Cpulimit

cpulimit: Limit CPU Usage

An open-source tool to set soft and hard CPU limits for processes, ensuring system resource protection

What is Cpulimit?

cpulimit is an open-source command-line tool for limiting the CPU usage of a running process on Linux and other UNIX-like systems. It works by setting scheduling priorities and sending SIGSTOP and SIGCONT signals to pause and resume processes to enforce CPU usage limits.

Some key features of cpulimit include:

• Setting soft and hard limits on CPU usage percentage for a process
• Monitoring CPU usage over time and adjusting limits dynamically
• Limiting CPU usage for a whole process tree based on the parent PID
• Exempting certain child processes from limits
• Console and daemon modes for long-running limit enforcement
• Configuration via command line options or config file
• Minimal resource usage when enforcing limits

cpulimit is useful for restricting CPU-intensive processes like compilation jobs, scientific computing software, and web server processes so they don't overwhelm the system. It can help ensure fairness of CPU time between different processes and leave CPU power available for interactive desktop applications.

Overall, cpulimit provides granular control over CPU allocation per process, making it a valuable tool for optimizing utilization on multi-process systems.

Cpulimit Features

Official Links