Module Title: dgt_sys04 – Monitoring
Description:
“dgt_sys04 – Monitoring” is a module on optimizing and monitoring Linux systems, intended for IT professionals and system administrators. It covers the knowledge needed to tune system resources and implement monitoring solutions that keep performance and reliability under control.
You will first learn what CPU, memory, I/O and network metrics really mean and how the kernel manages these resources. In the practical part, the machine does the operating: you ask it in natural language why a server is slow, to show per-process I/O, or to set up a Prometheus alert for disk usage, and you read the numbers and configurations it brings back, decide whether its diagnosis holds up, and tell it what to check or change next.
Module Objectives:
- Understand the fundamentals of resource management in Linux environments.
- Learn the techniques for tuning system parameters, so you can evaluate and approve the tuning changes the machine proposes.
- Know key monitoring tools such as iotop, top, htop, free, vmstat, Nagios and Prometheus well enough to interpret their output when the machine runs them for you.
- Develop strategies for proactive system health checks and troubleshooting, and express them as clear instructions to the machine.
- Define effective alerting rules, have the machine implement them, and verify that they fire when they should.
Key Topics Covered:
- Introduction to Linux Resource Management
- Overview of CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network utilization.
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Basics of process management and priority handling.
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Performance Tuning Techniques
- Identifying bottlenecks using system metrics.
- Adjusting kernel parameters for improved performance.
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Configuring system limits ulimits and resource quotas.
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Monitoring Tools and Utilities
- iotop: Monitoring disk I/O usage per process.
- top: Real-time view of running processes and their resource consumption.
- htop: An interactive version of top with additional features.
- free: Checking memory usage statistics.
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vmstat: Reporting virtual memory statistics to diagnose performance issues.
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Advanced Monitoring Solutions
- Introduction to Nagios: how it is set up and configured for monitoring.
- Prometheus for time-series data collection and analysis.
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Dashboards and alerts with Grafana for visual insights, requested from the machine and reviewed by you.
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Proactive System Health Checks
- Establishing baseline performance metrics.
- Scheduling regular audits and system checks.
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Implementing automated alert systems for early detection of anomalies.
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Case Studies and Best Practices
- Real-world scenarios demonstrating effective tuning and monitoring strategies, worked through in natural language with the machine.
- Sharing industry best practices to maintain optimal system health.
Target Audience:
This module is intended for Linux system administrators, DevOps engineers, IT professionals responsible for infrastructure management, and anyone who works on resource optimization and system monitoring.
By the end of this module, participants will be able to guide the machine in tuning Linux systems and building monitoring solutions, and to judge whether what it reports and configures really keeps the system healthy.
The students can push their exercises to the Academy DevOps & SRE Git project. For this module, create a folder with your username as its name in the following subfolder: https://github.com/Garanti-Del-Talento/gdt_academy