How To Use ps, kill, and nice to Manage Processes in Linux
Linux is a powerful operating system widely used in the world of servers and personal computers. One of the key advantages of Linux is its ability to efficiently manage processes running on the system. In this article, we'll explore three essential utilities - ps, kill, and nice - that allow you to effectively manage processes in Linux.
ps utility
The ps (process status) utility provides information about the processes running on your system. It allows you to determine the status, identifiers, resource consumption, and other essential details of processes. Here are some key options that can be used with the ps utility:
Displays all processes on the system
ps -ADisplays processes belonging to a specific user
ps -u usernameDisplays detailed information about processes, including those from all users
ps -auxBy utilizing the ps utility, you can monitor and analyze active processes in your Linux system.
kill utility
The kill utility enables you to terminate running processes. You can use the kill "PID" command to terminate a process by its Process ID (PID). For instance, terminate the process with the ID 1187:
kill 1187However, there are other options available for the kill utility
Terminates all processes with a specific name
killall process_nameForcefully terminates a process by ignoring any signals
kill -9 PIDDisplays a list of available signals to send to a process
kill -lThe kill utility provides us with the ability to control running processes in the Linux system.
nice utility
The nice utility is used to manage process priorities. Each process in Linux has a "nice value," which is a number that determines its priority. A lower nice value corresponds to a higher priority for the process. The nice utility allows you to modify the priority of a process during execution.
Options available with the nice utility include:
Runs a command with the specified nice value
nice -nChanges the nice value of an existing process
reniceThe nice utility enables us to control running processes and adjust their priorities in Linux.
In conclusion, the ps, kill, and nice utilities are powerful tools that help you manage and control processes in Linux. They provide information on processes, allow termination of unwanted processes, and modify process priorities to optimize system performance. These tools are valuable for both server administrators and regular Linux users.
