Hi folks! I have a debian server installed by professionals. Below is an output of ps-aux. They are probably all essential services, and I'm curious as to what they are. Anyone has any clues? Is there a linux command that lets me query the functions of those processes? (I tried man pages, but they don't work). Thanks in advance!


Warning: bad ps syntax, perhaps a bogus '-'? See http://procps.sf.net/faq.html
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 1944 644 ? Ss Jun16 0:01 init [2]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Jun16 0:00 [migration/0]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SN Jun16 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [events/0]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [khelper]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kthread]
root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kblockd/0]
root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kacpid]
root 99 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kseriod]
root 138 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Jun16 0:00 [pdflush]
root 139 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S Jun16 0:00 [pdflush]
root 140 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kswapd0]
root 141 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [aio/0]
root 585 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [khubd]
root 601 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [ata/0]
root 603 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [ata_aux]
root 697 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root 709 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
root 929 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kjournald]
root 1110 0.0 0.0 2180 616 ? S<s Jun16 0:00 udevd --daemon
root 1437 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kpsmoused]
root 1454 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kgameportd]
root 1696 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Jun16 0:00 [kmirrord]
daemon 1781 0.0 0.0 1688 368 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /sbin/portmap
root 1989 0.0 0.0 1624 624 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /sbin/syslogd
root 1995 0.0 0.0 1580 384 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /sbin/klogd -x
root 2067 0.0 0.0 1572 560 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /usr/sbin/acpid -c /etc/acpi/events -s /var/run/acpid.socket
root 2070 0.0 0.0 1956 556 ? Ss Jun16 0:00
/usr/sbin/dropbear -d /etc/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key -r /etc/dropbear/dr
100 2113 0.0 0.0 5336 992 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /usr/sbin/exim4 -bd -q30m
root 2125 0.0 0.0 1752 568 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /usr/sbin/inetd
statd 2148 0.0 0.0 1760 736 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /sbin/rpc.statd
daemon 2158 0.0 0.0 1832 424 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /usr/sbin/atd
root 2165 0.0 0.0 2196 760 ? Ss Jun16 0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
root 2192 0.0 0.1 2664 1152 tty1 Ss Jun16 0:00 /bin/login --
root 2193 0.0 0.0 1572 492 tty2 Ss+ Jun16 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
root 2194 0.0 0.0 1572 488 tty3 Ss+ Jun16 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
root 2195 0.0 0.0 1576 496 tty4 Ss+ Jun16 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
root 2198 0.0 0.0 1572 492 tty5 Ss+ Jun16 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
root 2199 0.0 0.0 1572 488 tty6 Ss+ Jun16 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
root 2223 0.0 0.1 3952 1644 tty1 S+ Jun16 0:00 -bash
root 2683 0.0 0.0 2264 1020 ? Ss 04:04 0:00 /usr/sbin/dropbear -d /etc/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key -r /etc/dropbear/dr
user 2684 0.0 0.2 4072 2696 pts/0 Ss 04:04 0:00 -bash
user 2706 0.0 0.0 2220 892 pts/0 R+ 04:16 0:00 ps -aux

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well yes they all look normal, but we can't really list what every single one is. Is there something specific that you want information on? you can google just about all of those and get a good view on what it is.

Your question is too general. Apart from that I cannot see anything unusual. What is the purpose of your server?

All the stuff in between [brackets] are kernel threads. The rest on a quick view are the usual basic services that most systems run by default.

Tks for the replies. More specifically, is there a command that queries the processes?

For example, if I type man pico, I get a description of what pico is. I know there's a command in debian that allows you to query processes and it returns information about the process and also tells you how important it is...I've read it somewhere before but forgot- it's so frustrating. Does any one know the command on top of their head?

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came to my mind - not really telling about the importance of a process - they are all there for a reason...
will tell you what info you can make these commands show to you

query a process? really no idea what you mean by that, what information do you expect to be told in this "query"? what does the "importance" of a process mean to you?

The importante of a process come given by many factors which depends exclusively on the task scheduler.

Task schedulers can give more importance to given processes in terms of sharing cpu time. The nice value of the process also matters, and depending on the configuration of your kernel, some processes are preemptible, while others are not. Besides that, there are not first or second class processes. A process is just a structure in your ram, and even if people usually treat process like if process=program, that's not exactly true. In any case, if you close any process, the associated program dies immediately.

If you want to collect random info about a process, you can use /proc/<pidnumber>. For example, if you go into /proc/1/ you can see in real time the contents of the live init process.

I found it. But unfortunately, it's looks to be a GUI only software. I guess I can't use it in my commnadline-only server. But here it is anyway for those who have GUI:

The Service Configuration window shows lists of services on the left, with a
description and status information in panes on the right. Just above these panes
is a line that describes the runlevel? both the current system runlevel and the
runlevel being edited. (Both are at runlevel 5 in Figure 82.)
To permanently enable or disable a service for a given runlevel, check or uncheck
the box next to the service name. This change will make the service start or
stop the next time you boot the computer, but it won?t immediately enable or
disable the service. To do this, click the Start or Stop button in the button bar.
You can also click Restart to restart the service. This action shuts down the
service and then starts it up again, which is sometimes necessary if you make
changes to a server?s configuration and want it to immediately implement
those changes.

Smith, Roderick. Degunking Linux.
Scottsdale, AZ, USA: Paraglyph, Incorporated, 2005. p 190.
http://site.ebrary.com

Copyright © 2005. Paraglyph, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

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that just sounds like one of a million SysVinit control panels. that doesn't sound like anything you've described at all. a console equivalent would be chkconfig.