Process CPU check

The process cpu check (check_process_cpu) checks the CPU utilization of a process as reported by OS. Retrieved percentage is compared against --warning and --critical thresholds and an appropriate check result is output.

Linux process CPU check

On linux machines there are 2 modes of operation supported:

• Global CPU utilization of a process (global usage on OS)
• Per-core CPU utilization of a process

Global CPU check

Global CPU check uses top command in batch mode to find out CPU utilization by a process. Multiple samples will be taken to determine utilization. Returned percentage is normalized for core count (i.e. range is always [0; 100]).

First sample of the top command will be ignored as it reports process' lifetime stats on old machines.

Per-core CPU check

Per-core CPU check uses pidstat command. Multiple samples will be taken. Core utilization will be averaged based on amount of non-0 per-core values reported.

For example:

• sample 0: core 0 - 20.0%
• sample 1: core 0 - 10.0%, core 2 - 30.0%
• sample 2: core 1 - 15.0%

Results in:

• core 0 - 15.0%
• core 1 - 15.0%
• core 2 - 30.0%

30.0% will be reported by the check (as the highest core utilization).

Windows process CPU check

On windows machines only global CPU utilization of a process can be retrieved. Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) will be used and multiple samples will be taken to calculate average CPU utilization of a process. Returned percentage is normalized for core count (i.e. range is always [0; 100]).

Flags

Run this check with help command to get latest information, i.e. check_process_cpi help

• --warning: The percentage of CPU utilization required to trigger a warning condition. Default: 85.
• --critical: The percentage of CPU utilization required to trigger a critical condition. Default: 95.
• --metric_name: The name used in the nagios portion of the message output. Default process_cpu_percentage.
• --process_name: Required. The name of the process for which to query CPU usage. Process name is case-sensitive. On windows use executable name without extension (e.g. chrome). On linux use command name (e.g. cbdaemon)
• --core: When included, check will return highest CPU Core utilization instead of global utilization. Only linux machines support this flag; on windows machines this flag will be ignored.

Examples

Issue a warning if global CPU utilization is over 50% for chrome

check_process_cpu --process_name chrome --warning 50

Issue a critical alert if per-core CPU utilization is over 80% for chrome

check_process_cpu --process_name chrome --critical 80 --core