# System Monitor Manual V2.3

2015-2020
MATE Documentation Project
2009
Paul Cutler
2004
Sun Microsystems
2001
2002
2004
Bill Day
MATE Documentation Project
GNOME Documentation Project

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MATE Documentation Project
MATE Desktop
Sun
GNOME Documentation Team
Sun Microsystems
Bill
Day

    billday@bellatlantic.net

Paul
Cutler
GNOME Documentation Project

    pcutler@foresightlinux.org

System Monitor Manual V2.3
July 2015

MATE Documentation Team

MATE Documentation Project

System Monitor Manual V2.2;
March 2009

Paul Cutler pcutler@foresightlinux.org

GNOME Documentation Project

System Monitor Manual V2.1
February 2004

Sun GNOME Documentation Team

GNOME Documentation Project

System Monitor Manual V2.0
November 2002

Bill Day billday@bellatlantic.net

GNOME Documentation Project

Procman Manual V0.11
January 2002

Bill Day billday@bellatlantic.net

GNOME Documentation Project

This manual describes version 1.10.0 of System Monitor.

## Feedback

To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding the System Monitor application or this manual, follow the directions in the MATE Feedback Page.

System Monitor gives users a graphical user interface for monitoring CPU, network, and memory activities as well as a way for viewing and stopping system processes.

## Introduction

The System Monitor application enables you to display basic system information and monitor system processes, usage of system resources, and file systems. You can also use System Monitor to modify the behavior of your system.

The System Monitor window contains four tabbed sections:

System

  Displays various basic information about the computer's hardware and software.

  Distribution

    - Distribution version

    - Linux Kernel version

    - MATE version

  Hardware

    - Installed memory

    - Processors and speeds

  System Status

    - Currently available disk space

Processes

  Shows active processes, and how processes are related to each other. Provides detailed information about individual processes, and enables you to control active processes.

Resources

  Displays the current usage of the following system resources:

  - CPU (central processing unit) time

  - Memory and swap space

  - Network usage

File Systems

  Lists all mounted file systems along with basic information about each.

## Getting Started

### To Start System Monitor

You can start System Monitor in the following ways:

Applications menu

  Choose System Tools MATE System Monitor.

Command line

  Execute the following command: `mate-system-monitor`

### When You Start System Monitor

When you start System Monitor, the following window is displayed:

#### System Monitor Window

Shows System Monitor main window.

The System Monitor window contains the following elements:

Menubar

  The menus on the menubar contain all the commands that you need to work with System Monitor.

Display area

  The display area contains the system monitor information. The display area contains the following tabbed sections:

  - System

    Contains a list of basic system properties, such as system software versions and hardware specifications and status.

  - Processes

    Contains a list of processes organized as a table, a list of load averages over the past few minutes, and an End Process button.

  - Resources

    Contains a CPU History graph, a Memory and Swap History graph, and a Network History graph.

  - File Systems

    Contains a table of currently mounted file systems.

Statusbar

  The statusbar displays information about current System Monitor activity and contextual information about the menu items.

## Usage

### To Display Basic System Information

To display basic system information, select the System tab.

In the System tab, information is organized into three groups:

- System Information

- Hardware

- System Status

### To Display the Process List

To display the process list, select the Processes tab.

In the Processes tab, the processes are organized as a table. The rows of the table display information about the processes. The columns represent information fields for the processes, such as the name of the user who owns the process, the amount of memory currently being used by the process, and so on. From left to right, the Processes tab displays the following columns by default:

- Process Name

- Status

- %CPU

- Nice

- ID

- Memory

- Waiting Channel

- Disk Read Total

- Disk Write Total

- Disk Read

- Disk Write

- Unit

- Priority

For information about how to change the columns displayed in the process list, see .

#### Parent Processes and Child Processes

A parent process is a process that spawns another process. The spawned process is a child process of the original parent process. By default, System Monitor does not show process dependencies. For information about how to change the default display behavior, see .

#### Process Priority and Nice Values

Processes run in order of priority: high-priority processes run before low-priority processes. Child processes generally inherit their priority from their parent process.

The priority of a process is set by the nice value of the process, as follows:

- A nice value of 0 means that the process has normal priority.

- The higher the nice value, the lower the priority.

- The lower the nice value, the higher the priority.

For information about how to change the priority of a process, see .

### To Sort the Process List

To sort the process list, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. By default, the processes are listed by name, in alphabetical order. To list the processes in reverse alphabetical order, click on the Process Name column header.

3. Click on any column header to sort the processes by the information in that column, in alphabetical or numerical order.

4. Click again on the column header to sort the data in reverse alphabetical or reverse numerical order.

### To Modify the Contents of the Process List

You can modify the contents of the process list in several ways.

#### To Show All Processes

To show all processes in the process list, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Choose View All Processes .

#### To Show Only Processes Owned by the Current User

To show only the processes that are owned by the current user, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Choose View My Processes .

#### To Show Only Active Processes

To show only the active processes in the process list, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Choose View Active Processes .

#### To Show Dependencies

To show process dependencies in the process list, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Choose View Dependencies.

If the Dependencies menu item is selected, the processes are listed as follows:

- Parent processes are indicated by a triangle symbol to the left of the process name. Click on the triangle symbol to show or hide the associated child processes.

- Child processes are indented, and listed with their parent process.

If the Dependencies menu item is not selected:

- Parent processes and child processes are not distinguishable.

- All processes are listed in alphabetical order.

### To Display Memory Maps for a Process

To display memory maps for a process, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Select the process in the process list.

3. Choose View Memory Maps, or perform a right-click and choose Memory Maps.

The Memory Maps dialog displays the information in tabular format. The name of the process is displayed above the memory-map table. From left to right, the Memory Maps dialog displays the following columns:

Filename

  The location of a shared library that is currently used by the process. If this field is blank, the memory information in this row describes memory that is owned by the process whose name is displayed above the memory-map table.

VM Start

  The address at which the memory segment begins.

VM End

  The address at which the memory segment ends.

VM Size

  The size of the memory segment.

Flags

  The following flags describe the different types of memory-segment access that the process can have:

  p

    The memory segment is private to the process, and is not accessible to other processes.

  r

    The process has permission to read from the memory segment.

  s

    The memory segment is shared with other processes.

  w

    The process has permission to write into the memory segment.

  x

    The process has permission to execute instructions that are contained within the memory segment.

VM Offset

  The virtual memory offset of the memory segment.

Private clean

  Unmodified pages since they were mapped that belong only to a specific process.

Private dirty

  Pages that have been modified since they were mapped that belong only to a specific process.

Shared clean

  Unmodified pages that are shared by multiple processes.

Shared dirty

  Modified pages that are shared by multiple processes.

Device

  The major and minor device numbers of the device on which the shared library filename is located.

Inode

  The inode on the device from which the shared library location is loaded into memory.

Click on any column header to sort the data by the information in that column, in alphabetical or numerical order. Click again on the column header to sort the data in reverse alphabetical or reverse numerical order.

Click Close to close the Memory Maps dialog.

### To Change the Priority of a Process

To change the priority of a process, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Select the process for which you want to change the priority.

3. Select the priority in Edit Change Priority, or perform a right-click and choose Change Priority. If the Custom menu item is selected, the Change Priority dialog is displayed, and continue as follows.

4. Use the slider to set the nice value of the process.

   The nice value sets the priority of the process: the lower the nice value, the higher the priority.

   To specify a nice value lower than zero, non-root users must enter the root password.

5. Click on the Change Priority button.

### To End a Process

To end a process, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Select the process that you want to end.

3. Choose Edit End Process, or perform a right-click and choose End Process, or click on the End Process button.

   By default, a confirmation alert is displayed. For information about how to display or hide the confirmation alert, see .

4. Click on the End Process button to confirm that you want to end the process. System Monitor forces the process to finish normally.

This is the preferred way to stop a process.

### To Terminate a Process

To terminate a process, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Processes tab to display the process list.

2. Select the process that you want to terminate.

3. Choose Edit Kill Process, or perform a right-click and choose Kill Process.

   By default, a confirmation alert is displayed. For information about how to display or hide the confirmation alert, see .

4. Click on the Kill Process button to confirm that you want to terminate the process. System Monitor forces the process to finish immediately.

You usually terminate a process only if you cannot end the process normally as described in .

### To Monitor CPU Usage

To monitor CPU usage, select the Resources tab.

System Monitor displays the CPU usage history in graphical format. Underneath the graph, System Monitor also displays the current CPU usage, as a percentage.

### To Monitor Memory and Swap Usage

To monitor memory and swap usage, select the Resources tab.

System Monitor displays the memory usage history and the swap usage history in graphical format. Underneath the graph, System Monitor also displays the following numerical values:

- Used memory out of total memory

- Used swap out of total swap

### To Monitor Network Activity

To monitor network activity, select the Resources tab.

System Monitor displays the network history in graphical format. Underneath the graph, System Monitor also displays the following numerical values:

- Received data per second and total

- Sent data per second and total

### To Monitor File Systems

To monitor file systems, select the File Systems tab.

System Monitor displays mounted file systems in tabular format. From left to right, the table displays the following columns:

- Device

- Directory

- Gjenar

- Total

- Free

- Available

- Used

For information about how to change the columns displayed in the file systems list, see .

### To Customize the Resources Tabbed Section

You can customize the Resources tabbed section in the following ways:

#### To Change the Line Colors of the CPU Graph

To change the color of the lines that represents CPU usage in the CPU History graph, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Resources tab in the System Monitor window, to display the graphs and table that provide information about the usage of system resources.

2. Click on the CPU color button. The Pick a color dialog is displayed.

3. Choose a color from the Palette, or use the color wheel or the spin boxes to customize the color.

4. Click OK to close the Pick a color dialog.

#### To Change the Line Colors of the Memory and Swap Graph

To change the color of the lines that represent memory and swap usage in the Memory and Swap History graph, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Resources tab in the System Monitor window, to display the graphs and table that provide information about the usage of system resources.

2. Click on the Memory or Swap button. The Pick a color dialog is displayed.

3. Choose a color from the Palette, or use the color wheel or the spin boxes to customize the color.

4. Click OK to close the Pick a color dialog.

#### To Change the Line Colors of the Network Graph

To change the color of the lines that represent network usage in the Network History graph, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Resources tab in the System Monitor window, to display the graphs and table that provide information about the usage of system resources.

2. Click on the Receiving or Sending button. The Pick a color dialog is displayed.

3. Choose a color from the Palette, or use the color wheel or the spin boxes to customize the color.

4. Click OK to close the Pick a color dialog.

## Preferencis

To configure System Monitor, choose Edit Preferences. The Preferences dialog contains the following tabbed sections:

### Processes

Behavior

  - Update interval in seconds

    Use this spin box to specify the interval at which you want to update the process list.

  - Enable smooth refresh

    Select this option to refresh smoothly.

  - Alert before ending or killing processes

    Select this option to display a confirmation alert when you end a process or terminate a process.

  - Divide CPU usage by CPU count

    Select this to divide each process' CPU% in the Processes table by the number of CPUs.

Information Fields

  Use the following options to select which fields are displayed in the process list:

  - Process Name

    Select this option to display the name of the process. This column may also contain an icon to indicate the application that is associated with the process.

  - User

    Select this option to display the name of the user who owns the process.

  - Status

    Select this option to display the current status of the process: sleeping or running.

  - Virtual Memory

    Select this option to display the amount of virtual memory that is allocated to the process.

  - Resident Memory

    Select this option to display the amount of physical memory that is allocated to the process.

  - Writable Memory

    Select this option to display the amount of memory that can be written by the process.

  - Shared Memory

    Select this option to display the amount of shared memory that is allocated to the process. Shared memory is memory that can be accessed by another process.

  - X Server Memory

    Select this option to display the amount of X server memory that is used by the process.

  - % CPU

    Select this option to display the percentage of CPU time currently being used by the process.

  - CPU Time

    Select this option to display the amount of CPU time that has been used by the process.

  - Started

    Select this option to display when the process began running.

  - Nice

    Select this option to display the nice value of the process. The nice value sets the priority of the process: the lower the nice value, the higher the priority.

  - ID

    Select this option to display the process identifier, also known as the pid. The pid is a number that uniquely identifies the process. You can use the pid to manipulate the process on the command line.

  - Memory

    Select this option to display the amount of system memory that is currently being used by the process.

  - Security Context

    Select this option to display the security context in which the process is running.

  - Command Line

    Select this option to display the command line that was used to start the process, including arguments.

  - Waiting Channel

    Select this option to display the waiting channel, whereby a process waits for a resource.

  - Control Group

    Select this option to display the control group that a process belongs to.

  - Disk Read Total

    Select this option to display the total amount of data read from the disk by a process.

  - Disk Write Total

    Select this option to display the total amount of data written to the disk by a process.

  - Disk Read

    Select this option to display the speed at which data is being read from the disk by a process.

  - Disk Write

    Select this option to display the speed at which data is being written to the disk by a process.

  - Unit

    Select this option to display the systemd unit for a process.

  - Session

    Select this option to display the session under which the process is running.

  - Seat

    Select this option to display the "seat" a process is assigned to. The special default seat called "seat0" always exists.

  - Owner

    Select this option to display the owner of a process.

  - Priority

    Select this option to display the priority of a process- how much CPU it is allowed to use. A process running with higher priority can use more of the CPU compared to the one with a lower priority.

### Resources

Graphs

  - Update interval in seconds

    Use this spin box to specify how often you want to update the System Monitor graphs.

  - Show network speed in bits

    Select this option to show your network speed in bits/s instead of the default bytes/s.

### File Systems

File Systems

  - Update interval in seconds

    Use this spin box to specify how often you want to update the File Systems table.

  - Show all file systems

    Select this option to show all file systems, including temporary and system ones.

Information Fields

  Use the following options to select which fields are displayed in the file system list:

  - Device

    Select this option to display the location of the block file for the device.

  - Directory

    Select this option to display the mount point (directory to access) of a device.

  - Type

    Select this option to display the file system type. In most distributions of GNU/Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, there are numerous file system types which are supported by the kernel, like NTFS, FAT32, ext4, ext3 ext2 etc. The file system type will be shown if this option is selected in case it's a supported type.

  - Total

    Select this option to display the total capacity of a file system.

  - Free

    Select this option to display the amount of space not used by the file system.

  - Available

    Select this option to display the amount of space left for use.

  - Used

    Select this option to display the amount of used space.