What does â€œprocess accountingâ€ mean in Linux?

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

I'm working with Docker in action's book, and I have seen the term "process accounting" several times. I am in a containerization of the application context.
I would like to know more about this concept of process accounting. Google found me some finance accounting articles; I am looking for the meaning related to computer systems.

Would you please provide some explanation about this concept?

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

New contributor

4

You mean process accounting, please see below.
â€“Â Goro
9 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

Would you please provide some explanation about this concept?

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

New contributor

4

You mean process accounting, please see below.
â€“Â Goro
9 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
3
down vote

favorite

Would you please provide some explanation about this concept?

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

New contributor

Would you please provide some explanation about this concept?

linux container terminology

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

New contributor

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

New contributor

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

edited 23 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

New contributor

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

asked 10 hours ago

Webman

1427

New contributor

Webman is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

4

You mean process accounting, please see below.
â€“Â Goro
9 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

4

You mean process accounting, please see below.
â€“Â Goro
9 hours ago

You mean process accounting, please see below.
â€“Â Goro
9 hours ago

add a commentÂ |Â

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

The Linux kernel has a built-in process accounting facility. It allows system administrators to collect detailed information in a log file each time a program is executed on a Linux system. Then the administrator can analyze the data in these log files and find a conclusion. To shed more light on this term, let me give few examples:

The administrator can collect information about who has been playing games on a Linux computer and for how long.

One of the earliest uses of process accounting was to calculate the
CPU time absorbed by users at computer installations and then bill
users accordingly.

Another example is when process accounting can be turned on for a
week to record the names of all the commands executed in a log file.
The administrator can then parse the log file to find out which
command was run most often.

The most typical application of process accounting is as a supplement
to system security measures. In the case of a break-in on a company
server, the log files created by the process accounting facility are
useful for collecting forensic evidence.

Turning on process accounting requires significant disk space. For example,
on a Pentium III system with Red Hat 7.2, each time a program is executed, 64 bytes of data are written to the process accounting log file.

Process accounting commands are as follows:

**Command Name** **Purpose**
accton Enables or disables process accounting
acctentries Counts the number of accounting entries in the log file
accttrim Truncates the accounting file specified
dumpacct Dumps the contents of the log file
dump-acct Similar to dumpacct
handleacct.sh Script to compress and backup logs and delete the oldest
lastcomm Prints commands executed on the system, most recent first
sa Summarize accounting information

More information about installation and utilization of process accounting can be found in this Linux Journal article.

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

add a commentÂ |Â

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "106"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: false,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);

);

Webman is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f468909%2fwhat-does-process-accounting-mean-in-linux%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

The administrator can collect information about who has been playing games on a Linux computer and for how long.

One of the earliest uses of process accounting was to calculate the
CPU time absorbed by users at computer installations and then bill
users accordingly.

Another example is when process accounting can be turned on for a
week to record the names of all the commands executed in a log file.
The administrator can then parse the log file to find out which
command was run most often.

The most typical application of process accounting is as a supplement
to system security measures. In the case of a break-in on a company
server, the log files created by the process accounting facility are
useful for collecting forensic evidence.

Process accounting commands are as follows:

**Command Name** **Purpose**
accton Enables or disables process accounting
acctentries Counts the number of accounting entries in the log file
accttrim Truncates the accounting file specified
dumpacct Dumps the contents of the log file
dump-acct Similar to dumpacct
handleacct.sh Script to compress and backup logs and delete the oldest
lastcomm Prints commands executed on the system, most recent first
sa Summarize accounting information

More information about installation and utilization of process accounting can be found in this Linux Journal article.

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

The administrator can collect information about who has been playing games on a Linux computer and for how long.

One of the earliest uses of process accounting was to calculate the
CPU time absorbed by users at computer installations and then bill
users accordingly.

Another example is when process accounting can be turned on for a
week to record the names of all the commands executed in a log file.
The administrator can then parse the log file to find out which
command was run most often.

The most typical application of process accounting is as a supplement
to system security measures. In the case of a break-in on a company
server, the log files created by the process accounting facility are
useful for collecting forensic evidence.

Process accounting commands are as follows:

**Command Name** **Purpose**
accton Enables or disables process accounting
acctentries Counts the number of accounting entries in the log file
accttrim Truncates the accounting file specified
dumpacct Dumps the contents of the log file
dump-acct Similar to dumpacct
handleacct.sh Script to compress and backup logs and delete the oldest
lastcomm Prints commands executed on the system, most recent first
sa Summarize accounting information

More information about installation and utilization of process accounting can be found in this Linux Journal article.

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

add a commentÂ |Â

up vote
10
down vote

accepted

The administrator can collect information about who has been playing games on a Linux computer and for how long.

One of the earliest uses of process accounting was to calculate the
CPU time absorbed by users at computer installations and then bill
users accordingly.

Another example is when process accounting can be turned on for a
week to record the names of all the commands executed in a log file.
The administrator can then parse the log file to find out which
command was run most often.

The most typical application of process accounting is as a supplement
to system security measures. In the case of a break-in on a company
server, the log files created by the process accounting facility are
useful for collecting forensic evidence.

Process accounting commands are as follows:

**Command Name** **Purpose**
accton Enables or disables process accounting
acctentries Counts the number of accounting entries in the log file
accttrim Truncates the accounting file specified
dumpacct Dumps the contents of the log file
dump-acct Similar to dumpacct
handleacct.sh Script to compress and backup logs and delete the oldest
lastcomm Prints commands executed on the system, most recent first
sa Summarize accounting information

More information about installation and utilization of process accounting can be found in this Linux Journal article.

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

The administrator can collect information about who has been playing games on a Linux computer and for how long.

One of the earliest uses of process accounting was to calculate the
CPU time absorbed by users at computer installations and then bill
users accordingly.

Another example is when process accounting can be turned on for a
week to record the names of all the commands executed in a log file.
The administrator can then parse the log file to find out which
command was run most often.

The most typical application of process accounting is as a supplement
to system security measures. In the case of a break-in on a company
server, the log files created by the process accounting facility are
useful for collecting forensic evidence.

Process accounting commands are as follows:

**Command Name** **Purpose**
accton Enables or disables process accounting
acctentries Counts the number of accounting entries in the log file
accttrim Truncates the accounting file specified
dumpacct Dumps the contents of the log file
dump-acct Similar to dumpacct
handleacct.sh Script to compress and backup logs and delete the oldest
lastcomm Prints commands executed on the system, most recent first
sa Summarize accounting information

More information about installation and utilization of process accounting can be found in this Linux Journal article.

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

edited 19 mins ago

Toby Speight

5,0621928

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

answered 10 hours ago

Goro

1,83141745

add a commentÂ |Â

Webman is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Webman is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Post as a guest

Name

Search This Blog

Iyfjky