💥 Tracking CPU, Memory & Disk on Linux — Without Installing a Thing
🔍 The Problem
Sometimes I just want to know what my Linux server is doing —
without spinning up Grafana or digging through dmesg logs.
I built this while working at AlphaPoint, where lightweight tools were essential for monitoring crypto infrastructure without adding performance overhead.
I wanted a lightweight, on-demand way to check system stats across machines:
CPU load, memory usage, disk space, maybe even network I/O.
🛠️ The Fix: Python, psutil, and Clean Output
I wrote a script that:
- ✅ Uses
psutil to grab system metrics (CPU, RAM, disk, uptime)
- ✅ Formats output for easy scanning or parsing
- ✅ Runs via cron, CLI, or as a quick health check script
- ✅ Saves to local file or can email on threshold breach
It’s perfect for resource-constrained instances or just when you want clarity without clutter.
📬 GitHub Link
Open-source, portable, and plug-and-play:
👉
github.com/chinmaya-chhatre/linux-resource-usage-tracker
📈 What Changed
- ⚙️ Quick visibility into system spikes across environments
- 🧼 Caught silent memory leaks in long-running apps
- 💡 Helped debug slowdowns without setting up new tools
⚖️ Tradeoffs I Made
- No Persistent Dashboard: Kept it CLI-based to avoid storage/infra bloat
- No Agent Overhead: Didn’t rely on Telegraf or Daemon — just pure Python
- Threshold-Only Alerts: Only triggers when resource use crosses limits — less noise, more signal
🧠 What I'd Add Next
- 📊 CSV export + CLI chart support for visual folks
- 📦 Package as pip installable CLI tool
- 📤 Push alerts to a Slack/Discord channel
🧵 Why I’m Sharing This
Because good observability doesn’t need to be heavy.
Because I love building things I actually use.
And because this script saved me more than once when “top” wasn’t enough.
📎 Bonus Links