What utility can be used to monitor the status of system services on Linux?

The utility used to monitor the status of system services on Linux is specifically designed to interact with systemd, the init system used by many modern Linux distributions. By using "systemctl status," you can get detailed information about the active state of a service, including whether it is running, stopped, or failed, along with its recent log entries. This command provides a comprehensive view of the service's health and allows administrators to troubleshoot and manage services effectively.

Other options, while valuable in their own rights, do not serve this specific purpose. For example, "top" and "htop" are primarily tools for monitoring system processes and resource usage rather than focused service management. They provide a dynamic, real-time view of running processes but do not offer details on service status as systemctl does. "service status," on the other hand, is generally used in older init systems and offers limited functionality compared to systemctl, making it less suitable for managing services on systems utilizing systemd. Thus, "systemctl status" is the correct choice for monitoring system service status on Linux environments where systemd is in use.