diff --git a/mininet/monitor.py b/mininet/monitor.py
index d36c2b0..66bb7ef 100644
--- a/mininet/monitor.py
+++ b/mininet/monitor.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ from time import sleep, time
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 from multiprocessing import Process
 import re
+import os
+from mininet.log import info, error, debug, output
 
 class Monitor(object):
 
@@ -9,18 +11,34 @@ class Monitor(object):
         self.monitors = []
         self.output_dir = output_dir
 
+        # Create output directory if it doesn't exist already
+        debug('Monitoring output dir: %s' % self.output_dir)
+        if not os.path.isdir(self.output_dir):
+            os.makedirs(self.output_dir)
+
+        # Add general process monitors
+        # Bandwidth monitor
+        self.monitors.append(Process(target=self.monitor_devs_ng,
+            args=('%s/bwm.txt' % self.output_dir, 1.0)))
+
+        # CPU monitor
+        self.monitors.append(Process(target=self.monitor_cpu,
+            args=('%s/cpu.txt' % self.output_dir, )))
+
     def start(self):
         '''Start all the system monitors'''
+        # Start the monitors
         for m in self.monitors:
             m.start()
 
     def stop(self):
         '''Terminate all the system monitors'''
+        # Stop the monitors
         for m in self.monitors:
             m.terminate()
         self.monitors = []
 
-    def monitor_qlen(self, iface, interval_sec = 0.01, fname='%s/qlen.txt' % self.output_dir):
+    def monitor_qlen(self, iface, interval_sec = 0.01, fname='%s/qlen.txt' % '.'):
         pat_queued = re.compile(r'backlog\s[^\s]+\s([\d]+)p')
         cmd = "tc -s qdisc show dev %s" % (iface)
         ret = []
@@ -37,7 +55,7 @@ class Monitor(object):
             sleep(interval_sec)
         return
 
-    def monitor_count(self, ipt_args="--src 10.0.0.0/8", interval_sec=0.01, fname='%s/bytes_sent.txt' % self.output_dir, chain="OUTPUT"):
+    def monitor_count(self, ipt_args="--src 10.0.0.0/8", interval_sec=0.01, fname='%s/bytes_sent.txt' % '.', chain="OUTPUT"):
         cmd = "iptables -I %(chain)s 1 %(filter)s -j RETURN" % {
             "filter": ipt_args,
             "chain": chain,
@@ -59,7 +77,7 @@ class Monitor(object):
             sleep(interval_sec)
         return
 
-    def monitor_devs(self, dev_pattern='^sw', fname="%s/bytes_sent.txt" % self.output_dir, interval_sec=0.01):
+    def monitor_devs(self, dev_pattern='^sw', fname="%s/bytes_sent.txt" % '.', interval_sec=0.01):
         """Aggregates (sums) all txed bytes and rate (in Mbps) from devices whose name
         matches @dev_pattern and writes to @fname"""
         pat = re.compile(dev_pattern)
@@ -81,16 +99,16 @@ class Monitor(object):
             sleep(interval_sec)
         return
 
-    def monitor_devs_ng(self, fname="%s/txrate.txt" % self.output_dir, interval_sec=0.01):
+    def monitor_devs_ng(self, fname="%s/txrate.txt" % '.', interval_sec=0.01):
         """Uses bwm-ng tool to collect iface tx rate stats.  Very reliable."""
         cmd = "sleep 1; bwm-ng -t %s -o csv -u bits -T rate -C ',' > %s" % (interval_sec * 1000, fname)
         Popen(cmd, shell=True).wait()
 
-    def monitor_cpu(self, fname="%s/cpu.txt" % self.output_dir, container=None):
+    def monitor_cpu(self, fname="%s/cpu.txt" % '.'):
         cmd = "(top -b -p 1 -d 1 | grep --line-buffered \"^Cpu\") > %s" % fname
         Popen(cmd, shell=True).wait()
 
-    def monitor_cpuacct(self, hosts, fname="%s/cpuacct.txt" % self.output_dir, interval_sec=1.0):
+    def monitor_cpuacct(self, hosts, fname="%s/cpuacct.txt" % '.', interval_sec=1.0):
         outfile = open(fname, 'a')
         hnames = ' '.join([h.name for h in hosts])
         cpuacct_cmd = 'cgget -g cpuacct %s' % hnames
diff --git a/mininet/net.py b/mininet/net.py
index d7a673d..71839c1 100755
--- a/mininet/net.py
+++ b/mininet/net.py
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ import re
 import select
 import signal
 from time import sleep
+from datetime import datetime
 
 from mininet.cli import CLI
 from mininet.log import info, error, debug, output
@@ -99,6 +100,7 @@ from mininet.link import Link, Intf
 from mininet.util import quietRun, fixLimits, numCores
 from mininet.util import macColonHex, ipStr, ipParse, netParse, ipAdd
 from mininet.term import cleanUpScreens, makeTerms
+from mininet.monitor import Monitor
 
 class Mininet( object ):
     "Network emulation with hosts spawned in network namespaces."
@@ -145,6 +147,9 @@ class Mininet( object ):
         self.nextCore = 0  # next core for pinning hosts to CPUs
         self.listenPort = listenPort
 
+        dt = datetime.now()
+        self.monitoring = Monitor(output_dir='/tmp/%s-%s' % (str(dt.date()), str(dt.time())))
+
         self.hosts = []
         self.switches = []
         self.controllers = []
@@ -339,6 +344,9 @@ class Mininet( object ):
             info( switch.name + ' ')
             switch.start( self.controllers )
         info( '\n' )
+        info( '*** Starting system monitor\n' )
+        self.monitoring.start()
+        info( 'Logging monitoring info in: %s\n' % self.monitoring.output_dir )
 
     def stop( self ):
         "Stop the controller(s), switches and hosts"
@@ -359,6 +367,9 @@ class Mininet( object ):
         for controller in self.controllers:
             info( controller.name + ' ' )
             controller.stop()
+        info( '\n' )
+        info( '*** Stopping system monitor\n' )
+        self.monitoring.stop()
         info( '\n*** Done\n' )
 
     def run( self, test, *args, **kwargs ):