How to install htop on pfSense firewall

I

am using pfSense version 2.3.2-RELEASE (FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE-p5). How do I install htop version 2.x on a pfSense firewall?

 

htop is an awesome and interactive system-monitor process-viewer. It acts as an alternative to the FreeBSD program top. It is a text-mode application and latest version works on FreeBSD based pfsense firewall too.

Install htop 2.x on pfSense

You need to log in using ssh client:

ssh admin@your-pfsense-firewall-ip-here

ssh admin@192.168.2.254

 

Select option # 8 (shell).

Sample outputs:

Fig.01: pfsense ssh login

 

To install htop, type:

pkg install htop

 

Sample outputs:

Fig.02: installing htop on a pfsense

How do I use htop on pfSense firewall?

Simply type htop at the shell prompt (you may need to type rehash for the first time):

htop

 

Sample outputs:

Animated gif 01: htop in action

How do I show only processes of a given user?

To see only processes of a given user (say nixcraft), enter:

htop -u nixcraft

htop –user=nixcraft

How do I show only the given PIDs?

The syntax is:

htop -p PID,[,PID,PID…]

htop –pid=PID,[,PID,PID…]

htop -p 31151,24721

How do I disable color scheme?

To see a monochrome color scheme, enter:

htop -C

htop –no-color

 

See htop man page for more information:

man htop