---
name: "sa1"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "sysstat"
version: "12.8.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sa1"
---

# sa1(8)

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

## NAME

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

## SYNOPSIS

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

## 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

- **--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**

  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**

  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

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/lib/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/lib/sa/sa1 --rotate**

## 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

Sebastien Godard (sysstat \<at\> orange.fr)

## SEE ALSO

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

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