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Troubleshooting CPU Utilization

The ability to diagnose and resolve issues on a Linux system is a skill that every administrator needs to cultivate. In this lab, we cover using various reporting and monitoring utilities to troubleshoot issues with CPU utilization on the system.

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Lab Info
Level
Intermediate
Last updated
Sep 24, 2025
Duration
30m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Install the Monitoring and Reporting Utilities (`sysstat`)

    Install the sysstat package using the following commands:

    sudo -i
    yum install -y sysstat
    
  2. Challenge

    Use the Monitoring and Reporting Utilities to Diagnose the Issue

    This is a list of possible steps to take to find the source of the issue. Not all of them are required.

    free -h
    df -h
    vmstat 1 4
    iostat -y 1 3
    iostat -cy 1 3
    top <-- locate PID(s) that are taking up a large amount of CPU (gzip and cat)
    

    Use the PIDs to discover the parent process ID (PPID) that spawned them and copy the offending script to /home/cloud_user/.

    ps -ef | egrep "PID|PID" <-- You can grep for each individual PID (egrep saves a step) 
    pstree -p (PID of kaladin.sh) <-- shows process tree in a visual format
    cp /root/kaladin.sh /home/cloud_user/  
    
  3. Challenge

    Terminate the Offending Process

    Once the PID of the offending process has been located (kaladin.sh), use the kill command to terminate it.

    kill -15 PID
    
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