The collectd command is a utility in Linux that is used to start, stop, or restart the collectd daemon, which is a system performance monitoring daemon. Collectd gathers performance data from various sources, including the operating system, applications, and hardware devices, and stores the data in a variety of formats for later analysis.
To start the collectd daemon, use the following command:
# collectd
This will start the collectd daemon and begin gathering performance data.
If you encounter the below error while running the command collectd:
collectd: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
| Debian | apt-get install collectd-core |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install collectd-core |
| Alpine | apk add collectd |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S collectd |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install collectd-core |
| Fedora | dnf install collectd |
| OS X | brew install collectd |
| Raspbian | apt-get install collectd-core |
collectd Command Examples
1. Show usage help, including the program version:
# collectd -h
2. Test the configuration file and then exit:
# collectd -t
3. Test plugin data collection functionality and then exit:
# collectd -T
4. Start collectd:
# collectd
5. Specify a custom configuration file location:
# collectd -C path/to/file
6. Specify a custom PID file location:
# collectd -P path/to/file
7. Don’t fork into the background:
# collectd -f