[RHEL5] iotop command is not working

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 and earlier

Issue

  • Executing the iotop command gives below python traceback.
[root@server log]# iotop
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/iotop", line 16, in ?
    main()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 567, in main
    main_loop()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 557, in <lambda>
    main_loop = lambda: run_iotop(options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 465, in run_iotop
    return curses.wrapper(run_iotop_window, options)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/curses/wrapper.py", line 44, in wrapper
    return func(stdscr, *args, **kwds)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 457, in run_iotop_window
    process_list = ProcessList(taskstats_connection, options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/data.py", line 375, in __init__
    self.update_process_counts()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/data.py", line 431, in update_process_counts
    stats = self.taskstats_connection.get_single_task_stats(thread)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/data.py", line 158, in get_single_task_stats
    reply = self.connection.recv()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/iotop/netlink.py", line 229, in recv
    raise err
OSError: Netlink error: Invalid argument (22)

Resolution

  • Upgrade the kernel at least to the version 2.6.18-238 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6)

Root Cause

  • While the iotop package is available to install, your current kernel does not have the support for the iotop functionality.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Run uname -r and check if the kernel version is lower than 2.6.18-238

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