summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/README.md
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorPaul Buetow <paul@buetow.org>2026-02-13 20:48:13 +0200
committerPaul Buetow <paul@buetow.org>2026-02-13 20:48:13 +0200
commitbd095a1b9a2027a1ff43fe4b6fa04d0354ca062c (patch)
treeed4c8fad86c1b8347cc86020e0793822ae76a788 /README.md
parent20e3db5bcb04bc57377432126404b5e99d0b0a92 (diff)
Convert POD documentation to Markdown and migrate to Justfile
- Convert all POD files to Markdown format - Replace Makefile with justfile for build automation - Remove deprecated Debian packaging files and related directories - Update copyright year from 2013 to 2026 in Constants.pm and loadbars - Remove obsolete docs directory (bugs, wishlist, and generated files) - Fix sum() function in Utils.pm to handle undef values properly
Diffstat (limited to 'README.md')
-rw-r--r--README.md126
1 files changed, 126 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5aa291
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+# loadbars - A small and humble tool to observe server loads
+
+## Synopsis
+
+```
+loadbars [LIST OF HOSTNAMES] [OPTIONS]
+```
+
+### Tested platforms
+
+This version of loadbars has been tested on Fedora Linux 43 and should work on
+most modern Linux distributions (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, etc.).
+
+### I like flying elephants
+
+For any startup params help check out `--help` on command line or `h` during program
+execution.
+
+### A few examples however
+
+```bash
+loadbars --extended 1 --showcores 1 --height 300 --hosts localhost
+
+loadbars --hosts localhost,server1.example.com,server2.example.com
+
+loadbars --cluster foocluster (foocluster is in /etc/clusters [ClusterSSH])
+```
+
+### More examples, using shell expansion
+
+```bash
+loadbars servername{01,02,03}.example.com
+
+loadbars servername{01..50}.example.com --showcores 1
+```
+
+## Description
+
+Loadbars is a small script that can be used to observe CPU loads of several remote servers at once in real time. It connects with SSH (using SSH public/private key auth) to several servers at once and vizualizes all server CPUs and memory statistics right next each other (either summarized or each core separately). Loadbars is not a tool for collecting CPU loads and drawing graphs for later analysis. However, since such tools require a significant amount of time before producing results, Loadbars lets you observe the current state immediately. Loadbars does not remember or record any load information. It just shows the current CPU usages like top or vmstat does.
+
+## Installation
+
+### Dependencies (Fedora/RHEL/CentOS)
+
+To run loadbars on Fedora Linux, you need to install the following packages:
+
+```bash
+sudo dnf install perl perl-SDL perl-Alien-SDL perl-Proc-ProcessTable
+```
+
+### Dependencies for Remote Hosts
+
+For monitoring remote servers via SSH, the remote hosts need:
+
+```bash
+sudo dnf install perl-Time-HiRes
+```
+
+### Running from Source
+
+To run loadbars directly from the source directory:
+
+```bash
+./loadbars --hosts localhost
+```
+
+Or with remote servers:
+
+```bash
+./loadbars --hosts root@server1,root@server2 --showcores 1
+```
+
+### SSH Configuration
+
+Loadbars requires SSH public/private key authentication. Make sure:
+
+- You have SSH keys set up (~/.ssh/id_rsa or similar)
+- Your public key is in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on remote servers
+- SSH agent is running (ssh-agent), or passwordless keys are configured
+
+## Info
+
+### CPU stuff
+
+- `st` = Steal in % [see man proc] (extended), Color: Red
+- `gt` = Guest in % [see man proc] (extended), Color: Red
+- `sr` = Soft IRQ usage in % (extended), Color: White
+- `ir` = IRQ usage in % (extended), Color: White
+- `io` = IOwait cpu sage in %, Color: Purple
+- `id` = Idle cpu usage in % (extended), Color: Black
+- `ni` = Nice cpu usage in %, Color: Green
+- `us` = User cpu usage in %, Color: Yellow, dark yellow if to>50%, orange if to>50%
+- `sy` = System cpu sage in %, Color: Blue, lighter blue if >30%
+- `to` = Total CPU usage, which is (100% - id)
+- `pk` = Max us+sy peak of last avg. samples (extended)
+- 1px horizontal line: Maximum sy+us+io of last 'avg' samples (extended)
+
+### Memory stuff
+
+- `Ram` = System ram usage in %, Color: Dark grey
+- `Swp` = System swap usage in %, Color: Grey
+
+### Network stuff
+
+- `Rxb` = Incoming (received) traffic in %, Color: Light green, normal green if >100% while using low netlink reference. Bar comes from top and is half width.
+- `Txb` = Outgoing (transmitted) traffic in %, Color: Light green, normal green if >100% while using low netlink reference. Bar comes from bottom and is half width.
+
+When network bar is red: The interface does not exist on the specific remote host.
+
+#### Config file support
+
+Loadbars tries to read ~/.loadbarsrc and it's possible to configure any option you find in --help but without leading '--'. For comments just use the '#' sign. Sample config:
+
+```
+showcores=1 # Always show cores on startup
+```
+
+will always show all CPU cores. If you press the 'w' hotkey during program execution your config file will be overwritten using the current settings.
+
+## License
+
+See package description or project website.
+
+## Author
+
+Paul Buetow - <http://buetow.org>