{"id":258,"date":"2016-02-25T15:44:44","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/?p=258"},"modified":"2026-10-23T08:56:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T12:56:55","slug":"install-htop-2-0-better-linux-process-monitoring-for-rhel-centos-fedora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/install-htop-2-0-better-linux-process-monitoring-for-rhel-centos-fedora\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Install and Use htop on Linux: Read the Screen, Find Busy Processes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"uh-blog-hero\" style=\"margin:0 0 40px;text-align:center;padding:48px 24px;border-radius:20px;background:linear-gradient(135deg,#0D1F3C 0%,#125A8A 58%,#176EA5 100%);color:#ffffff;box-shadow:0 20px 40px -15px rgba(13,31,60,0.28);position:relative;overflow:hidden;\">\n<div style=\"display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:8px;padding:7px 14px;margin-bottom:16px;border:1px solid rgba(0,212,255,0.32);border-radius:999px;color:#DFF8FF;font-size:12px;font-weight:800;letter-spacing:.06em;text-transform:uppercase;background:rgba(0,212,255,0.10);\"><i class=\"fas fa-server\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Hosting Guide<\/div>\n<h1 style=\"color:#ffffff;font-size:clamp(32px,5vw,46px);line-height:1.12;margin:0 0 14px;font-weight:800;\">How to Install and Use htop on Linux: Read the Screen, Find Busy Processes<\/h1>\n<p style=\"font-size:18px;color:#EAF6FF;max-width:800px;margin:0 auto;line-height:1.7;\">Learn how to install and use htop on all major Linux distributions. A powerful alternative to top, with real-time monitoring, mouse support, and modern features.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"uh-blog-excerpt\" style=\"border-left:4px solid #00D4FF;padding:18px 20px;margin:0 0 34px;background:#F8FAFC;color:#1F2937;border-radius:0 14px 14px 0;box-shadow:0 8px 28px rgba(13,31,60,0.08);line-height:1.75;\"><strong style=\"color:#0D1F3C;\">Short answer:<\/strong> Install htop with your package manager: <code>dnf install epel-release &amp;&amp; dnf install htop<\/code> on AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and CloudLinux, or <code>apt install htop<\/code> on Debian and Ubuntu. Run <code>htop<\/code>, press <strong>P<\/strong> to sort by CPU or <strong>M<\/strong> to sort by memory, <strong>F4<\/strong> to filter, <strong>F5<\/strong> for a tree view and <strong>F9<\/strong> to stop a process. Press <strong>F10<\/strong> or <strong>q<\/strong> to quit.<\/div>\n<nav aria-label=\"Table of contents\" class=\"uh-toc\" style=\"background:#ffffff;border:1px solid #E5E7EB;border-radius:16px;padding:20px 22px;margin:0 0 34px;box-shadow:0 4px 12px rgba(13,31,60,0.08);\">\n<div style=\"font-size:12px;font-weight:800;letter-spacing:.06em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#176EA5;margin-bottom:10px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-list\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> In this guide<\/div>\n<ol style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px;columns:2 260px;column-gap:28px;line-height:1.9;\">\n<li><a href=\"#why-use-htop-instead-of-top\" style=\"color:#176EA5;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;\">Why use htop instead of top<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#install-htop\" style=\"color:#176EA5;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;\">Install htop<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#read-the-htop-screen\" style=\"color:#176EA5;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;\">Read the htop screen<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#keyboard-shortcuts\" style=\"color:#176EA5;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;\">Keyboard shortcuts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#start-htop-with-options\" style=\"color:#176EA5;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;\">Start htop with options<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#find-what-is-slowing-a-server-down\" style=\"color:#176EA5;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;\">Find what is slowing a server down<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#stop-a-process-safely\" style=\"color:#176EA5;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;\">Stop a process safely<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<div class=\"uh-post-content\" style=\"color:#1F2937;font-size:16px;line-height:1.75;\">\n<h2 id=\"why-use-htop-instead-of-top\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-info-circle\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Why use htop instead of top<\/h2>\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">htop shows the same information as <code>top<\/code>, but it is easier to read and to work with. You get colour bars for each CPU core, memory and swap, you can scroll through every process, search and filter by name or user, see parent and child processes in a tree, and stop or reprioritise a process without typing its PID.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"install-htop\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-terminal\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Install htop<\/h2>\n<pre style=\"background:#0D1F3C;color:#EAF6FF;padding:18px 20px;border-radius:14px;overflow-x:auto;line-height:1.7;font-size:15px;\"><code># AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CloudLinux, RHEL (from EPEL)\ndnf install -y epel-release\ndnf install -y htop\n\n# Fedora\ndnf install -y htop\n\n# Debian and Ubuntu\napt update &amp;&amp; apt install -y htop\n\n# Arch Linux\npacman -S htop\n\n# openSUSE\nzypper install htop\n\n# FreeBSD\npkg install htop<\/code><\/pre>\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Check the version with <code>htop --version<\/code>. Current distributions ship htop 3.x.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"read-the-htop-screen\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-angle-double-right\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Read the htop screen<\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:21px;line-height:1.3;margin:26px 0 10px;\">The header<\/h3>\n<div style=\"overflow-x:auto;margin:26px 0;border:1px solid #E5E7EB;border-radius:14px;-webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch;\">\n<table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;background:#ffffff;color:#1F2937;font-size:15px;line-height:1.55;margin:0;\">\n<thead>\n<tr style=\"background:#0D1F3C;color:#fff;\">\n<th style=\"padding:14px;text-align:left;\">Part<\/th>\n<th style=\"padding:14px;text-align:left;\">What it shows<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Numbered bars<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Use of each CPU core. Green is normal user processes, red is kernel time, blue is low-priority processes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Mem<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Memory in use. Green is used by programs, blue is buffers, and yellow or orange is file cache, which Linux frees when programs need it.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Swp<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Swap in use. Steady swap use on a busy server is a sign that it needs more memory.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Tasks<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Number of processes and threads, and how many are running right now.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Load average<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Average number of processes running or waiting, over 1, 5 and 15 minutes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Uptime<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Time since the last reboot.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Compare the load average with the number of CPU cores. A load of 4 on a 4-core server means the CPUs are fully used. A load well above the core count means processes are waiting, often for disk or CPU.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:21px;line-height:1.3;margin:26px 0 10px;\">The process columns<\/h3>\n<div style=\"overflow-x:auto;margin:26px 0;border:1px solid #E5E7EB;border-radius:14px;-webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch;\">\n<table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;background:#ffffff;color:#1F2937;font-size:15px;line-height:1.55;margin:0;\">\n<thead>\n<tr style=\"background:#0D1F3C;color:#fff;\">\n<th style=\"padding:14px;text-align:left;\">Column<\/th>\n<th style=\"padding:14px;text-align:left;\">Meaning<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">PID<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Process ID<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">USER<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">The account that owns the process. On cPanel servers this shows which hosting account is busy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">PRI \/ NI<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Priority and nice value. A higher nice value means a lower priority.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">VIRT<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Virtual memory reserved by the process. Usually much larger than real use.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">RES<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Real memory in use. This is the column to watch.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">SHR<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Memory shared with other processes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">S<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">State: R running, S sleeping, D waiting for disk, Z zombie.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">CPU% \/ MEM%<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Share of CPU and memory used right now.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">TIME+<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Total CPU time used since the process started.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Command<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">The program and its arguments.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"keyboard-shortcuts\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-angle-double-right\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Keyboard shortcuts<\/h2>\n<div style=\"overflow-x:auto;margin:26px 0;border:1px solid #E5E7EB;border-radius:14px;-webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch;\">\n<table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;background:#ffffff;color:#1F2937;font-size:15px;line-height:1.55;margin:0;\">\n<thead>\n<tr style=\"background:#0D1F3C;color:#fff;\">\n<th style=\"padding:14px;text-align:left;\">Key<\/th>\n<th style=\"padding:14px;text-align:left;\">Action<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">P \/ M \/ T<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Sort by CPU, memory or running time<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F6 or &lt; &gt;<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Choose the sort column<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F3 or \/<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Search for a process<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F4 or \\<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Filter the list by name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">u<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Show only one user&#8217;s processes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F5 or t<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Tree view of parent and child processes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">H \/ K<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Hide or show user threads and kernel threads<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Space<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Tag a process, to act on several at once<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F9 or k<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Send a signal to the selected or tagged processes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F7 \/ F8<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Raise or lower the priority (nice value)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">l \/ s<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">List open files (lsof) or trace system calls (strace), if installed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F2<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Setup: choose meters, columns and colours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">F10 or q<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding:14px;border-top:1px solid #E5E7EB;vertical-align:top;\">Quit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"start-htop-with-options\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-angle-double-right\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Start htop with options<\/h2>\n<pre style=\"background:#0D1F3C;color:#EAF6FF;padding:18px 20px;border-radius:14px;overflow-x:auto;line-height:1.7;font-size:15px;\"><code>htop -u nobody        # only processes owned by one user\nhtop -p 1234,5678     # only these process IDs\nhtop -t               # start in tree view\nhtop -s PERCENT_MEM   # sort by memory\nhtop -d 50            # refresh every 5 seconds (delay in tenths of a second)<\/code><\/pre>\n<h2 id=\"find-what-is-slowing-a-server-down\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-server\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Find what is slowing a server down<\/h2>\n<ol style=\"margin:0 0 24px;padding-left:22px;\">\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\">Press <strong>P<\/strong>. If a few processes use most of the CPU, note the user and command.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\">Press <strong>M<\/strong>. If RES is high and swap is in use, the server is short of memory.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\">Look at the S column. Many processes in state <strong>D<\/strong> point to slow disk I\/O rather than CPU.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\">On cPanel servers, check the USER column to see which hosting account owns the busy PHP or MySQL processes.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\">Press <strong>F5<\/strong> to see which parent process started them, for example a cron job or a web server.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 id=\"stop-a-process-safely\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-angle-double-right\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Stop a process safely<\/h2>\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Select the process, press <strong>F9<\/strong>, and choose a signal. Try <strong>15 SIGTERM<\/strong> first: it asks the program to exit cleanly and save its work. Use <strong>9 SIGKILL<\/strong> only if the process does not respond, because it stops the process at once. Do not kill system services such as sshd, mysqld or httpd from htop. Restart them with <code>systemctl restart<\/code> instead.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">For ongoing monitoring with alerts and history, see our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/real-time-linux-server-monitoring-tools-setup-enterprise-solutions-for-sysadmins\/\">real-time Linux server monitoring<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"uh-section-divider\" style=\"width:min(100% - 32px, 1080px);margin:44px auto;display:grid;grid-template-columns:1fr 32px 1fr;align-items:center;gap:18px;pointer-events:none;\"><span style=\"height:1px;background:linear-gradient(90deg,transparent,rgba(0,212,255,0.40),rgba(23,110,165,0.24),transparent);\"><\/span><img alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"32\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.underhost.com\/android-chrome-192x192.webp\" style=\"width:32px;height:32px;display:block;border-radius:8px;filter:drop-shadow(0 0 14px rgba(0,212,255,0.30));\" width=\"32\"\/><span style=\"height:1px;background:linear-gradient(90deg,transparent,rgba(23,110,165,0.24),rgba(0,212,255,0.40),transparent);\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"uh-blog-cta\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,#0D1F3C 0%,#125A8A 58%,#176EA5 100%);color:#ffffff;padding:36px 24px;border-radius:20px;text-align:center;margin:44px 0;box-shadow:0 20px 40px -15px rgba(13,31,60,0.32);\">\n<h2 style=\"margin:0 0 12px;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;color:#ffffff;\">Need help with this?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;margin:0 auto 22px;color:#EAF6FF;max-width:720px;line-height:1.7;\">Server always busy? Our team can find the cause and tune your VPS or dedicated server.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/underhost.com\/server-management.php\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(90deg,#00D4FF,#0077FF);color:#ffffff;padding:13px 28px;border-radius:10px;text-decoration:none;font-weight:800;display:inline-block;margin:8px;\">See server management plans<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/customerpanel.ca\/client\/\" style=\"background:transparent;color:#ffffff;padding:12px 28px;border-radius:10px;text-decoration:none;font-weight:800;display:inline-block;margin:8px;border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.32);\">Contact @CustomerPanel<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"uh-faq-section\" id=\"faq\" style=\"margin:34px 0;scroll-margin-top:90px;\">\n<h2 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:0 0 18px;border-bottom:2px solid rgba(0,212,255,0.22);padding-bottom:10px;\">Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n<div style=\"margin-top:18px;background:#F8FAFC;padding:18px 20px;border-radius:14px;border:1px solid rgba(23,110,165,0.14);\">\n<h3 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;margin:0 0 8px;font-size:19px;\">Is htop installed by default?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin:0;color:#1F2937;line-height:1.7;\">Not on most server installs. Install it from your distribution&#8217;s packages. On AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux it comes from EPEL.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top:18px;background:#F8FAFC;padding:18px 20px;border-radius:14px;border:1px solid rgba(23,110,165,0.14);\">\n<h3 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;margin:0 0 8px;font-size:19px;\">What is the difference between VIRT and RES?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin:0;color:#1F2937;line-height:1.7;\">VIRT is the memory a process has reserved, much of which it may never use. RES is the memory it actually uses right now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top:18px;background:#F8FAFC;padding:18px 20px;border-radius:14px;border:1px solid rgba(23,110,165,0.14);\">\n<h3 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;margin:0 0 8px;font-size:19px;\">Why is my memory bar almost full?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin:0;color:#1F2937;line-height:1.7;\">Linux uses free memory as file cache, shown in yellow or orange. That memory is released when programs need it, so a full bar is not always a problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top:18px;background:#F8FAFC;padding:18px 20px;border-radius:14px;border:1px solid rgba(23,110,165,0.14);\">\n<h3 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;margin:0 0 8px;font-size:19px;\">What does a high load average mean?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin:0;color:#1F2937;line-height:1.7;\">More processes are running or waiting than the CPUs can handle. Compare the load with the number of CPU cores.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top:18px;background:#F8FAFC;padding:18px 20px;border-radius:14px;border:1px solid rgba(23,110,165,0.14);\">\n<h3 style=\"color:#0D1F3C;margin:0 0 8px;font-size:19px;\">Can I use htop on shared hosting?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"margin:0;color:#1F2937;line-height:1.7;\">Usually not. Shared hosting accounts do not have SSH access to the whole server. Use cPanel&#8217;s resource usage page instead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- uh-related-start --><\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#F4F8FC;border:1px solid #DCE7F3;border-radius:14px;padding:18px 22px;margin:32px 0 8px;\">\n<h2 style=\"margin:0 0 12px;font-size:22px;\">Related guides<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px;\">\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/how-to-install-linux-malware-detect\/\">How to Install Linux Malware Detect (LMD)<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/how-to-install-rkhunter-on-linux-rootkit-hunter\/\">How to Install RKHunter on Linux (RootKit Hunter) in RHEL, CentOS and Fedora<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/install-ffmpeg-on-linux\/\">Install FFmpeg on AlmaLinux, Debian, CentOS, and Ubuntu (Updated Guide)<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/real-time-linux-server-monitoring-tools-setup-enterprise-solutions-for-sysadmins\/\">Real-Time Linux Server Monitoring: Tools, Setup &amp; Enterprise Solutions for Sysadmins<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/common-ssh-commands-or-linux-shell-commands-old-version\/\">Updated MARCH 2025: Essential SSH Commands for Linux Server Management<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- uh-related-end --><br \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"FAQPage\", \"mainEntity\": [{\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Is htop installed by default?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Not on most server installs. Install it from your distribution's packages. On AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux it comes from EPEL.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What is the difference between VIRT and RES?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"VIRT is the memory a process has reserved, much of which it may never use. RES is the memory it actually uses right now.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Why is my memory bar almost full?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Linux uses free memory as file cache, shown in yellow or orange. That memory is released when programs need it, so a full bar is not always a problem.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What does a high load average mean?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"More processes are running or waiting than the CPUs can handle. Compare the load with the number of CPU cores.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Can I use htop on shared hosting?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Usually not. Shared hosting accounts do not have SSH access to the whole server. Use cPanel's resource usage page instead.\"}}]}<\/script><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sources\" style=\"color:#0D1F3C;font-size:28px;line-height:1.25;margin:34px 0 14px;scroll-margin-top:90px;\"><i class=\"fas fa-book\" style=\"color:#00D4FF;\"><\/i> Sources<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"margin:0 0 24px;padding-left:22px;\">\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/htop.dev\/\">htop project website<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin:0 0 8px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/man7.org\/linux\/man-pages\/man1\/htop.1.html\">htop manual page<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to install and use htop on all major Linux distributions. A powerful alternative to top, with real-time monitoring, mouse support, and modern features.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,25],"tags":[111,108,115],"class_list":["post-258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hosting-guides","category-linux","tag-tag-almalinux","tag-tag-cpanel","tag-tag-linux-server"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6956,"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions\/6956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underhost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}