115 commands · 6 cheat sheets · Linux
Containers, Virtualization, and Performance master quick reference
Browse 115 commands from 6 focused cheat sheets on page 1 of 1. Each example opens its matching detailed section.
Containers, Virtualization, and Performance · 16 commands
cgroup v2 Resource Control Cheat Sheet
| Use | Syntax | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm cgroup v2 | stat -fc %T /sys/fs/cgroup | View examples |
| Show current cgroup | cat /proc/self/cgroup | View examples |
| List available controllers | cat /sys/fs/cgroup/cgroup.controllers | View examples |
| Find unit cgroup | systemctl show api.service -p ControlGroup | View examples |
| Run a limited scope | systemd-run --user --scope -p MemoryHigh=768M -p \
MemoryMax=1G -p CPUQuota=150% make -j4 | View examples |
| Apply memory throttle | MemoryHigh=768M | View examples |
| Apply hard memory limit | MemoryMax=1G | View examples |
| Read memory events | cat \
/sys/fs/cgroup/system.slice/api.service/memory.events | View examples |
| Set relative CPU weight | CPUWeight=200 | View examples |
| Cap CPU bandwidth | CPUQuota=150% | View examples |
| Set relative I/O weight | IOWeight=200 | View examples |
| Limit tasks | TasksMax=512 | View examples |
| List member processes | cat /sys/fs/cgroup/system.slice/api.service/cgroup.procs | View examples |
| Enable child controllers | printf '%s\n' '+cpu +memory +pids' |
sudo tee \
/sys/fs/cgroup/ops.slice/cgroup.subtree_control | View examples |
| Watch cgroup usage | systemd-cgtop --depth=3 | View examples |
| Read CPU pressure | cat /sys/fs/cgroup/system.slice/api.service/cpu.pressure | View examples |
Containers, Virtualization, and Performance · 20 commands
Containers with Podman Cheat Sheet
| Use | Syntax | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Inspect engine and host | podman info --format json | View examples |
| Check subordinate ID ranges | getent subuid "$USER"; getent subgid "$USER" | View examples |
| Pull an immutable image | podman pull docker.io/library/nginx@sha256:DIGEST | View examples |
| Run with a read-only root | podman run --read-only --cap-drop=all \
--security-opt=no-new-privileges --tmpfs \
/tmp:rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev IMAGE | View examples |
| Publish only on loopback | podman run -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 IMAGE | View examples |
| Bound memory and CPUs | podman run --memory=512m --cpus=1.5 --pids-limit=256 \
IMAGE | View examples |
| Create an application network | podman network create app-net | View examples |
| Create a named volume | podman volume create app-data | View examples |
| Relabel a private bind mount | podman run -v /srv/app/config:/app/config:ro,Z IMAGE | View examples |
| Create a secret from standard input | printf '%s' "$DB_PASSWORD" |
podman secret create db_password - | View examples |
| Mount a runtime secret | podman run --secret db_password,type=mount IMAGE | View examples |
| Provide a build secret | podman build --secret id=npmrc,src="$HOME/.npmrc" -t \
localhost/app:build . | View examples |
| Regenerate rootless units | systemctl --user daemon-reload | View examples |
| Verify generated service | systemd-analyze --user --generators=true verify \
app.service | View examples |
| Inspect health state | podman inspect --format '{{.State.Health.Status}}' app | View examples |
| Stream lifecycle events | podman events --filter container=app | View examples |
| Preview automatic updates | podman auto-update --dry-run | View examples |
| Export a named volume | podman volume export app-data --output app-data.tar | View examples |
| Archive an OCI image | podman save --format oci-archive --output app-image.tar \
IMAGE | View examples |
| Run Podman diagnostics | podman system check --quick | View examples |
Containers, Virtualization, and Performance · 17 commands
Linux Performance Observability Cheat Sheet
| Use | Syntax | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Show load and uptime | uptime | View examples |
| Sample system activity | vmstat 1 5 | View examples |
| Count available CPUs | nproc | View examples |
| Sample every CPU | mpstat -P ALL 1 5 | View examples |
| Sample process CPU | pidstat -u -p ALL 1 5 | View examples |
| Summarize memory | free --human | View examples |
| Sample process memory | pidstat -r -p ALL 1 5 | View examples |
| Read memory pressure | cat /proc/pressure/memory | View examples |
| Sample extended device I/O | iostat -xz 1 5 | View examples |
| Sample process I/O | pidstat -d -p ALL 1 5 | View examples |
| Read I/O pressure | cat /proc/pressure/io | View examples |
| Read historical CPU data | sar -u -f /var/log/sa/sa12 | View examples |
| Sample queue and load | sar -q ALL 1 5 | View examples |
| Measure a bounded command | perf stat -- openssl speed -seconds 5 sha256 | View examples |
| List available events | perf list | View examples |
| Sample one process | sudo perf record --call-graph dwarf --pid 4242 -- sleep \
30 | View examples |
| Read a profile | perf report --stdio --input=perf.data | View examples |
Containers, Virtualization, and Performance · 23 commands
perf, ftrace, and eBPF Observability Cheat Sheet
| Use | Syntax | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Measure one command | perf stat -- sleep 10 | View examples |
| Measure one process | sudo perf stat --pid 1234 -- sleep 10 | View examples |
| List available perf events | perf list | View examples |
| List dynamic probes | sudo perf probe --list | View examples |
| Record process call graphs | sudo perf record --call-graph dwarf --pid 1234 -- sleep \
30 | View examples |
| Open a perf report | perf report --stdio --input perf.data | View examples |
| Profile one process live | sudo perf top --pid 1234 | View examples |
| Trace one process syscalls | sudo timeout 10 perf trace --pid 1234 | View examples |
| Locate tracefs | findmnt -t tracefs -o TARGET,SOURCE,OPTIONS | View examples |
| List ftrace tracers | sudo cat /sys/kernel/tracing/available_tracers | View examples |
| List tracepoints | sudo cat /sys/kernel/tracing/available_events | View examples |
| Stream ftrace output | sudo cat /sys/kernel/tracing/trace_pipe | View examples |
| Clear the trace buffer | sudo sh -c ': > /sys/kernel/tracing/trace' | View examples |
| Disable global tracing | sudo sh -c 'echo 0 > /sys/kernel/tracing/tracing_on' | View examples |
| Probe BPF support | sudo bpftool feature probe kernel | View examples |
| List loaded BPF programs | sudo bpftool prog show | View examples |
| List BPF maps | sudo bpftool map show | View examples |
| List matching probes | sudo bpftrace --list 'tracepoint:sched:sched_process_*' | View examples |
| Count process executions | sudo timeout 30 bpftrace -e \
'tracepoint:sched:sched_process_exec { @[comm] = count(); }' | View examples |
| Show bpftrace environment | bpftrace --info | View examples |
| Check kernel lockdown | cat /sys/kernel/security/lockdown | View examples |
| Read perf restrictions | sysctl kernel.perf_event_paranoid kernel.kptr_restrict | View examples |
| Inspect profile artifact | stat --format='%a %U:%G %s %n' perf.data | View examples |
Containers, Virtualization, and Performance · 24 commands
QEMU, KVM, and libvirt Cheat Sheet
| Use | Syntax | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Inspect CPU virtualization flags | lscpu | grep -E 'Virtualization|Hypervisor vendor' | View examples |
| Validate the KVM host | sudo virt-host-validate qemu | View examples |
| Show the active libvirt URI | virsh --connect qemu:///system uri | View examples |
| Inspect domain capabilities | virsh --connect qemu:///system domcapabilities | View examples |
| List every domain | virsh --connect qemu:///system list --all | View examples |
| Inspect domain state | virsh --connect qemu:///system dominfo prod-vm | View examples |
| Export inactive domain XML | virsh --connect qemu:///system dumpxml --inactive \
prod-vm | View examples |
| Request a graceful shutdown | virsh --connect qemu:///system shutdown prod-vm | View examples |
| Create a qcow2 disk | qemu-img create -f qcow2 ./prod-vm.qcow2 80G | View examples |
| Inspect image metadata | qemu-img info --backing-chain \
/var/lib/libvirt/images/prod-vm.qcow2 | View examples |
| List storage-pool volumes | virsh --connect qemu:///system vol-list default \
--details | View examples |
| Map guest disks to sources | virsh --connect qemu:///system domblklist prod-vm \
--details | View examples |
| Query guest filesystems | virsh --connect qemu:///system domfsinfo prod-vm | View examples |
| Inspect vCPU placement | virsh --connect qemu:///system vcpuinfo prod-vm | View examples |
| List domain interfaces | virsh --connect qemu:///system domiflist prod-vm | View examples |
| List DHCP leases | virsh --connect qemu:///system net-dhcp-leases default | View examples |
| Inspect network configuration | virsh --connect qemu:///system net-dumpxml default | View examples |
| List snapshot ancestry | virsh --connect qemu:///system snapshot-list prod-vm \
--tree | View examples |
| Start a defined live backup | virsh --connect qemu:///system backup-begin prod-vm \
--backupxml /etc/libvirt/backup/prod-vm.xml | View examples |
| Inspect a block job | virsh --connect qemu:///system blockjob prod-vm vda \
--info --bytes | View examples |
| Check an offline image | qemu-img check /srv/backups/prod-vm/prod-vm.qcow2 | View examples |
| Check destination CPU compatibility | virsh --connect qemu+ssh://hv2/system \
hypervisor-cpu-compare prod-vm.migratable.xml --error \
--validate | View examples |
| Inspect domain security labels | virsh --connect qemu:///system dominfo prod-vm |
grep -E '^Security' | View examples |
| Read the QEMU domain log | sudo journalctl -u 'virtqemud*' --since -30min | View examples |



