Technical Tip: 'diagnose sys top' does not show all processes

[gmanea]

Description	This article describes how to show a complete list of processes on the FortiGate.
Scope	FortiGate.
Solution	When using an SSH client to connect to the console (CLI) only a certain number of processes are shown when issuing the command 'diagnose sys top', not all process information seems to be displayed. diagnose sys top focuses on CPU usage and displays processes with significant CPU consumption. Low-impact or idle processes may be filtered out to keep the output concise and relevant for performance monitoring. Use the options available to expand the list of processes, for example: diagnose sys top 2 99 3 Where: '2' is the interval in seconds between each refresh. A low number for the refresh interval is useful for isolating the processes causing CPU spikes, but may not allow a large list of applications to be displayed. '99' is the number of lines being displayed during an iteration.  '3' is the number of iterations this command should display. Another limitation may be caused by the window size of the SSH client. Displaying 99 lines while the SSH window can only accommodate 30 will truncate the output. For this, a simple resize or maximize of the SSH window may fix it. Depending on the features configured or used, the list of processes may have the different number of entries. To display a particular one by name (when known, or a part of it known), a similar command and a filter can be used: diagnose sys top-summary | grep name Example: FG# diagnose sys top-summary | grep log    171      21M    0.0  0.5    43  00:01.20  miglogd [x3]     172       6M    0.0  0.2     8  00:00.00  kmiglogd Note 1: This modifier/filter can’t be used in 'diagnose sys top'. Note 2: 'diagnose sys top-summary' command is missing from FortiOS v5.6.0 to v5.6.3. Note 3: Refer to the article Technical Tip: Deprecated of command 'diagnose sys top-summary' that states from version 6.4.0, the 'top-summary command' is removed. An alternative command to use (grep parameter is supported in FortiOS v7.0.1 GA or higher): diagnose sys top | grep name Example: FG# diagnose sys top-summary | grep log When troubleshooting memory issues, it is indicated to press 'm' to sort the diagnose sys top output by memory usage. (The default sort is by CPU). Example: Use the full option for deeper diagnostics or when troubleshooting issues where a less active process may be involved. Note: Use Ctrl+C to stop the output.