How to Monitor System Resources (`htop`, `glances`) on Arch Linux

Monitoring system resources is essential for maintaining the health, performance, and stability of any Linux system. Arch Linux, known for its simplicity and customization, provides a rich environment for users to tailor their monitoring tools to their needs. Two powerful and user-friendly utilities for this task are htop and glances. This article will guide you through installing, configuring, and using these tools effectively on Arch Linux.

Why Monitor System Resources?

System monitoring is critical for a number of reasons:

• Performance tuning: Identifying bottlenecks in CPU, memory, or disk usage.
• Troubleshooting: Pinpointing unresponsive processes or services that consume excessive resources.
• System health checks: Keeping an eye on temperature, load average, and memory usage to prevent overheating or system crashes.
• Security: Spotting unusual activity that may suggest a security breach.

Let’s explore two widely used tools that can help you achieve these goals: htop and glances.

1. Installing htop on Arch Linux

What is htop?

htop is an interactive process viewer and system monitor that is a more feature-rich alternative to the classic top command. It provides a colorful, real-time interface for viewing running processes, memory and CPU usage, and system load.

Installation

Installing htop on Arch Linux is straightforward using pacman:

sudo pacman -S htop

Once installed, you can launch it by simply running:

htop

2. Using htop

User Interface Overview

The htop interface is divided into two main sections:

• Header (top part): Shows CPU (per core), memory, swap usage, and load averages.
• Process list (bottom part): Displays all running processes along with columns such as PID, user, CPU%, MEM%, uptime, and command.

Interactive Controls

One of the strengths of htop is its interactive features. You can:

• Use arrow keys or j/k to navigate.
• Press F3 to search for a specific process.
• Press F4 to filter processes by name.
• Press F6 to sort by various columns (e.g., CPU usage, memory).
• Press F9 to kill a process (with signal selection).
• Press F10 to quit.

Customization

You can customize the interface by pressing F2 (Setup). Here, you can:

• Adjust what columns appear in the process list.
• Choose different color schemes.
• Configure meters to show detailed memory stats, IO activity, etc.

Monitoring CPU and Memory

CPU usage is shown per core, which is helpful on multi-core systems. The memory usage bar gives a visual representation of how RAM is allocated (used, buffers, cache).

3. Installing glances on Arch Linux

What is glances?

glances is a cross-platform, curses-based system monitoring tool written in Python. It provides a holistic overview of your system in a single dashboard, including CPU, memory, disk I/O, network, sensors, and more. glances aims to present as much information as possible without requiring user interaction.

Installation

To install glances, you can use the official Arch repositories:

sudo pacman -S glances

Alternatively, for the latest version, you can install it via pip (Python’s package manager):

pip install glances

Note: If using pip, it is recommended to use a virtual environment or install it using pipx.

4. Using glances

Starting glances

Just run:

glances

The default interface will open up in your terminal.

Interface Overview

The interface is divided into several sections:

• CPU and Load: Shows usage per core and load averages.
• Memory and Swap: Reports total, used, and free memory with percentages.
• Disk I/O: Displays read/write activity.
• Network: Shows incoming/outgoing traffic.
• Processes: List of top processes by CPU usage.
• Sensors (if available): Includes temperature and fan speed.
• File System: Disk space usage by mounted partitions.

Interactive Features

Although glances is meant to be mostly passive, it still supports some keyboard commands:

• q: Quit
• h: Help menu
• c: Sort processes by CPU usage
• m: Sort by memory usage
• p: Pause output
• b: Toggle network bandwidth in bits/bytes

Customization

Configuration is done via a file located at ~/.config/glances/glances.conf, which allows you to:

• Toggle the visibility of different sections.
• Set thresholds for color-coded warnings.
• Enable/disable plugins (e.g., sensors, docker).

To generate a sample config file:

glances --generate-config

5. Comparison of htop and glances

6. Advanced Usage and Tips

Running in Web Mode (for glances)

You can run glances as a lightweight web server to monitor remotely:

glances -w

Then visit http://<your_ip>:61208 in a browser. You can also secure it using reverse proxy with Nginx and HTTPS.

Remote Monitoring (Client/Server)

Server

glances -s

Client (on another machine)

glances -c <server_ip>

Useful for managing multiple systems from a single terminal.

Logging with glances

You can export data in various formats:

glances --export-csv /path/to/file.csv

Or use other formats like JSON, InfluxDB, Prometheus, etc.

Minimal View

For focused monitoring:

glances --minimal

This is useful in small terminal windows or embedded setups.

7. Performance and Overhead

Both tools are designed to have minimal impact on system performance, but here are some notes:

• htop is extremely lightweight and perfect for real-time manual inspection.
• glances is heavier due to Python but offers a broader view and is more suitable for automated and remote monitoring.

If you’re running on very limited hardware (e.g., Raspberry Pi), htop might be the better choice unless you need the extended feature set of glances.

8. Alternatives and Complementary Tools

Here are a few additional tools you might find useful:

• iotop – Monitor disk I/O by process.
• nmon – Another real-time system performance monitoring tool.
• btop – A modern htop/top alternative with graphical enhancements.
• dstat – Combines vmstat, iostat, and netstat.
• vnstat – Lightweight network traffic monitor.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a system administrator managing multiple servers, a power user tuning a desktop, or just someone curious about what’s going on inside your machine, htop and glances offer valuable insights into system health and performance.

• Use htop when you want a snappy, interactive, real-time view with powerful process management.
• Use glances when you want a broad, automated overview or remote monitoring capabilities.

Since both tools are lightweight and easy to use, there’s no reason not to install both and switch depending on your current task.