. Look for patterns: High CPU usage at certain times might indicate backup scripts or scheduled tasks
3. Know your normal: Every server has its baseline; learn yours
4. Don’t panic at spikes: Temporary high usage is normal; sustained high usage needs attention

Glances: The Detail-Oriented Monitor

If htop is a Swiss Army knife, Glances is a fully equipped workshop. It provides comprehensive system information in a single view, making it perfect for detailed analysis.

Why Glances Stands Out

Everything in One Place: Glances monitors CPU, memory, disk I/O, network activity, and even disk space usage. It’s like having multiple monitoring tools rolled into one.

Adaptable Display: The interface automatically adjusts based on your terminal size, and it can run in different modes, from basic text to web interface.

Remote Monitoring: You can monitor multiple servers from a single location, which is fantastic if you manage several VPS instances.

Getting Started with Glances

Installation varies by system:

# Using pip (recommended)
sudo pip3 install glances

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install glances

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install glances

Understanding Glances Interface

When you run glances, you’ll see sections for:

CPU Information:

• Overall usage and per-core breakdown
• Load averages (1, 5, and 15-minute intervals)
• CPU temperature (if available)

Memory Details:

• RAM usage with detailed breakdown
• Swap usage
• Memory-intensive processes

Network Activity:

• Bandwidth usage per interface
• Network connections
• Data transferred

Disk Information:

• Disk space usage per partition
• Read/write speeds
• I/O operations per second

Glances Web Interface

Here’s something cool, Glances can run as a web server:

glances -w

Then visit http://your-server-ip:61208 to see a beautiful web interface. This is perfect for monitoring your VPS from anywhere, even your mobile phone!

Advanced Glances Features

Alerts System Glances can alert you when resources exceed thresholds:

• Green: OK
• Blue: Careful
• Purple: Warning
• Red: Critical

Export Data You can export monitoring data to various formats for analysis or integration with other tools.

Netdata: The Real-Time Dashboard Champion

Netdata is the Ferrari of monitoring tools, fast, beautiful, and packed with features. It provides real-time insights through a gorgeous web interface that updates every second.

What Makes Netdata Special

Real-Time Everything Netdata collects and displays data in real-time with minimal system impact. You see what’s happening right now, not what happened a minute ago.

Beautiful Visualizations Interactive charts, graphs, and metrics make it easy to understand complex system behavior at a glance.

Extensive Monitoring Out of the box, Netdata monitors hundreds of metrics across different system components.

Installing Netdata

The easiest installation method:

bash <(curl -Ss https://my-netdata.io/kickstart.sh)

This script automatically detects your system and installs Netdata with optimal settings.

Accessing Netdata Dashboard

Once installed, open your web browser and navigate to: http://your-server-ip:19999

You’ll be greeted with a stunning dashboard showing real-time system metrics.

Key Netdata Features for VPS Monitoring

System Overview Dashboard The main dashboard provides:

• CPU usage with detailed breakdowns
• RAM and swap utilization
• Disk performance metrics
• Network traffic analysis
• System load and processes

Application Monitoring Netdata automatically detects and monitors common applications:

• Web servers (Apache, Nginx)
• Databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL)
• Programming languages (PHP, Python, Node.js)

Historical Data While Netdata focuses on real-time monitoring, it also stores historical data for trend analysis.

Alerting System Set up alerts for various thresholds and receive notifications via email, Slack, or other channels.

Netdata Performance Impact

One concern people have is whether monitoring tools slow down their VPS. Here’s the good news about Netdata:

• Uses less than 1% CPU on most systems
• Requires about 10-15MB of RAM
• Minimal disk I/O impact
• Designed specifically for production environments

Choosing the Right Tool for Your Needs

Now that we’ve covered all three tools, you might be wondering which one to use. Here’s my recommendation based on different scenarios:

For Beginners: Start with htop

If you’re new to VPS management or just need basic monitoring, htop is your best friend. It’s simple, lightweight, and gives you the essential information without overwhelming detail.

For Regular Monitoring: Use Glances

Once you’re comfortable with basic monitoring, Glances provides the perfect balance of detail and usability. The web interface makes remote monitoring easy, and the comprehensive metrics help you understand your system better.

For Advanced Users: Deploy Netdata

If you manage multiple VPS instances or need detailed performance analysis, Netdata is worth the setup effort. The real-time dashboard and extensive metrics make it invaluable for serious system administration.

The Hybrid Approach (My Personal Recommendation)

Why choose just one? Here’s what I recommend for most VPS owners:

1. Install htop for quick checks: Perfect for SSH sessions when you need fast information
2. Set up Netdata for detailed analysis: Use it for troubleshooting and performance optimization
3. Keep Glances handy: Great middle ground when htop isn’t enough but Netdata is overkill

Practical Monitoring Scenarios

Let’s look at some real-world situations where these tools shine:

Scenario 1: Website Running Slowly

Symptoms: Users complaining about slow page loads

Investigation approach:

1. Check htop for CPU and memory usage
2. Use Glances to examine disk I/O and network activity
3. Dive into Netdata for detailed application-specific metrics

Scenario 2: Unexpected High Server Load

Symptoms: Server becoming unresponsive

Investigation approach:

1. htop to quickly identify resource-hungry processes
2. Netdata’s real-time charts to see load patterns
3. Glances for comprehensive system state analysis

Scenario 3: Planning for Growth

Symptoms: Need to determine if server upgrade is necessary

Investigation approach:

1. Use Netdata’s historical data to identify trends
2. Glances for detailed resource utilization patterns
3. htop for spot checks during peak usage times

Setting Up Monitoring Alerts

Don’t just install these tools and forget about them. Set up alerts so you know when things go wrong:

htop Alternatives for Alerting

While htop doesn’t have built-in alerting, you can combine it with simple scripts:

#!/bin/bash
# Simple CPU monitoring script
CPU_USAGE=$(top -bn1 | grep "Cpu(s)" | awk '{print $2}' | awk -F'%' '{print $1}')
if (( $(echo "$CPU_USAGE > 80" | bc -l) )); then
    echo "High CPU usage: $CPU_USAGE%" | mail -s "Server Alert" [email protected]
fi

Glances Alerting

Configure Glances to send alerts when thresholds are exceeded by editing the configuration file.

Netdata Alerting

Netdata has robust alerting capabilities. Configure notifications through:

• Email
• Slack
• Discord
• Custom webhooks

Best Practices for VPS Monitoring

Based on years of managing VPS instances, here are my top recommendations:

1. Monitor Regularly, But Don’t Overdo It

Check your systems daily, but avoid the temptation to constantly refresh monitoring dashboards. Obsessive monitoring can be counterproductive.

2. Establish Baselines

Learn what’s normal for your server. Every application has different resource patterns, and understanding your baseline helps you spot anomalies quickly.

3. Document Everything

Keep notes about:

• When you notice unusual patterns
• Changes you make to the server
• Performance improvements or degradations
• Resource usage trends

4. Plan for Growth

Monitor trends to predict when you’ll need to upgrade resources. It’s better to upgrade proactively than reactively.

5. Test During Peak Hours

If your website gets busy during certain hours, make sure to check monitoring tools during those periods.

Common Monitoring Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Ignoring Disk Space

CPU and memory get most attention, but running out of disk space can crash your entire system. Always monitor disk usage.

Mistake 2: Not Understanding Load Average

Load average isn’t the same as CPU percentage. A load of 1.0 means your system is fully utilized but not overloaded.

Mistake 3: Panicking Over Temporary Spikes

Resource usage naturally fluctuates. Look for sustained high usage rather than temporary spikes.

Mistake 4: Monitoring Without Action Plans

Having monitoring data is useless if you don’t know what to do with it. Develop response plans for common scenarios.

Conclusion: Your VPS Monitoring Journey

Monitoring your VPS doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. With htop, Glances, and Netdata in your toolkit, you have everything needed to keep your server running smoothly.

Remember, good monitoring is like good health habits, consistency matters more than perfection. Start simple with htop, gradually incorporate more detailed tools as you become comfortable, and always focus on actionable insights rather than just collecting data.

Your website visitors in Nepal and around the world will thank you for the improved performance, and you’ll sleep better knowing your VPS is healthy and running optimally.

Ready to get started? Pick one tool, install it today, and spend just five minutes exploring what it shows you about your VPS. Small steps lead to big improvements in server management.

What monitoring challenges are you facing with your VPS? The tools we’ve covered should handle most scenarios, but every system is unique. Start monitoring today, and you’ll be amazed at what you learn about your server’s personality!