The iostat command is used for monitoring system input/output device loading by observing the
time the devices are active in relation to their average transfer rates. It generates reports that can be
used to change system configuration to better balance the input/output load between physical
disks1. The iostat command is particularly useful for monitoring disk throughput and can help
identify high disk utilization, which is essential for diagnosing performance issues related to
storage2.
The iostat command provides information about input/output (I/O) statistics for block devices (like
hard drives and SSDs) and CPUs, making it a valuable tool for analyzing the performance and usage
of these resources on a system1. It is distributed as part of the sysstat package and is available on
most Linux distributions1.
The other commands listed have different purposes:
stat (OA) is used to display file or file system status.
netstat (OB) displays network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade
connections, and multicast memberships.
nbtstat (OC) is a Windows command-line utility that displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP
connections using NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
Therefore, for monitoring the performance of system input/output devices on Linux/UNIX systems,
iostat (OD) is the correct command to use1.
