Server Is Slow or Unresponsive

Diagnose and fix poor server performance.

Check System Load

uptime
top

Check Memory

free -h

If "available" memory is very low, you may need more RAM or should investigate memory-hungry processes.

Check Disk I/O

iostat -x 1 5

High %util or await values indicate disk bottlenecks.

Check for Runaway Processes

ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -10
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -10

Common Causes

• Out of memory (OOM killer activating)
• Full disk
• CPU-intensive processes
• Database queries without indexes
• Too many concurrent connections