User in Top

[Christian Briddon]

Hi there,

We use an HP L Class server and when looking at top the USER column goes up and down like a yo-yo. One minute it will be at 20% and then it will jump to 98%, then back to 15%.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me exactly what USER is showing and why it would be going up and down all the time. Also, any ideas how to settle it down?

Thanks in advance
Christian Briddon

[D. Jackson_1]

The USER field is what the actual users are doing. If they are connected to a database the % will show under user. Any commands that you run as a user these will also show here. The root user has numerous processes that run even when no one is logged in.User activity is anything running directly on behalf of users of the system. The web server and proxy, WebMail, and e-mail services are user activities..


HTH