---
id: e877acb6-f27f-463b-9686-138cadbffc1e
---

# Container High CPU Utilization
---

Container high CPU utilization is an incident type that occurs when a container's CPU utilization exceeds a certain threshold. It may indicate an issue with the containerized application or the container itself, and can potentially cause performance issues or even service downtime. This incident type requires immediate attention to identify the root cause and take necessary actions to prevent further impact.

### Parameters
```shell
export CONTAINER_NAME="PLACEHOLDER"

export PROCESS_NAME="PLACEHOLDER"

export CPU_LIMIT="PLACEHOLDER"
```

## Debug

### Get the list of containers running on the instance
```shell
docker ps
```

### Check the CPU usage of a specific container
```shell
docker stats ${CONTAINER_NAME}
```

### Check the CPU usage of the instance
```shell
top
```

### Check the CPU usage of all processes
```shell
ps aux
```

### Check the CPU usage of a specific process
```shell
ps aux | grep ${PROCESS_NAME}
```

### Check the memory usage of the instance
```shell
free -m
```

### Check the disk usage of the instance
```shell
df -h
```

### Check the system logs
```shell
dmesg
```

### Check the logs of a specific container
```shell
docker logs ${CONTAINER_NAME}
```

### Check the logs of a specific process
```shell
journalctl -u ${PROCESS_NAME}
```

### Check the network connections and status
```shell
netstat -tupan
```

### Check the open files and their owners
```shell
lsof
```

### The container has been assigned more CPU resources than it actually needs, leading to high utilization.
```shell


#!/bin/bash



# Set the threshold for high CPU utilization (in percentage)

THRESHOLD=80



# Get the CPU utilization of the container

CPU_UTILIZATION=$(docker stats ${CONTAINER_NAME} --no-stream --format "{{.CPUPerc}}")



# Remove the '%' character from the CPU utilization value

CPU_UTILIZATION=${CPU_UTILIZATION%\%}



# Check if the CPU utilization exceeds the threshold

if (( $(echo "$CPU_UTILIZATION > $THRESHOLD" |bc -l) )); then

  echo "Container CPU utilization is high: $CPU_UTILIZATION%"

  

  # Get the CPU limit of the container

  CPU_LIMIT=$(docker inspect ${CONTAINER_NAME} --format '{{.HostConfig.CpuShares}}')

  echo "Container CPU limit: $CPU_LIMIT"

  

  # Get the CPU usage of the host machine

  HOST_CPU_USAGE=$(top -bn1 | grep "Cpu(s)" | sed "s/.*, *$[0-9.]*$%* id.*/\1/" | awk '{print 100 - $1}')

  echo "Host machine CPU usage: $HOST_CPU_USAGE%"



  # Check if the container is using more CPU resources than it has been allocated

  if (( $(echo "$CPU_LIMIT < $CPU_UTILIZATION" |bc -l) )); then

    echo "Container has been assigned more CPU resources than it actually needs."

  else

    echo "Container is using the allocated CPU resources efficiently."

  fi

else

  echo "Container CPU utilization is normal: $CPU_UTILIZATION%"

fi


```

## Repair

### Adjust the container's CPU limits to better match its actual usage.
```shell


#!/bin/bash



# Set the container name and CPU limit values

CONTAINER_NAME=${CONTAINER_NAME}

CPU_LIMIT=${CPU_LIMIT}



# Stop the container

docker stop $CONTAINER_NAME



# Update the container's CPU limits

docker update --cpus=$CPU_LIMIT $CONTAINER_NAME



# Start the container

docker start $CONTAINER_NAME


```

Container high CPU utilization is an incident type that occurs when a container's CPU utilization exceeds a certain threshold. It may indicate an issue with the containerized application or the container itself, and can potentially cause performance issues or even service downtime. This incident type requires immediate attention to identify the root cause and take necessary actions to prevent further impact.


This incident type refers to an increase in the number of errors per second on a Tomcat server, which could indicate an issue with the server itself, the host, a deployed application, or an application servlet. This could include errors generated when the Tomcat server runs out of memory, can't find a requested file or servlet, or is unable to serve a JSP due to syntax errors in the servlet codebase. This incident type requires immediate attention to diagnose and address the underlying issue.


Increase of the errors/second rate for Tomcat server

This incident type is triggered when the percentage of busy threads on a Tomcat host exceeds a certain threshold. This can indicate that the host is experiencing high traffic or that there is a problem with the configuration of the Tomcat server. The incident is resolved when the issue is addressed and the percentage of busy threads returns to a normal level.


High % of Busy Threads on Tomcat Host (TEST)

This incident type refers to a situation where the host memory of a system is not being fully utilized and may be causing performance issues. It may trigger when the memory load is below the expected level for a certain period of time. The incident may require investigation to determine the root cause and may involve reducing the amount of memory or other memory management strategies to optimize system performance.


"Host Memory is underutilized incident"

A Host CPU high iowait incident occurs when the CPU iowait is greater than 10%, indicating that the system is disk or network bound. This can cause performance issues and may require investigation to identify the root cause and resolve the issue.


Host CPU high iowait incident.

This incident type relates to a high urgency issue regarding host context switching. The incident is triggered when the context switching grows on the node beyond a certain level, typically over 10000 per second. This issue can cause performance degradation and impact the stability of the system. The incident requires immediate attention from a software engineer to identify the root cause and take the necessary steps to resolve the issue.


High urgency incident related to host context switching.

```shell
export CONTAINER_NAME="PLACEHOLDER"

export PROCESS_NAME="PLACEHOLDER"

export CPU_LIMIT="PLACEHOLDER"
```


### Get the list of containers running on the instance

```shell
docker ps
```

### Check the CPU usage of a specific container

```shell
docker stats ${CONTAINER_NAME}
```

### Check the CPU usage of the instance

```shell
top
```

### Check the CPU usage of all processes

```shell
ps aux
```

### Check the CPU usage of a specific process

```shell
ps aux | grep ${PROCESS_NAME}
```

### Check the memory usage of the instance

```shell
free -m
```

### Check the disk usage of the instance

```shell
df -h
```

### Check the system logs

```shell
dmesg
```

### Check the logs of a specific container

```shell
docker logs ${CONTAINER_NAME}
```

### Check the logs of a specific process

```shell
journalctl -u ${PROCESS_NAME}
```

### Check the network connections and status

```shell
netstat -tupan
```

### Check the open files and their owners

```shell
lsof
```

### The container has been assigned more CPU resources than it actually needs, leading to high utilization.

```shell


#!/bin/bash



# Set the threshold for high CPU utilization (in percentage)

THRESHOLD=80



# Get the CPU utilization of the container

CPU_UTILIZATION=$(docker stats ${CONTAINER_NAME} --no-stream --format "{{.CPUPerc}}")



# Remove the '%' character from the CPU utilization value

CPU_UTILIZATION=${CPU_UTILIZATION%\%}



# Check if the CPU utilization exceeds the threshold

if (( $(echo "$CPU_UTILIZATION > $THRESHOLD" |bc -l) )); then

  echo "Container CPU utilization is high: $CPU_UTILIZATION%"

  

  # Get the CPU limit of the container

  CPU_LIMIT=$(docker inspect ${CONTAINER_NAME} --format '{{.HostConfig.CpuShares}}')

  echo "Container CPU limit: $CPU_LIMIT"

  

  # Get the CPU usage of the host machine

  HOST_CPU_USAGE=$(top -bn1 | grep "Cpu(s)" | sed "s/.*, *$[0-9.]*$%* id.*/\1/" | awk '{print 100 - $1}')

  echo "Host machine CPU usage: $HOST_CPU_USAGE%"



  # Check if the container is using more CPU resources than it has been allocated

  if (( $(echo "$CPU_LIMIT < $CPU_UTILIZATION" |bc -l) )); then

    echo "Container has been assigned more CPU resources than it actually needs."

  else

    echo "Container is using the allocated CPU resources efficiently."

  fi

else

  echo "Container CPU utilization is normal: $CPU_UTILIZATION%"

fi


```


### Adjust the container's CPU limits to better match its actual usage.

```shell


#!/bin/bash



# Set the container name and CPU limit values

CONTAINER_NAME=${CONTAINER_NAME}

CPU_LIMIT=${CPU_LIMIT}



# Stop the container

docker stop $CONTAINER_NAME



# Update the container's CPU limits

docker update --cpus=$CPU_LIMIT $CONTAINER_NAME



# Start the container

docker start $CONTAINER_NAME


```


Container High CPU Utilization

Overview

Parameters

Debug

Get the list of containers running on the instance

Check the CPU usage of a specific container

Check the CPU usage of the instance

Check the CPU usage of all processes

Check the CPU usage of a specific process

Check the memory usage of the instance

Check the disk usage of the instance

Check the system logs

Check the logs of a specific container

Check the logs of a specific process

Check the network connections and status

Check the open files and their owners

The container has been assigned more CPU resources than it actually needs, leading to high utilization.

Repair

Adjust the container's CPU limits to better match its actual usage.

Learn more

Related Runbooks

Increase of the errors/second rate for Tomcat server

High % of Busy Threads on Tomcat Host (TEST)

"Host Memory is underutilized incident"

Host CPU high iowait incident.

Support