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Finding the most memory consuming processes in Linux

 
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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Finding the most memory consuming processes in Linux
# 1  
Old 12-31-2013
Finding the most memory consuming processes in Linux
Platform: Oracle Linux 6.4


To find the most memory consuming processes, I tried the following 2 methods


1. Method1

Code:
# ps aux | head -1 ; ps aux | sort -nk +4 | tail -7
USER       PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
root        95  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S    Nov14   0:37 [ksoftirqd/22]
root        96  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S    Nov14   0:14 [watchdog/22]
root        97  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S    Nov14   0:00 [migration/23]
root        99  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S    Nov14   0:28 [ksoftirqd/23]
rpc      45927  0.0  0.0  19020   636 ?        Ss   Nov14   0:04 rpcbind
USER       PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
root     44842  0.3  0.1 5843388 376616 ?      Sl   Nov14 209:35 /grid/product/11.2.0/jdk/jre/bin/java ...
#

Method2. Using top command.

Execute top command, then type SHIFT + o and you'll get the following menu

Code:
Current Sort Field:  K  for window 1:Def
Select sort field via field letter, type any other key to return

  a: PID        = Process Id
  b: PPID       = Parent Process Pid
  c: RUSER      = Real user name
  d: UID        = User Id
  e: USER       = User Name
  f: GROUP      = Group Name
  g: TTY        = Controlling Tty
  h: PR         = Priority
  i: NI         = Nice value
  j: P          = Last used cpu (SMP)
* K: %CPU       = CPU usage
  l: TIME       = CPU Time
  m: TIME+      = CPU Time, hundredths
  n: %MEM       = Memory usage (RES)
  o: VIRT       = Virtual Image (kb)
  p: SWAP       = Swapped size (kb)
  q: RES        = Resident size (kb)
  r: CODE       = Code size (kb)
  s: DATA       = Data+Stack size (kb)
  t: SHR        = Shared Mem size (kb)
  u: nFLT       = Page Fault count
  v: nDRT       = Dirty Pages count
  w: S          = Process Status
  x: COMMAND    = Command name/line
  y: WCHAN      = Sleeping in Function
  z: Flags      = Task Flags <sched.h>

Now type n and enter.

I followed the above steps and I got the following output.

Code:
7481 oracle    20   0 4546m 1.5g 1.5g S  0.0  4.8  11:09.05 ora_dbw0_BRBOPRD3
11702 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.5g 1.5g S  0.0  4.7   9:43.97 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11709 oracle    20   0 4539m 1.5g 1.5g S  0.0  4.7   6:31.47 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11667 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.4g 1.4g S  0.0  4.4   7:12.83 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11638 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.4g 1.4g S  0.0  4.4   7:29.32 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11696 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.4g 1.4g S  0.2  4.3   8:26.55 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11771 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.3g 1.3g S  0.0  4.2   5:41.32 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11657 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.3g 1.3g S  0.0  4.1   6:03.84 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11735 oracle    20   0 4539m 1.3g 1.3g S  0.0  4.0   5:40.87 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11707 oracle    20   0 4539m 1.3g 1.3g S  0.0  4.0   5:46.76 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11728 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.2g 1.2g S  0.0  3.9   5:22.02 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11673 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.2g 1.2g S  0.0  3.8   5:22.36 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11229 oracle    20   0 4539m 1.2g 1.2g S  0.0  3.8   5:03.04 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)
11661 oracle    20   0 4537m 1.2g 1.2g S  0.0  3.8   5:13.54 oracleBRBOPRD3 (LOCAL=NO)

As you can see the outputs from Method1 and Method2 are different ? Which is the accurate one ?
Last edited by Scott; 12-31-2013 at 06:27 AM.. Reason: Truncated long command for better readability on mobile devices
# 2  
Old 12-31-2013
Not sure if you are comparing the right columns. Trying to replicate your approach, I got:
Code:
ps aux | sort -nrk4,4 | awk '{print $5/1024} NR>4 {exit}'
1236.18
907.668
212.672
624.902
583.66
top -n1 | awk 'NR>7 {print $6} NR>11 {exit}'
1236m
907m
212m
624m
583m

# 3  
Old 01-03-2014
First, you need to clarify what you want to know: every process uses some amount of memory, of which some might be located in (real) memory and some might be located in the swap (virtual memory). Do you want to know the "biggest" process in terms of real memory consumption (only the parts in real memory count), in terms of virtual memory consumption (somewhat misleading, the totals of real memory and swapped-out-memory count) or swap allocation (only the swapped amount counts)?

For instance: a process holds 3GB of memory, of which 1GB is swapped out. Would you like to get "1" (the swapped amount), "2" (the real mem amount) or "3" (the total amount) reported for it?

I hope this helps.

bakunin
 
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