System Monitoring Dashboard

Overview

In this project, you will create a basic system monitoring tool via a Bash script that runs in the terminal. The tool will display real-time system statistics and allow for simple historical data analysis. This project will help you practice shell scripting, data collection, and basic data analysis using common Unix tools.

Description

You will write a Bash script that will support three “operating modes”: collection, display, and query. Users will interact with your script in the following way:

./[script name].sh [operating mode flag] [additional options]

The table below details the possible operating mode flags and additional options.

Flag	Type	Description
`-c`	Operating Mode	Enables the `Collection` operating mode. Required.
`-d`	Operating Mode	Enables the `Display` operating mode. Required.
`-q`	Operating Mode	Enables the `Query` operating mode. Required.
`--start`	Configuration	Sets the start datetime for a query. Required in the `Query` operating mode.
`--end`	Configuration	Sets the end datetime for a query. Required in the `Query` operating mode.
`--help`	User Flag	Prints out a message on how to use this script. Required.

Sample code to parse the operating mode commands is provided, but it is up to you to integrate it into your script.

Requirements

0. Overall Requirements

The script must:

Be written as a Bash script
Make use of variables, conditionals, loops, functions, variable substitutions, and other shell syntax as demonstrated in other parts of the course
Be commented, and clearly written
Implement the --help flag

1. Collection Mode

Collection mode must:

Be enabled via the -c flag
Collect CPU and memory usage (the amount of RAM currently being used by the system)
Parse and format the data into a simple CSV format
Append the collected data to a log file with a timestamp
Use system utilities like top and free with appropriate command line flags to determine CPU/memory usage; capturing resources does not need to account for multiple CPUs as it is intended a system summary

Store results in a CSV file determined by the environment variable SYSTEM_STATSFILE; if this variable is not present, use the default /tmp/system_stats.log
Collection times can use any timestamp format, but using the output of date is recommended

Running your script in this mode:

./system_monitoring_tool.sh -c

Output format:

DATETIME1, CPU%, MEM%
DATETIME2, CPU%, MEM%
DATETIME3, CPU%, MEM%
...

Example contents of the default log file after several runs:

>> cat /tmp/system_stats.log
2025-01-08 15:43:12,3.0,55.5611
2025-01-08 15:43:32,84.4,55.3498
2025-01-08 15:43:33,84.5,55.4192
2025-01-08 16:00:15,80.6,57.004
2025-01-08 16:00:20,83.3,57.0953

2. Display Mode

Display mode must:

Be enabled via the -d flag
Display current CPU and memory usage as a percentage
Update the display every 5 seconds using a loop that clears the terminal and redraws output
Obtain CPU and Memory usage using standard tools as in collection mode
Show a visual horizontal bar graph representation of usage

Suggested output:

>> ./system_monitoring_tool.sh -d
System Monitor Dashboard
========================
CPU Usage:     19.4% [###                 ]
Memory Usage:  57.7% [###########         ]
========================
Press Ctrl+C to exit

3. Query Mode

Query mode must:

Be enabled via the -q flag
Accept start and end date/time parameters via --start and --end flags
Filter and display data from the log file within the specified time range
Output results in a readable CSV format
Honor the SYSTEM_STATSFILE variable or default to /tmp/system_stats.log
Implement error detection when start/end dates are not specified

Sample output:

>> ./system_monitoring_tool.sh -q
ERROR: Both start and end dates must be specified
Usage: query_stats.sh --start 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' --end 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'
Displays all stats between the start and end times.

>> cat /tmp/system_stats.log
2025-01-08 15:43:12,3.0,55.5611
2025-01-08 15:43:32,84.4,55.3498
2025-01-08 15:43:33,84.5,55.4192
2025-01-08 16:00:15,80.6,57.004
2025-01-08 16:00:20,83.3,57.0953

>> ./system_monitoring_tool.sh -q --start '2025-01-08 15:43:12' --end '2025-01-08 15:43:33'
Timestamp,CPU%,Memory%
2025-01-08 15:43:12,3.00,55.56,
2025-01-08 15:43:32,84.40,55.35,
2025-01-08 15:43:33,84.50,55.42,

Grading (60 pts)

Script (40 pts)

Clearly written and commented code (10 points)
Meets specification for each mode (10 points per mode)

Video (20 pts)

Must be under 6 minutes (20% penalty if over)
Screen recording showing:
- Walk through the source code for each part and explain its functionality (10 points)
- Run and demonstrate functionality based on the project specification (10 points)

Submission Requirements

Submit a single Bash script: system_monitoring_tool.sh
Submit a video showing usage of your script
Upload to the assignment on Gradescope

Late Policy

10% deduction per day late.

Sample Code

Operating Mode Parsing

while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
    case "$1" in
        -c)
            echo "Collect mode"
            ;;
        -d)
            echo "Display mode"
            ;;
        -q)
            echo "Query mode"
            ;;
        *)
            echo "Unknown parameter: $1"
            echo "Usage: $0 [-c | -d | -q]"
            exit 1
            ;;
    esac
    shift
done

For parsing --start and --end, you can use a similar loop with $@.

Notes for WSL / VMs

WSL/VMs may show very low or zero CPU usage. This is normal and will not impact your grade. You may see:

%Cpu(s): 0.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni,100.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st

This is because WSL runs as a VM and only tracks its own usage.