How to Diagnose High CPU Usage

Identify which processes are consuming CPU resources.

Find CPU-Heavy Processes

top -c
# Press P to sort by CPU

Detailed Process Info

ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -20

Per-Core Usage

mpstat -P ALL 1 5

Common Causes

• Runaway PHP processes: Check for infinite loops in web apps
• Database queries: Unoptimized queries or missing indexes
• Malware/Crypto miners: Check for unfamiliar processes
• Compilation: Building software from source is CPU-intensive

Quick Fix

Kill a runaway process:

kill -9 PID