%soft – % CPU usage handing software interrupts.%irq – % CPU usage handling hardware interrupts.

%iowait – % CPU usage idling waiting on a disk read/write.%sys – % CPU usage at the system ( Linux kernel) level.%nice – % CPU usage for user processes labeled “nice”.The second line is the value for each column: The first line is a set of column labels. The system will display usage for each processor (or processor core). Once the process finishes, you can use the mpstat command in the terminal as follows: mpstat If you’re running an older (4.x or older) version of CentOS or Red Hat derivative, you can use up2date to install sysstat: sudo up2date install sysstatįor newer (5.x and later) installations of CentOS or Red Hat, sysstat can be installed using the following command: sudo yum install sysstat In a terminal window, enter the following: sudo apt-get install sysstat Most RHEL-based distributions include this software package.įor Debian and Ubuntu systems, you’ll need to install the sysstat package. Mpstat is part of a software bundle called sysstat. This will display the manual page for the top command. To get assistance with top, you can press the letter h while it’s running. Or, you can enter the following at a command line: man top Some other useful commands while top is running include: To quit the top function, press the letter q on your keyboard. This hides all the idle processes, making it easier to sort through the list. One helpful switch is to launch top with the –i switch: top –i This list can frequently change, as background tasks start and complete. It will also give a readout of users, tasks, CPU load, and memory usage. The system should respond by displaying a list of all the processes that are currently running. Open a terminal window and enter the following: top How To Check CPU Usage from Linux Command Line top Command to View Linux CPU Load Note: Use one of 5 available commands in Linux to check memory usage.

Linux monitor memory usage over time