Process identifier (PID) is a number used by Linux / Unix kernels (and Windows operating systems) to identify a process. Usually, new processes are created using the fork() system call. Each PID (or so called tasks) can be monitored under Linux. In this quick tutorial, I will explain how to use the pidstat command for monitoring individual tasks currently being managed by the Linux kernel.
The pidstat command can also be used for monitoring the child processes of selected tasks and it can answer the following questions for you:
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- See stats for a particular process.
- See disk stats for a particular process (e.g., disk I/O info for Apache/Nginx/Lighttpd and all of it’s child processes).
- See statistics for threads associated with selected tasks.
- See reports of CPU statistics for every active task.
- Find out: how many context switches a process makes?
- Find out: page faults and memory utilization for a particular process?
- Confirm memory leaks for a particular process.
- And much more.
Syntax
The syntax is:
pidstat pidstat options interval count
Type the following command:
# pidstat
Sample outputs:
05:14:33 PM PID %usr %system %guest %CPU CPU Command 05:14:33 PM 1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2 init 05:14:33 PM 3 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 migration/0 05:14:33 PM 4 0.00 12.98 0.00 12.98 0 ksoftirqd/0 05:14:33 PM 5 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 migration/0 05:14:33 PM 6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 watchdog/0 05:14:33 PM 7 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 migration/1 05:14:33 PM 8 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 migration/1 05:14:33 PM 9 0.00 5.70 0.00 5.70 1 ksoftirqd/1 05:14:33 PM 10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 watchdog/1 ... ... ..05:14:33 PM 7915 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 nfsd4 05:14:33 PM 7917 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 6 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 7918 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 6 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 7919 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 6 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 7920 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.02 1 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 7921 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 4 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 7922 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 6 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 7923 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.02 4 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 7924 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 5 nfsd 05:14:33 PM 9254 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 9255 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 9266 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 12767 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 12776 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 12784 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 14800 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 14832 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 14836 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 14837 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 15016 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 sshd 05:14:33 PM 15019 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0 bash 05:14:33 PM 15089 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 15090 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4 php-cgi 05:14:33 PM 15091 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6 php-cgi
See stats I/O stats from any process
To see I/O statistics (kernels 2.6.20 and later only) for nfsd4 process run by PID # 13212, enter:
# pidstat -d -p 13212
# pidstat -d -p 13212 2 10
# pidstat -d -p 7114 1 50
Sample outputs (from mysqld server w/ PID # 7114):
Linux 2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64 (server1.cyberciti.biz) 08/21/2012 _x86_64_ (8 CPU) 05:24:35 PM PID kB_rd/s kB_wr/s kB_ccwr/s Command 05:24:36 PM 7114 0.00 40.00 0.00 mysqld 05:24:37 PM 7114 0.00 64.00 64.00 mysqld 05:24:38 PM 7114 0.00 44.00 8.00 mysqld 05:24:39 PM 7114 0.00 24.00 0.00 mysqld 05:24:40 PM 7114 0.00 128.00 128.00 mysqld 05:24:41 PM 7114 0.00 88.00 64.00 mysqld 05:24:42 PM 7114 0.00 92.00 0.00 mysqld 05:24:43 PM 7114 0.00 152.00 64.00 mysqld 05:24:44 PM 7114 0.00 48.00 0.00 mysqld 05:24:45 PM 7114 0.00 44.00 0.00 mysqld 05:24:46 PM 7114 8.00 1140.00 32.00 mysqld 05:24:47 PM 7114 8.00 20124.00 3192.00 mysqld 05:24:48 PM 7114 0.00 1992.00 2956.00 mysqld
You will see the following values:
- PID – The identification number of the task being monitored.
- kB_rd/s – Number of kilobytes the task has caused to be read from disk per second.
- kB_wr/s – Number of kilobytes the task has caused, or shall cause to be written to disk per second.
- kB_ccwr/s – Number of kilobytes whose writing to disk has been cancelled by the task. This may occur when the task truncates some irty pagecache. In this case, some IO which another task has been accounted for will not be happening.
- Command – The command name of the task.
Find out top 5 process page faults statistics
The following command will show you five reports of page faults statistics at two second intervals for the child processes of all tasks in the system:
# pidstat -T CHILD -r 2 5
Sample outputs:
Linux 2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64 (server1.cyberciti.biz) 08/21/2012 _x86_64_ (8 CPU) 05:27:12 PM PID minflt-nr majflt-nr Command 05:27:14 PM 1853 10 0 irqbalance 05:27:14 PM 7114 3 0 mysqld 05:27:14 PM 7910 2 0 rpc.idmapd 05:27:14 PM 15089 1 0 php-cgi 05:27:14 PM 15090 1 0 php-cgi 05:27:14 PM 15091 2 0 php-cgi 05:27:14 PM 15361 1 0 php-cgi 05:27:14 PM 15362 1 0 php-cgi 05:27:14 PM 15395 704 0 pidstat 05:27:14 PM PID minflt-nr majflt-nr Command 05:27:16 PM 7114 169 0 mysqld 05:27:16 PM 15359 1 0 php-cgi 05:27:16 PM 15360 21 0 php-cgi 05:27:16 PM 15361 2 0 php-cgi 05:27:16 PM 15395 705 0 pidstat 05:27:16 PM PID minflt-nr majflt-nr Command 05:27:18 PM 7114 14 0 mysqld 05:27:18 PM 15362 2 0 php-cgi 05:27:18 PM 15395 702 0 pidstat 05:27:18 PM PID minflt-nr majflt-nr Command 05:27:20 PM 7114 162 0 mysqld 05:27:20 PM 15359 2 0 php-cgi 05:27:20 PM 15360 2 0 php-cgi 05:27:20 PM 15395 702 0 pidstat 05:27:20 PM PID minflt-nr majflt-nr Command 05:27:22 PM 7114 16 0 mysqld 05:27:22 PM 15360 2 0 php-cgi 05:27:22 PM 15361 2 0 php-cgi 05:27:22 PM 15362 1 0 php-cgi 05:27:22 PM 15395 702 0 pidstat Average: PID minflt-nr majflt-nr Command Average: 1853 2 0 irqbalance Average: 7114 73 0 mysqld Average: 7910 0 0 rpc.idmapd Average: 15089 0 0 php-cgi Average: 15090 0 0 php-cgi Average: 15091 0 0 php-cgi Average: 15359 1 0 php-cgi Average: 15360 5 0 php-cgi Average: 15361 1 0 php-cgi Average: 15362 1 0 php-cgi Average: 15395 703 0 pidstat
Where,
- PID – The identification number of the task which is being monitored together with its children.
- minflt-nr – Total number of minor faults made by the task and all its children, and collected during the interval of time.
- majflt-nr – Total number of major faults made by the task and all its children, and collected during the interval of time.
See CPU utilization
Type the following command:
# pidstat -T CHILD -u 2 2
Sample outputs:
Linux 2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64 (server1.cyberciti.biz) 08/21/2012 _x86_64_ (8 CPU) 05:32:50 PM PID usr-ms system-ms guest-ms Command 05:32:52 PM 4 0 410 0 ksoftirqd/0 05:32:52 PM 7114 40 10 0 mysqld 05:32:52 PM 15424 10 30 0 pidstat 05:32:52 PM 48440 0 10 0 memcached 05:32:52 PM PID usr-ms system-ms guest-ms Command 05:32:54 PM 4 0 220 0 ksoftirqd/0 05:32:54 PM 7114 10 20 0 mysqld 05:32:54 PM 15424 10 20 0 pidstat 05:32:54 PM 48440 10 0 0 memcached Average: PID usr-ms system-ms guest-ms Command Average: 4 0 315 0 ksoftirqd/0 Average: 7114 25 15 0 mysqld Average: 15424 10 25 0 pidstat Average: 48440 5 5 0 memcached
When reporting global statistics for tasks and all their children, the following values are displayed:
- PID – The identification number of the task which is being monitored together with its children.
- usr-ms – Total number of milliseconds spent by the task and all its children while executing at the user level (application), with or without nice priority, and collected during the interval of time. Note that this field does NOT include time spent running a virtual processor.
- system-ms – Total number of milliseconds spent by the task and all its children while executing at the system level (kernel), and collected during the interval of time.
- guest-ms – Total number of milliseconds spent by the task and all its children in virtual machine (running a virtual processor).
- Command – The command name of the task which is being monitored together with its children.
This command has many more options, please go through man page for more info:
$ man pidstat
Recommended readings
- iostat Command – See Central Processing Unit (CPU) statistics and input/output statistics for devices, partitions and network filesystems (NFS)
- mpstat Command – See CPU (processors) related statistics.
- sar command and kSar tool – Identifying Linux server bottlenecks with sar and kSar.
- man pages – pidstat(1),top(1), ps(1), and vmstat(8)
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hi
on my linux distro : Linux localdomain 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5 #1 SMP Thu May 7 10:39:21 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
pidstat cannot be found; how/where do you install it etc .. ?
It appears that you’re using RHEL or CentOS 5. You can find out which package supplies it by running this:
yum whatprovides “*/pidstat”
This should lead you to the sysstat package.
Too good stuff to know !!
Hi what does negative value of -1 in kB_rd/ and kB_wr/s mean.