htop Command in Linux

Introduction

This lab provides a comprehensive guide to htop, an indispensable interactive process viewer for Linux system monitoring. Elevate your systemadmin skills by mastering htop. You will learn how to use htop to efficiently monitor Linux systems. This hands-on guide covers essential techniques for effectively using this resource monitoring tool. Gain insights into process management, resource utilization, and system performance. The lab will walk you through monitoring running processes, filtering, sorting, and managing process priorities. Enhance your Linux system administration capabilities with practical examples and step-by-step instructions.

Navigating and Interacting with htop

This section will show you how to navigate and interact with the htop command. Become adept at monitoring and managing system processes with htop.

To begin, launch the htop command:

htop

The htop interface will appear in your terminal. Familiarize yourself with the key sections:

  1. Process List: The primary area displays all running processes on your Linux system. Use the arrow keys to navigate. Sort processes by CPU usage, memory consumption, and other metrics using the function keys.

  2. Header: At the top, the header provides a summary of system resources. This includes CPU load, memory usage, and swap space utilization.

  3. Footer: At the bottom, the footer shows a list of shortcuts and commands for interacting with htop.

Here are some common commands and shortcuts for htop:

  • F1: Access the help menu
  • F2: Open the setup menu to customize htop
  • F3/F4: Search for a process by name or command
  • F5: Toggle between tree view and list view
  • F6: Sort the process list by different columns
  • F7/F8: Adjust process priority (nice value)
  • F9: Send a signal (e.g., terminate) to a process
  • F10: Exit htop
  • h: Toggle display of the help footer
  • u: Filter to show processes owned by the current user
  • t: Display processes in a tree view
  • k: Kill the selected process

Experiment with these commands. Explore the htop interface. Remember F1 is your friend.

Advanced htop Features and Customization

This section details advanced features and customization options for htop. Learn how to customize htop for optimal system monitoring as a systemadmin.

Open the htop setup menu by pressing F2. Tailor the appearance and behavior of htop to your requirements.

Key settings to adjust:

  1. Columns: Add, remove, or rearrange columns in the process list. This allows focus on key information.

  2. Colors: Change the color scheme for better readability.

  3. Display options: Toggle CPU usage graphs, process tree information, and highlight selection.

  4. Sorting & Filtering: Set default sorting and enable filtering for efficient process location.

  5. Advanced Settings: Configure update frequency, process monitoring, and system-level options.

Save and exit the setup menu by pressing F10.

htop lets you view detailed information about a specific process. Select a process and press Enter for memory usage, open files, and more.

htop also supports plugins that extend functionality. Add network monitoring, disk I/O analysis, and custom scripts.

Explore the settings and features to optimize htop for your needs. Take control of your system monitoring experience.

Summary

This lab covered navigating and interacting with htop to monitor and manage system processes. You learned about the process list, header, and footer, and how to sort, search, and manage processes. You also discovered advanced features and customization options, such as adjusting columns, setting up custom meters, and configuring the interface. With these systemadmin skills, you can effectively monitor and manage your Linux systems as root or another sudo user.

400+ Linux Commands