How to Monitor CPU Usage on VPS

Prerequisites

Before monitoring CPU usage, make sure you have:

• SSH access to your VPS
• Root or sudo privileges (for some commands)

Method 1: Using top (Real-time)

Connect to your VPS:

ssh hxroot@YOUR_SERVER_IP -p 22

top

Press 1 to see each CPU core individually.
Press P to sort by CPU usage.
Press q to quit.

Method 2: Using htop (User-friendly)

apt install htop -y

htop

htop shows colored CPU bars and per-process usage.

Method 3: Using mpstat (Per-core Statistics)

apt install sysstat -y

mpstat -P ALL 1 3

Shows CPU usage for each core every 1 second, 3 times.

Method 4: Using vmstat (System-wide)

vmstat 2

Updates every 2 seconds. Columns: us (user), sy (system), id (idle), wa (I/O wait).

Method 5: Check CPU Info

lscpu

Shows CPU architecture, cores, threads, model.

nproc

Shows number of CPU cores available.

Method 6: Via Hostxpeed Portal

Your Hostxpeed client area shows live CPU usage:

1. Log in to Hostxpeed Client Area
2. Go to My Services → Your VPS
3. Look for the CPU Usage card (e.g., 0.0% - 4 vCPU Cores)

Understanding CPU Usage

• us - User processes (normal applications)
• sy - System/kernel processes
• id - Idle (good - lower is busier)
• wa - Waiting for I/O (high may indicate disk bottleneck)
• st - Steal time (virtualization overhead – should be near 0)

Monitor CPU Over Time (Simple Script)

#!/bin/bash
while true; do
    clear
    echo "=== CPU Usage at $(date) ==="
    mpstat -P ALL 1 1
    sleep 5
done