Monitor esxi resource utilization via esxtop command

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esxtop is a command-line tool that provides real-time information about resource usage in your ESXi environment. It can provide you with a wealth of data on CPU, memory, disk, and network usage.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use esxtop to monitor an ESXi host:

1. Connect to the ESXi host via SSH

   This assumes SSH to ESXi host is enabled via ESXi / vCenter

2. Start esxtop using:

   esxtop

   If you see too many lines of output and not proper top screen use:

   export TERM=xterm

3. Understand esxtop screens: esxtop has several different screens you can use to monitor different types of resource usage:

   CPU screen

   Press c to switch to the CPU screen. Here you can monitor CPU usage for the entire system, as well as for individual worlds.

   Memory screen

   Press m to switch to the memory screen. This screen provides information on memory usage, including active and consumed memory.

   Network screen

   Press n to switch to the network screen. Here you can see data on network usage, including packets transmitted and received.

   Disk Adapter screen

   Press d to switch to the disk adapter screen. This screen shows you disk usage at the adapter level.

   Disk Device screen

   Press u to switch to the disk device screen. This screen provides disk usage data at the device level.

   Disk VM screen

   Press v to switch to the disk VM screen. This screen shows disk usage at the virtual machine level.

4. Field selection: You can add or remove fields (columns) on each screen by pressing f and then the corresponding letters for the fields you want to add or remove. Once the fields are selected, press Enter to go back to the screen.
5. Sort by fields: Press o to change the order of the fields. By default, most screens are sorted by the %USED field.
6. Updating the refresh interval: By default, the esxtop refreshes every 5 seconds. You can change this by pressing s and then typing the new interval (in seconds).
7. Capture esxtop data for later analysis: You can capture esxtop data to a CSV file for later analysis. Do this by running esxtop with the -b option followed by the number of iterations and the delay between iterations. For example: esxtop -b -n 100 -d 5 > esxtopoutput.csv. This will capture 100 iterations with a 5 second delay between each, and write the output to a file named esxtopoutput.csv.
8. Exit esxtop: Press q to quit esxtop.

To understand meaning of various fields shown in esxtop refer:

• https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Storage-Performance/Interpreting-esxtop-Statistics/ta-p/2776936
• https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1008205

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