How do I monitor the computer's CPU, memory, and disk usage in Java?

Question

Along the lines of what I mentioned in this post. I recommend you use the SIGAR API. I use the SIGAR API in one of my own applications and it is great. You'll find it is stable, well supported, and full of useful examples. It is open-source with a GPL 2 Apache 2.0 license. Check it out. I have a feeling it will meet your needs.

Using Java and the Sigar API you can get Memory, CPU, Disk, Load-Average, Network Interface info and metrics, Process Table information, Route info, etc.

The following supposedly gets you CPU and RAM. See ManagementFactory for more details.

import java.lang.management.ManagementFactory;
import java.lang.management.OperatingSystemMXBean;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;

private static void printUsage() {
  OperatingSystemMXBean operatingSystemMXBean = ManagementFactory.getOperatingSystemMXBean();
  for (Method method : operatingSystemMXBean.getClass().getDeclaredMethods()) {
    method.setAccessible(true);
    if (method.getName().startsWith("get")
        && Modifier.isPublic(method.getModifiers())) {
            Object value;
        try {
            value = method.invoke(operatingSystemMXBean);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            value = e;
        } // try
        System.out.println(method.getName() + " = " + value);
    } // if
  } // for
}

In JDK 1.7, you can get system CPU and memory usage via com.sun.management.OperatingSystemMXBean. This is different than java.lang.management.OperatingSystemMXBean.

long getCommittedVirtualMemorySize()
// Returns the amount of virtual memory that is guaranteed to be available to the running process in bytes, or -1 if this operation is not supported.

long getFreePhysicalMemorySize()
// Returns the amount of free physical memory in bytes.

long getFreeSwapSpaceSize()
// Returns the amount of free swap space in bytes.

double getProcessCpuLoad()
// Returns the "recent cpu usage" for the Java Virtual Machine process.

long getProcessCpuTime()
// Returns the CPU time used by the process on which the Java virtual machine is running in nanoseconds.

double getSystemCpuLoad()
// Returns the "recent cpu usage" for the whole system.

long getTotalPhysicalMemorySize()
// Returns the total amount of physical memory in bytes.

long getTotalSwapSpaceSize()
// Returns the total amount of swap space in bytes.

This works for me perfectly without any external API, just native Java hidden feature :)

import com.sun.management.OperatingSystemMXBean;
...
OperatingSystemMXBean osBean = ManagementFactory.getPlatformMXBean(
                OperatingSystemMXBean.class);
// What % CPU load this current JVM is taking, from 0.0-1.0
System.out.println(osBean.getProcessCpuLoad());

// What % load the overall system is at, from 0.0-1.0
System.out.println(osBean.getSystemCpuLoad());