Router doesn't show which process is utilizing the most CPU percentage

[RicardoSN]

Hello guys, we're currently experiencing an issue where the the CPU utilization of a Router Cisco2901/K9 is fluctuating constantly between 40% up to 99%.

Trying to check which process is the one that is causing the most utilization to try and attack that, we find that the command "show processes cpu sorted | e 0.00%" doesn't show actually a lot of processes and the sum of all of them definitely doesn't match with the utilization shown at the beginning of the output of the same command.

Do you know any other methode i could use to check where is all that processing comming from?.

Router#show processes cpu sorted | e 0.00%
CPU utilization for five seconds: 53%/51%; one minute: 63%; five minutes: 57%
PID Runtime(ms) Invoked uSecs 5Sec 1Min 5Min TTY Process
2 692824 1225979 565 1.12% 0.44% 0.21% 0 Load Meter
14 7371180 6102964 1207 0.48% 0.08% 0.06% 0 Environmental mo
199 975268 1497780032 0 0.40% 0.27% 0.33% 0 HQF Output Shape
415 3949700 5666398 697 0.32% 0.05% 0.01% 0 SNMP ENGINE
138 708244 764030330 0 0.24% 0.18% 0.22% 0 Ethernet Msec Ti
184 7371148 24131621 305 0.16% 0.16% 0.16% 0 Skinny Msg Serve
408 1044288 5977567 174 0.08% 0.03% 0.02% 0 CFT Timer Proces
202 1884524 6108365 308 0.08% 0.03% 0.02% 0 ADJ background
85 1055876 6129755 172 0.08% 0.03% 0.02% 0 Per-Second Jobs
274 631564 94933569 6 0.08% 0.04% 0.05% 0 MMA DB TIMER
130 3349264 14659074 228 0.08% 0.06% 0.06% 0 IP Input
134 626364 94933608 6 0.08% 0.04% 0.05% 0 VRRS Main thread
409 1977716 306494758 6 0.08% 0.14% 0.10% 0 MGCP App STW Tic

[balaji.bandi]

what is the IOS Code running?  what kind of throughput router handling?

Do you need to do a couple of times to get this output right?

[RicardoSN]

Hi Balaji,

The IOS code the router is running at the moment is this one: flash:c2900-universalk9-mz.SPA.153-2.T.bin

The Router only handles up to 2Mbit/s of throughput as that's the WAN link's rate limit.

And about the last question the answer is No. Every time i run the command "show processes cpu sorted | e 0.00%" the resulting proceses and it's usage percentages never match the total utilization shown at the beginning of the command output.

Thanks for helping.

[balaji.bandi]

how long has the Router running, when did this issue start?  - have you tried reboot and test  ? is the results the same.,

can you post the below output :

show version

show ip cef

show processes cpu sorted

show processes cpu history

Troubleshoot tips :

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/routers/10000-series-routers/15095-highcpu.html

[pman]

Hi,

Maybe you should set up an EEM script that will show you output of show proc cpu sorted when the CPU is high?

Here is an example (of course you can change the threshold according to your needs):

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/catalyst-6500-series-switches/116141-trouble-eem-scripts-00.html

another examples:

http://myhowtosandprojects.blogspot.com/2015/09/cisco-eem-scripts-examples-tshoot.html

https://community.cisco.com/t5/network-management/eem-applet-to-run-when-the-cpu-usage-is-greater-than-50/td-p/1409372

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

post the running configuration of the router. The high CPU could be caused by process switching...

[RicardoSN]

Please find attached the config here.

[balaji.bandi]

as per the config, the device is processing voice also, is this does Transcoding?

have you rebooted the device and tested it?

show version

show ip cef

show processes cpu sorted

show processes cpu history

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

you have a lot of SNMP traps configured. SNMP traps from the router are, as far as I recall, always process switched. Anything process switched taxes the CPU.

Try and lower the trap level to e.g.:

logging trap informational

which is the default, actually. Check if that decreases CPU utilization.

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

---

@RicardoSN wrote:

153-2.T.bin

---

IOS version is 15.3(2)T.  

1. It is a "T" train. 
2. It is the FIRST release of the 15.3.(2) "T" train, aka version "0".  

The IOS to the router needs to be updated to something more recent and not a "T" train.