Problem Statement
Which command shows real-time process and system resource usage?
Explanation
Top displays real-time system resource usage and processes, updating every few seconds. Shows: uptime, load average, CPU usage, memory usage, processes sorted by resource consumption. Interactive: k to kill, r to renice, M to sort by memory, P to sort by CPU, q to quit.
Htop is enhanced version with colors, mouse support, tree view, easier process management. Not always installed by default but more user-friendly. Other tools: vmstat (virtual memory stats), iostat (I/O stats), sar (system activity reporter), mpstat (CPU stats per core).
Monitor specific resources: free -h (memory), df -h (disk space), du -sh (directory size), netstat or ss (network connections), iotop (I/O by process), iftop (network traffic by connection). Understanding monitoring tools enables identifying performance bottlenecks and resource constraints.
