How to check CPU & RAM usage

RAM or Physical Memory Usage is responsible for storing and making available, temporarily, all the data needed to run a website. If this value reaches the limit, you may face 502/503/504 errors. Many reasons may cause this issue: a poorly optimized website, a heavy theme or plugin, the number of visitors, a DDoS attack, etc.

If the CPU/RAM usage reaches 100%, it indicates that your website is using all of the resources allocated. Your website slows down dramatically and, in extreme cases, even time out. It is very important that no one is over-utilizing the CPU, as this can lead to excessive server loads for the other users on the server.

How to check your websites resource usage in cPanel

Resource usage is an inbuilt feature in cPanel which shows the statistics of resource usage of your website on the server. It includes CPU usage, Physical memory usage(RAM usage), entry processes, faults, and I/O usage(input/output usage) according to time frames.

The following message will be displayed if you reached/exceeded your CPU, memory, or entry process limits within 24 hours: “Your account has been limited in the past 24 hours”
Click Details to get an overview of what was limited. Below this, you'll see a number of graphs that visually represent resource usage. We recommend you investigate further and fix any code/caching issues before your site shuts down completely.

View CPU Usage in cPanel

To check CPU and RAM usage in cPanel, follow these steps:

• Login to your Cpanel.
• For a quick view, in the right-hand sidebar, scroll until you see CPU Usage.
• For detailed information, scroll down to the Metrics section and click Use of resources
• You will be redirected to the resource usage overview there you want to click on the “Details” link.
• By clicking on Details you will see statistical charts of the detailed resource usage breakdown.

You can view the usage for the current day, week, or month. Switch to the desired period to see a more detailed report. The Usage Report section shows how stable was the usage of CPU/RAM during the specified time frame.
Once you have checked your website then you can optimize it accordingly or upgrade it as the case may be.

What to do When you Exceed Your Resources

If you exceed the resources of your package, you can resolve this by following the steps outlined:
Review all plugins, modules, or themes and upgrade them to their latest versions.
Contact your web developer to optimize your website

If after trying these fixes, the resource limit did not drop, you might need to upgrade, do well to contact support

It is important to be aware of the server resources your website is using so you can know when to optimize or upgrade your website. An optimized website will load faster and improve the performance of your website. When you consistently go over CPU and RAM limits, you get a warning email or temporary suspension depending on how severe the usage is.