SA1(8) Linux User's Manual SA1(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

sa1 - Collect and store binary data in the system activity daily data file.

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 \[ --boot | --rotate | --sleep |** *interval count* **]**

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

The **sa1** command is a shell procedure variant of the **sadc** command and handles all of the flags and parameters of that command. The **sa1** command collects and stores binary data in the current standard system activity daily data file.

The standard system activity daily data file is named *saDD* unless **sadc**'s option **-D** is used, in which case its name is *saYYYYMMDD*, where *YYYY* stands for the current year, *MM* for the current month and *DD* for the current day. By default it is located in the */var/log/sa* directory.

The *interval* and *count* parameters specify that the record should be written *count* times at *interval* seconds. If no arguments are given to **sa1** then a single record is written.

The **sa1** command is designed to be started automatically by the **cron** command.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[**--boot**](#boot)

This option tells **sa1** that the **sadc** command should be called without specifying the *interval* and *count* parameters in order to insert a dummy record, marking the time when the counters restart from 0.

[**--rotate**](#rotate)

Use this option to tell **sa1** to insert a record of statistics to the standard *saDD* system activity daily data file of the previous day. This should be done shortly after midnight (on day DD+1) in order to make sure that the data file covers the whole day, including the last interval of time just before midnight.

[**--sleep**](#sleep)

This option tells **sa1** that the **sadc** command should insert a comment indicating that the system is entering or leaving sleep mode (i.e. system suspend or hibernation).

# [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE)

To collect data (including those from disks) every 10 minutes, place the following entry in your root crontab file:

**0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1 -S DISK**

To rotate current system activity daily data file, ensuring it is complete, place the following entry in your root crontab file:

**0 0 * * * /usr/lib64/sa/sa1 --rotate**

# [FILES](#FILES)

*/var/log/sa/saDD*  
*/var/log/sa/saYYYYMMDD*

The standard system activity daily data files and their default location. *YYYY* stands for the current year, *MM* for the current month and *DD* for the current day.

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Sebastien Godard (sysstat <at> orange.fr)

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**sar**(1)](/man/os/sysstat/sar.1), [**sadc**(8)](/man/os/sysstat/sadc.8), [**sa2**(8)](/man/os/sysstat/sa2.8), [**sadf**(1)](/man/os/sysstat/sadf.1), [**sysstat**(5)](/man/os/sysstat/sysstat.5)

*https://github.com/sysstat/sysstat*  
*https://sysstat.github.io/*

JULY 2026 Linux

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Document: sa1(8) from sysstat 12.8.0-r0 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/sysstat/sysstat