mod_top FAQ

1. Why did you make mod_top?: We have a background in application management and found ourselves having to manage an important LAMP application. After discovering there were no good production tools available to figure out what's going on in the app, we decided to write one. We modeled the UI and the usage model after top since that's what everybody seems to use for systems-level monitoring. What started out as a simple weekend project turned into a lot of code as we ended up needing to refine the tool to make it more useful. When we were done we thought why keep this to ourselves, let's share and see if anyone else is running into the same problems.
2. Is mod_top free?: mod_top is free—we put a bunch of time into creating it and had some fun too. We ask that you fill out our questionnaire when you download it (or even if you don't download it) so we can learn about whether we should spend more time on it.
3. What is the architecture of mod_top?: There are probes that gather information from the pieces of the application infrastructure. For now there is only a probe for PHP. We're thinking we should probably write one for MySQL next but let us know what you think. It's more fun to write stuff other people will use too. There is an agent that collects the information from the probes on the same server. And there is a client which connects to the agent and displays the data. Pretty simple!
4. Why can't I download source?: We plan to provide sources for people to build on other systems soon. Right now the sources are still changing too frequently and we need to do a little cleanup to make sure the build goes smoothly for everyone.