How to Install and Use the Atop System and Process Monitoring Tool on Linux

Post Date: June 5, 2017
Last Updated: September 30, 2026

Introduction

Atop is an advanced system and process monitoring tool for Linux systems. It provides detailed information about CPU, memory, disk, network, and process-level resource usage. Unlike basic monitoring tools, Atop can also record system and process activity, allowing administrators to review resource usage and completed processes at a later time. This article explains how to install and configure Atop on Red Hat-based and Debian-based Linux systems and covers commonly used Atop commands.

Prerequisites

Before installing Atop, ensure the following requirements are met:

1. A Linux server with root or sudo privileges.
2. Basic knowledge of Linux command-line operations.
3. Internet connectivity to download the required packages.
4. Identify whether the server is Red Hat-based or Debian-based.
5. On Red Hat-based systems, verify the system architecture before downloading the appropriate RPM package.
6. Ensure the required package management utilities, such as rpm, yum, or apt-get, are available.

Implementation:

There are multiple ways to install atop on the host. We can use either the rpm or yum utility to install atop on an RH-based system. On Debian-based systems, use the apt-get or dpkg method to install.

On RH-based systems,

Identify the OS architecture by executing the following command.

arch

Download the latest RPM from the official website.

https://www.atoptool.nl/download/atop-2.3.0-1.el6.x86_64.rpm

Install the RPM.

rpm -ivh atop-2.3.0-1.el6.x86_64.rpm

Add the service to run on boot

chkconfig atop on

On a Debian-based system,

Atop will come from the default repository. We can just use the apt-get utility to install atop.

apt-get install atop

Add the service on boot.

update-rc.d atop defaults

How to use Atop:

To view the current process status.

atop

To view memory consumption,

atop -m

To view Disk Utilization,

atop -d

To view UID, PID, GID, and CPU usage of running processes,

atop -v

To show commands of processes,

atop -c

To view users’ processes

atop -u

To view logs at a particular time,

atop -r -b 12:00

Conclusion

Atop provides a comprehensive way to monitor Linux system and process performance. It can be used to analyze CPU, memory, disk, and process utilization in real time, while its logging capabilities help administrators review historical resource usage. By installing Atop and configuring it to start automatically after a reboot, system administrators can continuously monitor server performance and troubleshoot resource-related issues more effectively.

FAQs

1. What is Atop in Linux?
Atop is a system and process monitoring tool that provides detailed information about CPU, memory, disk, network, and process resource usage.

2. How do I install Atop on a Red Hat-based Linux system?
Atop can be installed using the appropriate RPM package or through the system’s package manager, depending on the Linux distribution.

3. How do I install Atop on a Debian-based Linux system?
On Debian-based systems, Atop can generally be installed using:
apt-get install atop

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