pidpersec(8) System Manager's Manual pidpersec(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

pidpersec - Count new processes (via fork()). Uses Linux eBPF/bcc.

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**pidpersec**

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

pidpersec shows how many new processes were created each second. There can be performance issues caused by many short-lived processes, which may not be visible in sampling tools like [top(1)](/man/enterprise-packages/bcc/top.1). pidpersec provides one way to investigate this behavior.

This works by tracing the kernel sched\_fork() function using dynamic tracing, and will need updating to match any changes to this function.

Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.

# [REQUIREMENTS](#REQUIREMENTS)

CONFIG\_BPF and bcc.

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

[Count new processes created each second:](#Count)

\# **pidpersec**

# [OVERHEAD](#OVERHEAD)

This traces the kernel fork function, and maintains an in-kernel count which is read asynchronously from user-space. As the rate of this is generally expected to be low (<< 1000/s), the overhead is also expected to be negligible.

# [SOURCE](#SOURCE)

This is from bcc.

https://github.com/iovisor/bcc

Also look in the bcc distribution for a companion \_examples.txt file containing example usage, output, and commentary for this tool.

# [OS](#OS)

Linux

# [STABILITY](#STABILITY)

Unstable - in development.

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Brendan Gregg

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[top(1)](/man/enterprise-packages/bcc/top.1)

2015-08-18 USER COMMANDS

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Document: pidpersec(8) from bcc 0.37.0-r3 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/iovisor/bcc