Admins use ps
all the time to look at processes running on a
system. But do you make the best use of the
multitude of options this very useful tool has, or do you stick to a tiny, tested handful? Here are some ps
options to check out that you may not have encountered before.
-
ps r
: Shows only running processes.
-
ps f
: Shows children descended from their parents in an
ASCII art tree. I find this very useful when looking at problem
processes. Use with the S
option to see CPU information from
children summed up with parents.
-
ps e
: Shows the command environment for each process. This
is useful in a situation where a program works for one user but not for
another, or on one machine but not on another.
-
ps -t pts/3
: Shows processes associated with the specified
tty. I’ve found this useful when trying to work out who’s doing what on a
remote machine, and for how long.
-
ps u
: Generates much more readable and human friendly
output. Check the manpage for help with output column headings.
Options can be combined, but note that there are three types of option: a
single dash, a double dash or no dash at all. u
is different
from -u
. When combining options, the different option types must
be grouped separately (e.g., ps Sf -u jkemp
.)
There are many more options that I haven’t space to discuss here — go check
out the manpage, and get yet more improved and exciting process info (try X
or s
)!
This article was first published on ServerWatch.com.
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