(The latest version of this document is at http://www.milkywaygalaxy.freeservers.com. You may want to check there for changes).
Processes are the "heart" of the Linux/Unix processes. It is very important to monitor the application processes to ensure 100% availability and reliability of the computer system. For example, processes of databases, web-server etc.. need to be up and running 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Use the tools described in this document to the monitor important application processes.
See also the following related topics on Linux/Unix processes.