Linux Process Monitoring and Diagnostics using the procfs (/proc) interface
About Course
Unlock the Power of Linux Process Monitoring and Optimization via /proc and Build Custom Automation Scripts For The Same
Linux Process Monitoring and Diagnostics using the /proc Interface is a comprehensive course designed for system administrators, developers, and anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of Linux process management. This course focuses on the /proc filesystem (procfs), an essential interface for monitoring, diagnosing, and analyzing Linux processes and system performance.
Throughout the course, you’ll learn how to explore and utilize procfs to gather critical process-specific information, including CPU and memory usage, file descriptors, I/O statistics, and thread details. We’ll also cover system-wide statistics like CPU load, memory allocation, disk I/O, and network performance, all accessible via the /proc interface.
Beyond monitoring, you’ll dive into advanced topics like resource limits, scheduler statistics, and how to troubleshoot stuck processes using procfs. Real-time monitoring tools like top, slabtop, htop, ps, lsof, fuser, and many more command-line tools will be integrated into your workflow to give you hands-on experience with dynamic system diagnostics.
By the end of the course, you’ll have the skills to write custom scripts for process monitoring and diagnostics, automate system monitoring tasks, and interpret complex process data. Whether you’re managing servers, debugging applications, or optimizing system performance, this course equips you with essential tools and knowledge for mastering Linux process internals.
What Will You Learn?
- Learn about the significance of the procfs (/proc) interface on Linux
- Learn how to gather process information via procfs
- Learn how to monitor / track memory, CPU and I/O usage of a process via procfs
- Learn how to check if a process is CPU-bound or I/O bound
- Learn how to gather major fault / minor fault statistics, process priority, last CPU executing the process and scheduler statistics
- Learn how to get details of files open by the process, shared libraries mapped into process memory, and process memory map
- Learn about OOM score of a process and how to adjust them for specific use-case requirements
- Learn how to gather CGroup and Namespace details of a process
- Learn how to gather kernel stack info for a process, process physical memory mapping and thread information
- Learn how to build custom scripts / tools for monitor processes
Course Content
Introduction to Linux Process Monitoring
In this section, you will learn about the procfs (/proc) filesystem on Linux. You will learn about the features and benefits of using the procfs for process monitoring and diagnostics on Linux
-
Overview of Linux Process Management
45:32 -
The Role of /proc filesystem (procfs) in Process Monitoring
29:25
Command-Line Tools and Utilities for Process Monitoring
In this section, you will learn how to effectively use various command-line tools available on mainstream Linux distributions to monitor processes
-
Effective use of the ps command
01:11:20 -
Using the top utility
34:20 -
Modern alternatives to top utility: htop and others
55:16 -
Miscellaneous Tools for Process and System Monitoring
01:12:24
Understanding the procfs filesystem
In this section, you will learn how procfs works and and how to use it in general
-
Mounting and Exploring /proc
20:34 -
Navigating procfs: Key Directories and Files
26:39
Process-Specific Information in /proc
In this section, you will explore and learn about various process related statistics and information that you can gather by navigating through the /proc/[pid]/ folder tree
-
Anatomy of the /proc/[pid]/ Directory
30:56 -
Gathering basic information and statistics of a process
01:16:51 -
Monitoring memory statistics of a process
54:34 -
Monitoring CPU statistics of a process
01:09:49 -
Monitoring I/O statistics of a process
24:07 -
Gathering Thread-Related statistics via /proc/[pid]/task
25:22 -
Gathering file-related statistics of a process
40:14 -
Finding the OOM-score of a process and adjusting them
37:32
System-wide monitoring via /proc
In this section, you will learn how to gather overall system statistics and other details on a running Linux system via files in /proc
-
Monitoring System-Wide CPU Usage Statistics
34:29 -
Monitoring Interrupt Statistics and Managing IRQ affinity
27:26 -
Monitoring System-Wide Memory Statistics
23:19 -
Monitoring Disk I/O Statistics
22:01 -
Monitoring Network Interface Statistics (Overview)
09:24
Conclusion
-
Summary of Key Concepts and Further Exploration
06:48