3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

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Process Priority
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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

Using nice and renice

Commands
by Aaron Kili | Published: September 13, 2017 |
September 13, 2017

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In this article, we’ll brie y

explain the kernel scheduler
(also known as the process
scheduler), and process
priority, which are topics
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beyond the scope of this
guide. Then we will dive into +
a little bit of Linux process
management: see how to 
run a program or command 0
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with modi ed priority and
also change the priority of  Exam Study Guide to LFCS and LFCE

running Linux processes. 0

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Read Also: How to Monitor 
Linux Processes and Set How to Add Linux Host to Nagios Monitoring
0
Server Using NRPE Plugin
Process Limits on a Per-
User Basis  How to Install Nagios 4.3.4 on RHEL, CentOS and
Fedora
Understanding the
Linux Kernel 51 Useful Lesser Known Commands
Install Cacti (Network Monitoring) on
for Linux
RHEL/CentOS Users and Fedora 24-12
7.x/6.x/5.x
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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

Scheduler Google Chrome 72 Released – Install on

RHEL/CentOS and Fedora
The kernel scheduler is a
unit of the kernel that How to Install Ubuntu 16.10/16.04 Alongside With
determines the most Windows 10 or 8 in Dual-Boot
suitable process out of all
runnable processes to
execute next; it allocates
processor time between the
runnable processes on a
system. A runnable process
is one which is waiting only
for CPU time, it’s ready to be
executed.

The scheduler forms the

core of multitasking in Linux,
using a priority-based
scheduling algorithm to
choose between the
runnable processes in the
system. It ranks processes
based on the most
deserving as well as need Linux System Administrator Bundle
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processes including process  Ending In: 4 days
priority which is simply the
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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

scheduling priority attached

to a process. Processes LINUX EBOOKS
with a higher priority will be
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executed before those with from Zero to Hero
a lower priority, while RedHat RHCE/RHCSA Certi cation Preparation
processes with the same Guide
priority are scheduled one Linux Foundations LFCS/LFCE Certi cation
after the next, repeatedly. Guide
Post x Mail Server Setup Guide for Linux
There are a total of 140
Ansible Setup Guide for Linux
priorities and two distinct
Django Setup Guide for Linux
priority ranges implemented
Awk Getting Started Guide for Beginners
in Linux. The rst one is nice
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value (niceness) which
ranges from -20 (highest
priority value) to 19 (lowest     
priority value) and the
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priority, which ranges from 1
to 99 by default, then 100 to YES! SIGN ME UP
139 are meant for user-
space.

One important characteristic

of Linux is dynamic priority-
based scheduling, which
allows nice value of a
processes to be changed
(increased or decreased)
depending on your needs, as
we’ll see later on.

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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

How to Check
Nice Value of
Linux Processes
To see the nice values of
processes, we can use
utilities such as ps, top or
htop.

To view processes nice

value with ps command in
user-de ned format (here
the NI column shows
niceness of processes).

$ ps -eo pid,ppid,ni,co

View Linux Processes Nice Values

Alternatively, you can use

top or htop utilities to view
Linux processes nice values
as shown.

$ top
$ htop

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Check Linux Process Nice Values using

Top Command

Check Linux Process Nice Values using

Htop Command

Difference Between
PR or PRI and NI
From the top and htop
outputs above, you’ll notice
that there is a column called
PR and PRI receptively
which show the priority of a
process.

This therefore means that:

NI – is the nice value,

which is a user-space
concept, while
PR or PRI – is the
process’s actual priority,
as seen by the Linux
kernel.

How To Calculate PR
or PRI Values
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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

Total number of priorit

Real time priority rang
User space priority ran

Nice value range (NI): -20 to

19

PR = 20 + NI
PR = 20 + (-20 to + 19)
PR = 20 + -20 to 20 +
PR = 0 to 39 which is s

But if you see a rt rather

than a number as shown in
the screen shot below, it
basically means the process
is running under real time
scheduling priority.

Linux rt Process

How to Run A
Command with a
Given Nice Value
in Linux
Here, we will look at how to
prioritize the CPU usage of a
program or command. 51 Useful Lesser Known Commands for Linux Users
If you
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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

have a very CPU-intensive

program or task, but you
also understand that it
might take a long time to
complete, you can set it a
high or favorable priority
using the nice command.

The syntax is as follows:

$ nice -n niceness-valu
OR
$ nice -niceness-value
OR
$ nice --adjustment=nic

Important:

If no value is provided,
nice sets a priority of 10
by default.
A command or program
run without nice
defaults to a priority of
zero.
Only root can run a
command or program
with increased or high
priority.
Normal users can only
run a command or
program with low
priority.

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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

For example, instead of

starting a program or
command with the default
priority, you can start it with
a speci c priority using
following nice command.

$ sudo nice -n 5 tar -c

OR
$ sudo nice --adjustmen

You can also use the third

method which is a little
confusing especially for
negative niceness values.

$ sudo nice -5 tar -czf

Change the
Scheduling
Priority of a
Process in Linux
As we mentioned before,
Linux allows dynamic
priority-based scheduling.
Therefore, if a program is
already running, you can
change its priority with the
renice command in this
form:
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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

$ renice -n -12 -p 10
$ renice -n -2 -u apac

Change Process Priority

From the sample top output

below, the niceness of the
teamspe+ with PID 1055 is
now -12 and for all
processes owned by user
apache is -2 .

Still using this output, you

can see the formula PR = 20
+ NI stands,

PR for ts3server = 20 +
PR for apache processes

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Watch Processes Nice Values

Any changes you make with

renice command to a user’s
processes nice values are
only applicable until the next
reboot. To set permanent
default values, read the next
section.

How To Set
Default Nice
Value Of a
Speci c User’s
Processes
You can set the default nice
value of a particular user or
group in the
/etc/security/limits.conf
le. It’s primary function is
to de ne the resource limits
for the users logged in via
PAM.

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The syntax for de ning a

limit for a user is as follows
(and the possible values of
the various columns are
explained in the le):

#<domain> <type> <it

Now use the syntax below

where hard – means
enforcing hard links and soft
means – enforcing the soft
limits.

<username> <hard|soft>

Alternatively, create a le
under
/etc/security/limits.d/
which overrides settings in
the main le above, and
these les are read in
alphabetical order.

Start by creating the le

/etc/security/limits.d/tecmint-
priority.conf for user
tecmint:

# vi /etc/security/limi

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Then add this con guration

in it:

tecmint hard priority

Save and close the le. From

now on, any process owned
by tecmint will have a nice
value of 10 and PR of 30.

For more information, read

the man pages of nice and
renice:

$ man nice
$ man renice

You might also like to read

these following articles
about Linux process
management.

How to Find and Kill

Running Processes in
Linux
A Guide to Kill, Pkill and
Killall Commands to
Terminate a Process in
Linux
How to Monitor System
Usage, Outages and
Troubleshoot Linux
Servers
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3/9/2019 How to Set Linux Process Priority Using nice and renice Commands

CPUTool – Limit and

Control CPU Utilization
of Any Process in Linux

In this article, we brie y

explained the kernel
scheduler, process priority,
looked at how to run a
program or command with
modi ed priority and also
change the priority of active
Linux processes. You can
share any thoughts
regarding this topic via the
feedback form below.

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Tags: linux monitoring

Aaron Kili View all Posts

Aaron Kili is a

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upcoming Linux SysAdmin, web
developer, and currently a
content creator for TecMint
who loves working with
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believes in sharing knowledge.

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