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Snapshot System Health with vmstat

vmstat gives a compact one-line-per-interval view of CPU usage, swap activity, and I/O waits that top doesn't summarize as clearly.

LinuxvmstatmonitoringperformanceLow risk
Run `vmstat 2 5` to sample system statistics every 2 seconds, 5 times.

01Command

Command
$ vmstat 2 5

02What it does

The first report is a long-term average since boot, so ignore it and read the later lines. High si/so values mean the machine is actively swapping (memory pressure); a high wa column means CPUs are idle but blocked waiting on disk I/O. us+sy near 100 with wa at 0 means a CPU-bound workload instead.

03Risk

RiskLow risk
Requirementsprocps installed (default on most distros)

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

  • vmstat(8) - Linux manual page
    Ubuntu Manpages · technical · 2026-09-17
    Evidence: vmstat reports virtual memory statistics; the interval and count arguments run it repeatedly, and columns include si/so swap activity and wa I/O wait.

Last verified: 2026-09-17 · Category: System & Settings

06Related solutions

Check RAM Usage with free -h
Linuxmonitoringmemoryfree

Use free -h to see used, free, and available memory plus swap in GB/MiB instead of raw kilobytes.

Low risk ✓ 2026-09-17