Process Monitor

Monitor system processes and resource usage with threshold-based alerts.

Requirements

• Standard Unix tools: ps, top, free, uptime (pre-installed on Linux)
• No API keys needed

Instructions

1. Resource summary — Run and format results:

   uptime                          # Load average
   free -h                         # Memory/swap usage
   nproc                           # CPU count
   df -h / /home 2>/dev/null       # Key disk partitions
   

2. Top processes — By CPU or memory:

   ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -15  # Top memory consumers
   ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -15  # Top CPU consumers
   

3. Search processes — Find by name or PID:

   ps aux | grep -i "[n]ode"      # By name (brackets avoid matching grep itself)
   ps -p 1234 -o pid,user,%cpu,%mem,cmd  # By PID
   

4. Threshold alerts — Flag processes exceeding limits:

   • Single process CPU > 80% → ⚠️ Warning
   • Single process memory > 50% → ⚠️ Warning
   • System memory > 90% → 🔴 Critical
   • Load average > 2× CPU count → 🔴 Critical

5. Output format:

   ## 📊 Process Report — <hostname> (<timestamp>)
   
   | Metric        | Value          | Status |
   |---------------|----------------|--------|
   | Load Average  | 1.2 / 0.8 / 0.5 | 🟢   |
   | Memory        | 12.3/16.0 GB (77%) | 🟢 |
   | Swap          | 0.0/4.0 GB    | 🟢     |
   
   ### Top 5 by Memory
   | PID   | User  | %MEM | %CPU | Command        |
   |-------|-------|------|------|----------------|
   | 1234  | root  | 12.3 | 2.1  | /usr/bin/java  |
   

Edge Cases

• Zombie processes: Check with ps aux | awk '$8 ~ /Z/' — report count and parent PID.
• No top available: Fall back to /proc/loadavg and /proc/meminfo.
• Docker/container: ps may show host processes. Use --pid=host awareness.

Security

• Read-only commands only — never kill processes without explicit user confirmation.
• Sanitize process names in output (may contain sensitive paths or arguments).