Mr nmon and the 'n' Tools - all open-source code
Covering technical topics around nmon, njmon/nimon and other "n" tools - all open-source code.
nmon and njmon Performance Monitoring
nmon is short for Nigel's performance MONitor for AIX and Linux computer systems.
It runs in two modes: display performance statistics immediately to your terminal window or save statistics to a .nmon file for later processing and graphing.
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nmon for AIX and VIOS
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nmon for AIX is built into the AIX Operating System and has been installed with AIX by default since 2009.
The source code is part of the IBM AIX and is unavailable to the public. No download is needed.
On any AIX system since 2007:
- Use the command nmon to see the performance stats immediately on the screen.
- Use nmon -f to save the statistics to a comma-separated data format file.
- Use nmon -h to show you all the other options. Particularly, -s seconds and -c count are worth getting right.
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nmon for Linux
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nmon for Linux is open source C code.
- Pre-compiled binaries are also downloadable from the "nmon on Sourceforge" project nmon for Linux
- This has the same basic options as the above nmon for the AIX version and the same two modes: interactive on-screen and capture to a .nmon file.
- It runs on any current Linux Distribution/release and hardware. Tested on ARM, AMD64 (x86_64), Power and mainframe/Z.
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nmon Data
Analysis & Graphing
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nmon files post processing for creating graphs
- There are a number of tools
- nmonchart - a Korn shell script that generates a website page (.html) for your browser to show the graphs. Very quick, does further analysis and has many beautiful graphs. This can be automated on AIX or Linux. See below for information, download and live nmoncharting service.
- nmon analyser - the original too, but requires Microsoft Excel as it is written in Visual Basic and rather labour-intensive.
- nsum - for summarising many dozens or hundreds of nmon files for system sizing or server consolidation.
it creates a comma-separated values (CSV) file for a spreadsheet (like Excel), ready for further analysis. Information and Download: see below.
- nmon Visualiser - Popular with some people. Open-source since 2013, and the developer is Hunter Presnall. Send questions to him, please.
Find all the details, bug support and download NMON Visualizer
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nmonchart script
- graphing nmon files
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Take a quick look at the nmonchart graphs: sample graphs.
For more information, samples and downloading the Korn shell script nmonchart
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nmonchart Live Graphs
- Try it, now!
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The nmonchart-ing live and online service:
- Upload your .nmon file, and it returns all the nmonchart graphs to your browser in a second or two.
- nmonchart graphing online <- Convert an .nmon file to graphs in this browser in the next few seconds
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njmon & nimon
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One program binary with two names, depending on the desired output data format = JSON or Influx Line Protocol.
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- the new nmon
Time-series database
with live graphing
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njmon & nimon are the modern replacement for nmon.
The name decides the output format: njmon (JSON) and nimon (InfluxDB line protocol format)
- The performance statistics are directly sent to a time-series database like InfluxDB and dynamically live graphed by Grafana.
- This avoids the user management of all the .nmon files and having to use other tools to generate graphs.
- This can also generate live graphs.
- Tools like Grafana operate using your web browser (no user-level installation needed), and users can dynamically change the date and range of the statistics.
You can add/remove/change graphs immediately.
Find all the details here: njmon Sourceforge website
njmon & nimon remove old problems caused by nmon:
- Hundreds of nmon files that you have to manage and a central site for data - no more ftp, NFS, Excel or other manual tooling
- Data in a Time-Series database for backup and data archiving & compression
- Intelligent dynamic graphing that users can quickly change and adapt. The graphs in Grafana are also beautiful IMHO
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nextract plus
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Python programs to output JSON or direct injection into InfluxDB.
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- for HMC statistics
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nextract - also called nextract plus in Python
- Main Python program logs on to your HMC and extracts all the performance stats it knows about your connected Power Systems and Logical Paritions (regardless of the operating system)
- It outputs to a JSON file or directly into InfluxDB - a time series database (open-source or supported flavours).
- Also two smaller Python programs to extract Energy stats (temperature & electrical power) and Shared Storage Pool stats.
- These support Comma Separated Values (CSV) and nchart graphs in an HTML webpage output.
- Github page and README documentation nextract
- Download Zip directly: wget https://github.com/nigelargriffiths/nextract/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
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Other 'n' Tools plus some other useful open-source code
Find these tools at https://github.com/nigelargriffiths?tab=repositories
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duper - fast data generation
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Roll-Your-Own - AIX Performance programs
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nworms - graphical tool showing the speed of the CPU and LPM events
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nstress - put your server under extreme workloads
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nshred - destroy your data quickly
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printb - C coder useful function
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InfluxDB version 1.x Client in C language
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rperf - this script gives an rperf estimate for your LPAR / VM
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nsum - sumarise many of .nmon files to a single line of stats
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nmon2WLE - data ready for Workload Manager input
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Shared Storage Pools Tools - VIOS SSP tools
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Nigel Griffiths
- IBM (retired) - Now in 2025 an IBM Champion
- Skill Areas: Power Systems, AIX and Linux, Performance/Sizing tools, Solution Design
- Nigel is known as Mr nmon.
Got a question?
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