4.8 Using htop to monitor shared resources

Always run htop in the terminal to see how the many cores and how much RAM are currently being used by others. You can customize the htop display to make things easier to see. For example:

• After entering htop, press F2 to enter setup. You can also click directly on setup to enter it.

• Once you enter setup, if you have trouble seeing the setup options, you can try reducing your browser’s text size temporarily in order to see the setup options.

• Sequoia has 128 cores so the default view with 4 columns means a pretty large display. In the Meters setup, you can change the left column to be “CPUs (1-4/8) [Bar]” and the right column to be “CPUs (5-8/8) [Bar]”. This will condense the output and force 8 columns. 

• I also like to add disc IO to the left column below memory. 

• In the “Display options” setup you can select some that will clean up the process information below the resources monitor. I like to make sure to select 

  • Tree view

  • Tree view sorted by PID

  • Shadow other users’ process (makes it easier to see your own)

  • Count CPUs from 1

  • Enable the mouse

• Press F10 when done