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Display top CPU consumers with ps
Oracle Tips by Burleson Consulting

Display top CPU consumers with ps

The following command can be used to display the top CPU consumers on any UNIX server. Note that the sort +6 command displays the CPU column. This is because the ps columns are counted from left-to-right, with the first column being column zero.

root> ps -ef|sort +6|tail

root 512 1 0 Aug 10 ? 0:53 /usr/lib/osa/bin/arraymon
root 460 1 0 Aug 10 ? 1:22 /usr/sbin/cron
root 1 0 0 Aug 10 ? 2:26 /etc/init -
root 565 1 0 Aug 10 ? 6:12 /usr/bin/perl /pixlog.pl
root 471 1 0 Aug 10 ? 9:10 /usr/sbin/nscd
netsaint 765 1 0 Aug 10 ? 27:16 helpdesk/netsaint.cfg
root 742 572 0 Aug 10 ? 32:04 opt/VRTSvmsa
root 454 1 0 Aug 10 ? 44:09 /usr/sbin/syslogd
root 3 0 0 Aug 10 ? 363:12 fsflush

Here we see the tasks in order of their total CPU consumption, with the largest value at the end of the list. In cases where a process has been running for more than one day, the display format changes. In these cases, the time format changes and column 5 is the CPU column.

root> ps -ef|sort +5|tail

root 5440 2094 0 Nov 21 - 0:47 /usr/sbin/syslogd
root 9244 1 0 Nov 21 - 3:26 ./pdimapsvr.ip -D0
root 10782 1 0 Nov 21 - 4:41 ./pdiconsvr.ip -D0
root 5990 2094 0 Nov 21 - 5:33 /usr/sbin/snmpd
root 4312 1 0 Nov 21 - 7:14 /usr/sbin/cron
root 4448 2094 0 Nov 21 - 9:25 /usr/sbin/rwhod
root 1 0 0 Nov 21 - 198:59 /etc/init
root 2450 1 0 Nov 21 - 438:30 /usr/sbin/syncd 60

In the real world, the Oracle Remote DBA will issue this command twice, once with column 5 and again with column 6.