Processes on Netdata

Infrastructure Observability Without Instrumentation

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Complete infrastructure visibility without touching code. Netdata monitors processes, containers, networks, and logs automatically through kernel-level instrumentation and intelligent auto-discovery.

Live Tab - Real-Time Netdata Functions

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Live tab provides real-time access to Netdata Functions - specialized routines from collectors that deliver live information from your monitored nodes, including database monitoring, network topology maps, process explorers, and diagnostics.

Process Monitoring vs Console Tools: A Comparison

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Netdata reads /proc/<pid>/stat for all processes, once per second and extracts utime and stime (user and system cpu utilization), much like all the console tools do.

But it also extracts cutime and cstime that account the user and system time of the exit children of each process. By keeping a map in memory of the whole process tree, it is capable of assigning the right time to every process, taking into account all its exited children.

Context Switching & Its Impact On System Performance

Tue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Context switching is the process of switching the CPU from one process, task or thread to another. In a multitasking operating system, such as Linux, the CPU has to switch between multiple processes or threads in order to keep the system running smoothly. This is necessary because each CPU core without hyperthreading can only execute one process or thread at a time. If there are many processes or threads running simultaneously, and very few CPU cores available to handle them, the system is forced to make more context switches to balance the CPU resources among them.

Understanding System Processes States

Tue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The different states of system processes are essential to understanding how a computer system works. Each state represents a specific point in a process’s life cycle and can impact system performance and stability.

Process States

Netdata’s system.processes_state chart provides a view of these states, allowing users to monitor system performance in real-time:

Running: A process is in the Running state when it is actively using the CPU and executing instructions. This state is resource-intensive and can lead to performance issues if there are too many Running processes, causing CPU contention and system slowdowns. Processes in the Running state are prioritized using scheduling algorithms to improve system performance.

Introducing Netdata Functions (↑ Top)

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Netdata is committed to making it simpler and easier for everyone to monitor and troubleshoot their infrastructure. With that goal in mind, we’re excited to announce the launch of our new “Functions” feature (↑ Top), which allows Netdata Agent collectors to expose “functions” that can be executed in run-time and on-demand.

What are Netdata functions?

Netdata has always been synonymous with real time monitoring and automated dashboards, with the recent introduction of “functions”, there’s now a new way for users to troubleshoot their infrastructure. A function, in the context of Netdata, is a routine or script that can be invoked to run on a node and retrieve useful information, which is then displayed in the Netdata cloud dashboard.