"First, cgroups emerged as the de facto way to control and monitor resources on a Linux machine. atop still lacks support for this fundamental building block. Second, atop stores data on disk with custom delta compression. This works fine under normal circumstances, but under heavy resource pressure the host is likely to lose data points. Since delta compression is in use, huge swaths of data can be lost for periods of time where the data is most important. Third, the user experience has a steep learning curve. We frequently heard from atop power users that they love the dense layout and numerous keybindings. However, this is a double-edged sword. When someone new to atop wants to debug a production issue, they’re solving two problems at once now: the issue at hand and how to use atop."
Yes, I read that. That’s an advantage of this tool against atop, not a disadvantage.
(“Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.”)
(If you’ve downvoted my comment, I’d love to hear why. I think my question is an entirely reasonable one; every tool has strengths and weaknesses. From the article, I know when I might want to use below; it sounds very useful. I think it would be very useful as well to know should I avoid it in any cases.)
