In my previous [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/SysAdminBlogs/comments/1tauxo2/did_you_know_these_facts_about_sos/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) I shared some amazing numbers and facts about the Linux **sos** command but I was bref and focused on only some major features. This post complements the first one with another major feature of the Linux sos command and that is that the command is **extensible**.

>For those who do not know what the sos command is let's just say that it performs a complete scanning and data-gathering, deep into your Linux system and collects diagnostics information like logs, configuration files and commands outputs from across the system.

**Extensible means that you can extend the sos report capabilities by means of plugins**. These plugins allow sos to capture domain-specific data tailored to particular subsystem, application or product and any can be disabled or enabled. Some of these plugins are not active by default and need to be enabled on the command line. Some plugins have their own options to enable or disable extra features.



The latest sos version (4.11.1) supports **400 plugins**. Around **250** of which are the **default** **plugins** that are always used in a sos report when executed with no extra options (if possible or if commands are available of course!), independently of the Linux distro or the type system (whether is a server or a desktop).



In this category are plugins like **memory, processor, system, process, network, block (block devices), hardware, cron, kernel, dpkg or rpn, filesys, services (systemd), etc**.. Each one will capture configuration files, log files and command outputs related to the plugin specific purpose. For example the **process** plugin collects the output of commands like **lsof, ps, pstree, iotop, pidstat** **and files under /proc/{PID}/** for each process that is running in the system just to mention a few.



In the other plugin category with nearly **150 plugins**, are application related plugins specific to certain software products and usually these plugins need to be enabled in the command line. In this category are plugins like **proxmox, ceph, docker, kubernetes, microk8s, openshift, kafka, mongodb, aws, grafana, vmware, ansible** to name just a very few. 



There is a **special plugin called sos\_extras** that can be used to **include your own command outputs, logs or configuration files** in the sosreport.



And since sos command is an open-source tool, if you know Python, you can also **write your own plugins** obviously ;-)



To know exactly how to enable and disable plugins, to learn how to use the sos\_extras plugin and to find out what plugins are available (with a very complete list with detailed description of each one and how to use it) go to this article (and the ones linked inside it):



[https://sos-vault.com/blog/sos-command/10-sos-report-plugins](https://sos-vault.com/blog/sos-command/10-sos-report-plugins)



Once you get familiar with the use of plugins (how to enable or disable them), then **you can customize the sos report behaviour, size and time of execution to fit your own needs** and adjust to your operation. This, combined with its strong security capabilities and its automatic upload capacity, makes sos an incredible tool that can be easily integrated into your CI/CD pipeline to systems where can be stored and analized.



If you would like to interact with an actual sosreport from an Alma Linux server and review its contents go to [sos-vault.com](http://sos-vault.com) and start 14 day free trial (no cc needed!) where you would get the chance to use amazing sosreport analysis tools as well.

To say that sos command is very powerful is an understatement.