Explain the concept of niceness in Linux processes, and how can the niceness value be adjusted using the "htop" command?
The concept of niceness in Linux processes refers to the priority level at which a process runs on the system. It is a value that determines how much CPU time a process should receive relative to other processes. The niceness value ranges from -20 to 19, with lower values indicating higher priority and higher values indicating lower priority. This value is used by the Linux kernel's scheduler to allocate CPU resources efficiently.
The niceness value can be adjusted using the "htop" command, which is a powerful process monitoring tool available in Linux systems. To launch "htop", open a terminal window and type "htop" followed by the Enter key. This will display a real-time interactive process viewer.
In "htop", you can navigate through the list of processes using the arrow keys. The niceness value is displayed in the "NI" column. To adjust the niceness value of a process, select the process by navigating to it using the arrow keys, and then press the "F7" key. This will decrease the niceness value by 1, making the process a higher priority. Conversely, pressing the "F8" key will increase the niceness value by 1, reducing the process's priority.
It is important to note that adjusting the niceness value requires root or superuser privileges. Therefore, you may need to use the "sudo" command before launching "htop" to gain the necessary privileges.
For example, let's say we have a process with a high niceness value of 10. This process will have a lower priority compared to other processes running on the system. To increase its priority, we can use the "htop" command with root privileges and navigate to the process using the arrow keys. Then, we can press the "F7" key to decrease its niceness value to 9, making it slightly higher in priority.
Niceness in Linux processes refers to the priority level at which a process runs. The "htop" command provides a convenient way to monitor and adjust the niceness value of processes in real-time. By adjusting the niceness value, you can control the priority of processes and allocate CPU resources more efficiently.
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