Monitor and control running processes on your MacFleet devices using command-line tools. This tutorial covers CPU monitoring, memory analysis, process listing, and process termination for effective system management.

Understanding macOS Process Management

macOS provides several command-line tools for process management:

• top - Real-time display of running processes and system usage
• ps - Snapshot of current processes
• kill - Terminate processes by PID
• Activity Monitor - GUI equivalent for visual monitoring

Show CPU Utilization

Basic CPU Usage

#!/bin/bash

# Display current CPU utilization
top -l 1 -s 0 | grep "CPU usage"

echo "CPU utilization retrieved successfully"

Detailed CPU Analysis

#!/bin/bash

# Get comprehensive CPU information
echo "=== CPU Utilization Analysis ==="
echo "Current CPU Usage:"
top -l 1 -s 0 | grep "CPU usage"

echo -e "\nTop CPU-consuming processes:"
top -l 1 -s 0 | head -20 | tail -10

echo -e "\nLoad average:"
uptime

Show Memory Status

Basic Memory Information

#!/bin/bash

# Display memory utilization
top -l 1 -s 0 | grep PhysMem

echo "Memory status retrieved successfully"

Comprehensive Memory Analysis

#!/bin/bash

# Detailed memory report
echo "=== Memory Status Analysis ==="
echo "Physical Memory Usage:"
top -l 1 -s 0 | grep PhysMem

echo -e "\nVirtual Memory Statistics:"
vm_stat

echo -e "\nMemory pressure:"
memory_pressure

List Running Processes

View All Processes

#!/bin/bash

# List all running processes
ps aux

echo "Process list generated successfully"

Limited Process List

#!/bin/bash

# Show top 10 processes
echo "Top 10 running processes:"
ps aux | head -11

# Show specific number of processes (replace 15 with desired count)
echo -e "\nTop 15 processes:"
ps aux | head -16

Filtered Process Views

#!/bin/bash

# Show only user processes
echo "User processes:"
ps aux | grep -v "^root"

echo -e "\nSystem processes:"
ps aux | grep "^root" | head -10

echo -e "\nProcesses using most CPU:"
ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -10

echo -e "\nProcesses using most memory:"
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -10

Process Termination

Kill Process by PID

#!/bin/bash

# Kill specific process (replace PID with actual process ID)
PID="1234"

if kill -9 "$PID" 2>/dev/null; then
    echo "Process $PID terminated successfully"
else
    echo "Failed to terminate process $PID or process not found"
fi

Kill Process by Name

#!/bin/bash

# Kill process by application name
APP_NAME="Safari"

if pkill -f "$APP_NAME"; then
    echo "$APP_NAME processes terminated successfully"
else
    echo "No $APP_NAME processes found or termination failed"
fi

Safe Process Termination

#!/bin/bash

# Gracefully terminate process with confirmation
terminate_process() {
    local pid="$1"
    local process_name
    
    # Get process name
    process_name=$(ps -p "$pid" -o comm= 2>/dev/null)
    
    if [[ -z "$process_name" ]]; then
        echo "Process $pid not found"
        return 1
    fi
    
    echo "Found process: $process_name (PID: $pid)"
    
    # Try graceful termination first
    if kill -TERM "$pid" 2>/dev/null; then
        echo "Sent termination signal to $process_name"
        sleep 3
        
        # Check if process still exists
        if kill -0 "$pid" 2>/dev/null; then
            echo "Process still running, forcing termination..."
            kill -9 "$pid" 2>/dev/null
        fi
        
        echo "Process $process_name terminated"
        return 0
    else
        echo "Failed to terminate process $process_name"
        return 1
    fi
}

# Usage example (replace with actual PID)
# terminate_process 1234

Enterprise Process Management Script

#!/bin/bash

# MacFleet Process Management Tool
# Monitor and manage processes across fleet devices

# Configuration
LOG_FILE="/var/log/macfleet_processes.log"
ALERT_CPU_THRESHOLD=80
ALERT_MEMORY_THRESHOLD=80

# Logging function
log_action() {
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - $1" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Get system statistics
get_system_stats() {
    echo "=== System Statistics ==="
    
    # CPU usage
    local cpu_info
    cpu_info=$(top -l 1 -s 0 | grep "CPU usage")
    echo "CPU: $cpu_info"
    
    # Memory usage
    local mem_info
    mem_info=$(top -l 1 -s 0 | grep PhysMem)
    echo "Memory: $mem_info"
    
    # Load average
    echo "Load: $(uptime | awk -F'load average:' '{print $2}')"
    
    # Top processes
    echo -e "\nTop 5 CPU consumers:"
    ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -6 | tail -5
    
    echo -e "\nTop 5 Memory consumers:"
    ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -6 | tail -5
}

# Check for problematic processes
check_system_health() {
    echo "=== System Health Check ==="
    
    # Check high CPU usage processes
    local high_cpu_procs
    high_cpu_procs=$(ps aux | awk -v threshold="$ALERT_CPU_THRESHOLD" '$3 > threshold {print $2, $11, $3"%"}')
    
    if [[ -n "$high_cpu_procs" ]]; then
        echo "⚠️  High CPU usage processes:"
        echo "$high_cpu_procs"
        log_action "High CPU alert: $high_cpu_procs"
    fi
    
    # Check high memory usage processes
    local high_mem_procs
    high_mem_procs=$(ps aux | awk -v threshold="$ALERT_MEMORY_THRESHOLD" '$4 > threshold {print $2, $11, $4"%"}')
    
    if [[ -n "$high_mem_procs" ]]; then
        echo "⚠️  High memory usage processes:"
        echo "$high_mem_procs"
        log_action "High memory alert: $high_mem_procs"
    fi
}

# Kill runaway processes
kill_runaway_processes() {
    echo "=== Runaway Process Detection ==="
    
    # Find processes using excessive CPU (>90% for >5 minutes)
    local runaway_pids
    runaway_pids=$(ps aux | awk '$3 > 90 {print $2}')
    
    for pid in $runaway_pids; do
        local process_name
        process_name=$(ps -p "$pid" -o comm= 2>/dev/null)
        
        if [[ -n "$process_name" ]]; then
            echo "Found runaway process: $process_name (PID: $pid)"
            
            # Skip critical system processes
            if [[ "$process_name" =~ ^(kernel|launchd|WindowServer)$ ]]; then
                echo "Skipping critical system process: $process_name"
                continue
            fi
            
            log_action "Terminating runaway process: $process_name (PID: $pid)"
            kill -TERM "$pid"
        fi
    done
}

# Main monitoring function
main() {
    log_action "=== MacFleet Process Monitoring Started ==="
    
    get_system_stats
    echo ""
    check_system_health
    echo ""
    
    # Optionally kill runaway processes (uncomment to enable)
    # kill_runaway_processes
    
    log_action "=== Process monitoring completed ==="
}

# Execute main function
main "$@"

Process Information Details

When using ps aux, each column provides specific information:

Common Process Management Tasks

Find Process by Name

# Find Safari processes
ps aux | grep -i safari

# Find all processes containing "mail"
ps aux | grep -i mail | grep -v grep

Monitor Process in Real-time

# Watch specific process
watch -n 1 'ps aux | grep -i safari'

# Monitor system resources continuously
top -s 1 -n 10

Generate Process Report

#!/bin/bash

# Create comprehensive process report
REPORT_FILE="process_report_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).txt"

{
    echo "MacFleet Process Report"
    echo "Generated: $(date)"
    echo "Hostname: $(hostname)"
    echo "=========================="
    echo ""
    
    echo "System Overview:"
    top -l 1 -s 0 | grep -E "(CPU usage|PhysMem)"
    echo ""
    
    echo "Top 20 Processes:"
    ps aux | head -21
    echo ""
    
    echo "Process Count by User:"
    ps aux | awk '{print $1}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr
    
} > "$REPORT_FILE"

echo "Process report saved to: $REPORT_FILE"

Important Notes

• Process IDs (PIDs) change when processes restart
• System processes require admin privileges to terminate
• Force kill (kill -9) should be used as last resort
• Monitor resource usage before terminating processes
• Test scripts on individual devices before fleet deployment