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Old 03-12-2009, 02:40 AM   #1
18Googol2
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Best way to save top output?

Hi guys. Im trying to capture top output but it doesnt seem to be an easy task:

- Saving top output with redirect sign (>) gives me binary file and very hard to read format.

- If I run top in batch mode (-b), it seems providing me an incorrect output. I let top run for 1 hour, and the cpu info is exactly the same. For 1 hour, the idle percentage is always 87.9% :S

So, what would be the best way to log top output? Thanks.
Last edited by 18Googol2; 03-12-2009 at 03:53 AM.
 
Old 03-12-2009, 03:30 AM   #2
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Batch mode should work. What command did you run exactly? You know you have to scroll down the log file to see each new output right?
 
Old 03-12-2009, 03:52 AM   #3
18Googol2
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Here is the full command I used, it is part of a while loop:

Code:
% top -bcn 1
And it is output from top:

Code:
% grep "% id" top_output.log
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.8% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.8% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.8% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.8% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.8% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Cpu(s):  4.6% us,  3.8% sy,  0.0% ni, 87.9% id,  3.8% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
 
Old 03-12-2009, 04:39 AM   #4
syg00
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Perhaps you'd better share (some more of) your script with us. I regularly use top in batch saving to a file in a timed loop for diagnostics.
Better would be something like sar of course.
 
Old 03-12-2009, 04:41 AM   #5
18Googol2
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It is very simple:

Code:
while true; do
        top -bcn 1 | head -30 >> top_output.log
        sleep 3
done
syg00, can you post your full top command and its output, please?
Last edited by 18Googol2; 03-12-2009 at 11:05 PM.
 
Old 03-12-2009, 06:18 AM   #6
openSauce
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Even this works:
Code:
top -b > topout.log
Edit: didn't see it was the OP posting code above me. You need to take the 2nd pipe out of that command or it will not produce any output to the file. Maybe that's a typo as you said you were getting some output - but I just copied/pasted your code and it behaved as expected, with different output for each execution of top.
Last edited by openSauce; 03-12-2009 at 06:22 AM.
 
Old 03-12-2009, 11:08 PM   #7
18Googol2
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It was definitely a typo, and has been fixed.

I did get the different top output, except the CPU percentage.

Can you run that top command again and post your CPU % info? Thanks.
 
Old 03-13-2009, 12:16 AM   #8
openSauce
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It doesn't seem to change much.

I executed
Code:
for i in $(seq 1 5); do 
  top -bcn 1 | head -30 >> top_output.log;
  sleep 3;
done

$ grep Cpu top_output.log
twice. First time almost nothing changed, 2nd time I started some applications while it was going and it changed a little:
Code:
Cpu(s): 10.8%us,  2.6%sy,  0.8%ni, 73.8%id, 11.9%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 10.8%us,  2.6%sy,  0.8%ni, 73.8%id, 11.9%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 10.8%us,  2.6%sy,  0.8%ni, 73.8%id, 11.9%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 10.8%us,  2.6%sy,  0.8%ni, 73.8%id, 11.8%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 10.8%us,  2.6%sy,  0.8%ni, 73.9%id, 11.8%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Code:
Cpu(s): 11.7%us,  2.6%sy,  0.7%ni, 73.9%id, 10.9%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 11.7%us,  2.6%sy,  0.7%ni, 73.9%id, 10.9%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 11.7%us,  2.6%sy,  0.7%ni, 73.8%id, 11.0%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 11.8%us,  2.6%sy,  0.7%ni, 73.7%id, 10.9%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Cpu(s): 11.9%us,  2.6%sy,  0.7%ni, 73.7%id, 10.9%wa,  0.1%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Are you sure the no change is actually incorrect? Try putting a heavy load on your CPU and see what happens. I am a bit suspicious, viewing the output of top in normal mode I get bigger changes, going up to 20%us even when I'm not doing anything.
Last edited by openSauce; 03-13-2009 at 12:20 AM.
 
Old 03-13-2009, 12:47 AM   #9
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top -bn5 > out

seems to produce more realistic results. Maybe the first iteration of top isn't reliable?
 
Old 03-13-2009, 01:22 AM   #10
syg00
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Hmmm - I thought I had already responded to this, but obviously not.
I presume top suffers the same "problem" as vmstat (see the manpage). On that basis, I only use "-n 1" when I am looking at the individual process data, not the summary data at the beginning of the display. Hence I use a decent iteration count, and loop based on a timer - say
Code:
for i in `seq 1 10` ; do top -b -n 8 -d 3 >> data.top ; sleep 300 ; done
 
  


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