The Top Processes utility allows you to monitor the processes and system resources. The processes are listed, including memory and VM usage. The information is updated every three seconds. By default, the processes are listed in descending order of VM usage.

The following table lists and describes the various process details fields.

Top Process Details Fields Description

 
Item Description
PID Shows the process ID. The system assigns a number every time a process is started. These numbers start at number 1 and are increased by one until approximately 32 000, and then are started again at 1.
User Shows the process owner.
PR Shows the priority of the task. A negative nice value means higher priority, whereas a positive nice value means lower priority.
NI Shows nice value of the task. A negative nice value means higher priority, whereas a positive nice value means lower priority. Zero in this field simply means priority will not be adjusted in determining a task's dispatchability.
VIRT

The total amount of virtual memory used by the task. It includes all code, data and shared libraries plus pages that have been swapped out and pages that have been mapped but not used.

Note

You can define the STATSIZE=1 environment variable and the VIRT is calculated from the /proc/#/state VmSize field.

RES Shows resident size. The non-swapped physical memory a task has used.
SHR The amount of shared memory used by a task. This value reflects memory that could be potentially shared with other processes.
S

Process Status. The status of the task which can be one of the following:

  • D = uninterruptible sleep
  • R = running
  • S = sleeping
  • T = traced or stopped
  • Z = zombie
%CPU (VM)Shows VM Usage. The task's share of the elapsed VM time since the last screen update, expressed as a percentage of total VM time.
%MEM Shows Memory Usage. A task's currently used share of available physical memory.
TIME+ VM Time used, in hundredths of a second.
COMMAND Command Line of the process (name of the process) along with optional arguments.

To view top processes

  1. From the Main Menu, click Processes.

  2. Click Top Processes.



  3. Using the Top Processes on drop-down list, select the system card that you want to obtain top processes information about.

  4. Click Update.

    Tip

    If you minimize the Top Processes secondary window for any reason, clicking Top Processes again does not maximize the window. Look for this window in your browser’s status bar.



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