Monitor disk IOPS and throughput rates
Monitoring disk performance rates provides useful information to help you find
the right size and configuration of your disks.
Compute Engine lets you view the average and peak IOPS and throughput
rates for your disks by using the Observability tab in the
Trusted Cloud console. This tab provides a predefined dashboard using
metric data
so you can monitor your disk performance and configuration.
The Observability tab shows the following graphs for IOPS and
throughput by default:
- Mean Throughput (MB/s): the average throughput rate, in MB per
second, for a disk over a period of time
- Mean Operations (IOPS): the average number of I/O operations per
second (IOPS) for a disk over a period of time
- Peak Throughput (MB/s): the peak throughput rates, in MB per
second, for a disk over a period of time
- Peak Operations (IOPS): the peak number of I/O operations per
second (IOPS) for a disk over a period of time
You can select the time period for the graphs on this page, using predefined
values of one hour, six hours, one day, one week, one month, or six weeks.
You can also specify a custom time period for the graph data.
Before you begin
Access the disk monitoring page for a single disk
You can view the disk monitoring page in the Trusted Cloud console.
In the Trusted Cloud console, go to the Disks page.
Go to Disks
Click the name of a disk to open the Manage disk page.
Click the Observability tab to display the monitoring dashboard for the
disk.
Optional: Reset the one hour default timeframe to the timeframe you want
to monitor, by choosing one of the following options:
- 6 hours
- 1 day
- 1 week
- 1 month
- 6 weeks
- Custom date or time range
Customize the disk monitoring dashboard
Use the following instructions to modify the graphs shown on the
disk monitoring dashboard.
- Access the disk Observability tab.
Click query_stats
Explore data.
This opens an Explore page, where you can create a customized monitoring
chart or table. For information about how to create a chart for
a specific metric, see
Chart a single metric type.
After creating a custom graph or table, you can save the result to a new or
existing custom dashboard.
For more information about custom dashboards, see
View and customize Trusted Cloud by S3NS dashboards.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-26 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-26 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eCompute Engine's Observability tab allows users to monitor disk performance, including average and peak IOPS and throughput rates.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe Observability tab provides default graphs for Mean and Peak Throughput (MB/s) and Mean and Peak Operations (IOPS) to show disk performance over time.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can view performance data for predefined timeframes like one hour, six hours, one day, one week, one month, or six weeks, as well as a custom time period.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe disk monitoring page can be accessed via the Google Cloud console by navigating to the Disks page, selecting a specific disk, and clicking the Observability tab.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can customize the monitoring dashboard by using the Explore Data function, and saving the results to a new or existing custom dashboard.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Monitor disk IOPS and throughput rates\n\n*** ** * ** ***\n\nMonitoring disk performance rates provides useful information to help you find\nthe right size and configuration of your disks.\nCompute Engine lets you view the average and peak IOPS and throughput\nrates for your disks by using the **Observability** tab in the\nGoogle Cloud console. This tab provides a predefined dashboard using\n[metric data](/compute/docs/disks/review-storage-pool-metrics)\nso you can monitor your disk performance and configuration.\n\nThe **Observability** tab shows the following graphs for IOPS and\nthroughput by default:\n\n- Mean Throughput (MB/s): the average throughput rate, in MB per second, for a disk over a period of time\n- Mean Operations (IOPS): the average number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) for a disk over a period of time\n- Peak Throughput (MB/s): the peak throughput rates, in MB per second, for a disk over a period of time\n- Peak Operations (IOPS): the peak number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) for a disk over a period of time\n\nYou can select the time period for the graphs on this page, using predefined\nvalues of one hour, six hours, one day, one week, one month, or six weeks.\nYou can also specify a custom time period for the graph data.\n\n\nBefore you begin\n----------------\n\n- If you haven't already, set up [authentication](/compute/docs/authentication). Authentication verifies your identity for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:\n\n Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page: \n\n ### Console\n\n\n When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and\n APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.\n\n ### gcloud\n\n 1.\n [Install](/sdk/docs/install) the Google Cloud CLI.\n\n After installation,\n [initialize](/sdk/docs/initializing) the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:\n\n ```bash\n gcloud init\n ```\n\n\n If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first\n [sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity](/iam/docs/workforce-log-in-gcloud).\n | **Note:** If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running `gcloud components update`.\n 2. [Set a default region and zone](/compute/docs/gcloud-compute#set_default_zone_and_region_in_your_local_client).\n\n ### REST\n\n\n To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the\n credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.\n 1. [Install](/sdk/docs/install) the Google Cloud CLI. After installation, [initialize](/sdk/docs/initializing) the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command: \n\n ```bash\n gcloud init\n ```\n 2. If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first [sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity](/iam/docs/workforce-log-in-gcloud).\n\n\n For more information, see\n [Authenticate for using REST](/docs/authentication/rest)\n in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.\n\nAccess the disk monitoring page for a single disk\n-------------------------------------------------\n\nYou can view the disk monitoring page in the Google Cloud console.\n\n1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the **Disks** page.\n\n [Go to Disks](https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/disks)\n2. Click the name of a disk to open the **Manage disk** page.\n\n3. Click the **Observability** tab to display the monitoring dashboard for the\n disk.\n\n4. Optional: Reset the one hour default timeframe to the timeframe you want\n to monitor, by choosing one of the following options:\n\n - 6 hours\n - 1 day\n - 1 week\n - 1 month\n - 6 weeks\n - Custom date or time range\n\nCustomize the disk monitoring dashboard\n---------------------------------------\n\nUse the following instructions to modify the graphs shown on the\ndisk monitoring dashboard.\n\n1. [Access the disk **Observability** tab](#access).\n2. Click query_stats\n **Explore data**.\n\n This opens an **Explore** page, where you can create a customized monitoring\n chart or table. For information about how to create a chart for\n a specific metric, see\n [Chart a single metric type](/monitoring/charts/metrics-explorer#find-me).\n3. After creating a custom graph or table, you can save the result to a new or\n existing custom dashboard.\n\n For more information about custom dashboards, see\n [View and customize Google Cloud dashboards](/monitoring/charts/predefined-dashboards)."]]