System Monitoring : top

All you need to do to run top is command:

top

Top is an interactive tool. This means that you can continue to issue commands or options for top while it is running. Run top, then try:

  • u
  • d
  • m

Top is useful for finding resource-hogging processes so you can kill them, among other things.

There’s an exhaustive listing of command and display options at About.com: http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl1_top.htm.

The top command leads the list of “20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know” by Vivek Gite, at http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/top-linux-monitoring-tools.html