Read a Useful System Snapshot with landscape-sysinfo

landscape-sysinfo packs load, disk, memory and more into one glance, exactly what you want when a server feels off for no clear reason. It covers load, disk usage, memory, swap, temperature, processes, logged-in users and network addresses. You will also learn how to hide noisy sections for one run or configure that choice persistently. Allow about ten minutes. The examples are read-only unless you deliberately edit the Landscape client configuration.

This guide uses landscape-common version 24.02-0ubuntu5.7, installed on the system where it was written. Package releases can add options or change presentation, so check the executable on your own host before putting its output into a script.

1. Confirm the installed command

Start with ordinary, unprivileged checks. No sudo is normally required to display the summary:

$ command -v landscape-sysinfo
/usr/bin/landscape-sysinfo
$ landscape-sysinfo --version
24.02-0ubuntu5.7

This package also accepts --width, which sets the maximum output width. That option is in the installed help but not the older local manual page, so treat landscape-sysinfo --help as the final authority for the binary you are actually running:

$ landscape-sysinfo --help
Usage: landscape-sysinfo [options]

Options:
  --version
  -h, --help
  -c FILE, --config=FILE
  -d PATH, --data-path=PATH
  --sysinfo-plugins=PLUGIN_LIST
  --exclude-sysinfo-plugins=PLUGIN_LIST
  --width=WIDTH

Checkpoint: if the command is missing, install the distribution package through your normal package-management process. Do not create a replacement script with the same name, establish which Landscape release your host is meant to use first.

2. Read the default snapshot

Run the command without options:

$ landscape-sysinfo
System load:                1.23
Usage of /:                 20.0% of 3.56TB
Memory usage:               45%
Swap usage:                 7%
Temperature:                54.0 C
Processes:                  823
Users logged in:            1
IPv4 address for enp0s31f6: 203.0.113.23

Your values and labels will differ. The default plugin set is Load, Disk, Memory, Temperature, Processes, LoggedInUsers and Network. A host can show more than one address, interface or filesystem. A high load figure is a signal to investigate, not proof a process is broken, compare it against the number of CPU cores and the kind of work the machine is doing.

The output can expose private network addresses and host activity. Avoid pasting it into a public issue or chat without checking for addresses, usernames and capacity details first. The command only reports the snapshot, it does not tune processes, restart services or change networking.

3. Hide noisy plugins for one run

Use --exclude-sysinfo-plugins with a comma-delimited list. This example removes temperature and network details without editing a file:

$ landscape-sysinfo --exclude-sysinfo-plugins=Temperature,Network
System load:    1.23
Usage of /:     20.0% of 3.56TB
Memory usage:   45%
Swap usage:     7%
Processes:      823
Users logged in: 1

Plugin names are case-sensitive in the documented examples: Load, Disk, Memory, Temperature, Processes, LoggedInUsers, LandscapeLink or Network. The normal default does not include LandscapeLink. Specify both include and exclude lists and exclusions win.

To request only a small, predictable set, use --sysinfo-plugins:

$ landscape-sysinfo --sysinfo-plugins=Load,Memory --width=60
System load:   1.23
Memory usage:  45%

Checkpoint: rerun the same command with echo "$?" if you are testing it in a script. A zero status means the command completed, not that every possible metric was available or that the host is healthy.

4. Make a plugin choice persistent

For a lasting setting, use the [sysinfo] section in /etc/landscape/client.conf. This is a system configuration change and usually needs elevated privileges. First inspect the existing file and make a recoverable copy:

$ sudo cp --preserve=all /etc/landscape/client.conf /etc/landscape/client.conf.bak
$ sudoedit /etc/landscape/client.conf

Add or update the setting inside the existing section. Command-line hyphens become underscores in configuration keys:

[sysinfo]
exclude_sysinfo_plugins = Temperature, Network

Do not create a second [sysinfo] section if one already exists, and do not replace the whole client configuration with this short example, unrelated client settings may be required for Landscape registration or other agents.

Verify the effective result without restarting a service:

$ landscape-sysinfo --config=/etc/landscape/client.conf
System load:    1.23
Usage of /:     20.0% of 3.56TB
Memory usage:   45%
Swap usage:     7%
Processes:      823
Users logged in: 1

If the result is wrong, restore the backup only after checking that it is the copy you made:

$ sudo cp --preserve=all /etc/landscape/client.conf.bak /etc/landscape/client.conf
$ landscape-sysinfo --config=/etc/landscape/client.conf

The backup command changes state and can overwrite a configuration, so do not run the restore blindly. If another administrator has edited the file since the backup, merge the intended change manually instead.

5. Understand login behaviour and diagnostics

Landscape can display this information at console, terminal or SSH login. The manual describes a safeguard: when system load is higher than the number of processor entries in /proc/cpuinfo, sysinfo is not run at login. That avoids adding work while an administrator is trying to recover a busy host, so a missing login display under heavy load is expected behaviour, not evidence the command has been removed.

Running the command directly is a separate test. If a plugin fails, inspect the log after the command returns. A root invocation normally logs to /var/log/landscape/sysinfo.log; a regular user uses ~/.landscape/sysinfo.log:

$ landscape-sysinfo
$ test -f "$HOME/.landscape/sysinfo.log" && tail -n 20 "$HOME/.landscape/sysinfo.log"
$ sudo tail -n 20 /var/log/landscape/sysinfo.log

Use only the log path appropriate to the account that ran the command. Reading the system log may need sudo, do not change its permissions just to make it easier to inspect. The data path option, --data-path, defaults to /var/lib/landscape/client/ and is for data files, not a substitute for the configuration file.

Done means