Glances System Monitor Tool an Eye on Your System

2020-09-01 961 words 5 minutes

Contents

Glances is a cross-platform system monitoring tool written in Python. It shows a frequently updated list of the processes running on a computer, normally ordered by the amount of CPU usage.

It’ll run on almost any platform, including Linux, Windows, and macOS. This tool makes it easier for developers to view a large amount of monitoring information through a web-based interface.

Many of you know Top as a monitor tool, or Htop, a slightly more extensive version of Top. Both are great to use.

Why Glances?

I think the big advantage of Glances is that you can install it on your server and see what is happening on your server from a distance. You can see with your browser what is going on on your network.

Or of course, you can monitor an entire network or a single local IP address.

You can even use Glances on your mobile (You need a rooted device and the Termux application (available on the Google Play Store).

Installation of Glances

There are several methods to test or install Glances on your system. Choose your weapon!

Glances Auto Install script: The total way

To install both dependencies and the latest Glances production-ready version (aka master branch), just enter the following command line:

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curl -L https://bit.ly/glances | /bin/bash

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wget -O- https://bit.ly/glances | /bin/bash

Pip: The simple way

Glances is on PyPI. By using Pip, you will be using the latest stable version.

To install, simply use pip:

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pip install glances

You can also install the following libraries in order to use optional features (like the Web interface, exports modules…):

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pip install 'glances[action,browser,cloud,cpuinfo,docker,export,folders,gpu,graph,ip,raid,snmp,web,wifi]'

To upgrade Glances to the latest version:

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pip install --upgrade glances

In the video, I use the following to install Glances

For Debian - Ubuntu based (including Kali Linux and Parrot Security)

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sudo apt install glances

For Arch based systems

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sudo pacman -S glances

How to Use glances

A brief overview For a comprehensive overview use the glances --help page or the man glances page.

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[bullseye@anarchy:~]$ glances --help
usage: glances [-h] [-V] [-d] [-C CONF_FILE] [--modules-list]
               [--disable-plugin DISABLE_PLUGIN]
               [--enable-plugin ENABLE_PLUGIN] [--disable-process]
               [--disable-webui] [--light] [-0] [-1] [-2] [-3] [-4] [-5] [-6]
               [--disable-history] [--disable-bold] [--disable-bg]
               [--enable-irq] [--enable-process-extended] [--export EXPORT]
               [--export-csv-file EXPORT_CSV_FILE] [--export-csv-overwrite]
               [--export-json-file EXPORT_JSON_FILE]
               [--export-graph-path EXPORT_GRAPH_PATH] [-c CLIENT] [-s]
               [--browser] [--disable-autodiscover] [-p PORT]
               [-B BIND_ADDRESS] [--username] [--password] [-u USERNAME_USED]
               [--snmp-community SNMP_COMMUNITY] [--snmp-port SNMP_PORT]
               [--snmp-version SNMP_VERSION] [--snmp-user SNMP_USER]
               [--snmp-auth SNMP_AUTH] [--snmp-force] [-t TIME] [-w]
               [--cached-time CACHED_TIME] [--open-web-browser] [-q]
               [-f PROCESS_FILTER] [--process-short-name] [--stdout STDOUT]
               [--stdout-csv STDOUT_CSV] [--hide-kernel-threads] [-b]
               [--diskio-show-ramfs] [--diskio-iops] [--fahrenheit]
               [--fs-free-space] [--sparkline] [--theme-white]
               [--disable-check-update]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -V, --version         show program's version number and exit
  -d, --debug           enable debug mode
  -C CONF_FILE, --config CONF_FILE
                        path to the configuration file
  --modules-list, --module-list
                        display modules (plugins & exports) list and exit

Glances Usage

For the standalone mode, just run

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glances

For the Web server mode, use glances -w And enter the URL http://:61208 in your favorite web browser.

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glances -w

For the client/server mode, run

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glances -s

On the server side and run glances -c <ip> on the client one.

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glances -c <ip>

You can also detect and display all Glances servers available on your network or defined in the configuration file:

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glances --browser

Gateway to other services

Glances can export stats to: CSV file, JSON file, InfluxDB, Cassandra, CouchDB, OpenTSDB, Prometheus, StatsD, ElasticSearch, RabbitMQ/ActiveMQ, ZeroMQ, Kafka, Riemann and RESTful server.

Video

Glances System Monitor Tool | An Eye on Your System

Glances is a cross-platform system monitoring tool written in Python. It shows a frequently updated list of the processes running on a computer, normally ordered by the amount of CPU usage.

It’ll run on almost any platform, including Linux, Microsoft, and macOS. This tool makes it easier for developers to view a large amount of monitoring information through a web-based interface.

In the video I show in detail how to install and use Glances. Otherwise this story will be very boring 😃

Conclusion Glances

While tools such as Top or Htop offer the option to close programs with kill, Glances is (not yet possible). Hopefully, that might happen.

It is very convenient that you can monitor this tool from anywhere on your device, be it on Linux, macOS, or Windows.

A great tool ..!

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