CROND high CPU usage

sweetp · 01-05-2017, 06:38 PM

hey guys,

I have just migrated to a VPS... its a slow learning curve. Ive installed ConFigServer Firewall, and have slowly fixed all the warning messages i recieve. But I dont know where to start to debug my high server load messages i receive hourly. Ive checked the Daily Process Log in WHM, and CROND consistently is the top process. I looked in the cron log located here:

Code:

/var/log/cron

but am not sure what i should be looking for....

heres the entries so far from today, does anyone have any idea what could be causing my server load issues?

Code:

Jan  6 00:00:07 server CROND[13677]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:00:07 server CROND[13679]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/dcpumon-wrapper >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:00:08 server CROND[13681]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/tempftp)
Jan  6 00:00:08 server CROND[13682]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/ulpatch)
Jan  6 00:00:08 server CROND[13683]: (user) CMD (php /home4/user/public_html/mysite/cronscripts/backupdatabases.php >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:00:08 server CROND[13684]: (root) CMD (/usr/sbin/csf --lfd restart > /dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:00:08 server CROND[13686]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:00:08 server CROND[13699]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jan  6 00:01:01 server CROND[13840]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:01:01 server CROND[13841]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:01:01 server CROND[13842]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan  6 00:01:01 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[13842]: starting 0anacron
Jan  6 00:01:01 server anacron[13858]: Anacron started on 2017-01-06
Jan  6 00:01:01 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[13860]: finished 0anacron
Jan  6 00:01:01 server anacron[13858]: Jobs will be executed sequentially
Jan  6 00:01:01 server anacron[13858]: Normal exit (0 jobs run)
Jan  6 00:02:13 server CROND[13892]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:02:13 server CROND[13895]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:03:01 server CROND[13929]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:03:01 server CROND[13930]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:04:03 server CROND[13995]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:04:03 server CROND[13994]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:05:13 server CROND[14084]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:05:13 server CROND[14082]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:05:13 server CROND[14083]: (user) CMD (sh /home4/user/public_html/mysite/cronscripts/optimisemysql.sh)
Jan  6 00:05:13 server CROND[14086]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/dcpumon-wrapper >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:06:03 server CROND[14140]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:06:03 server CROND[14142]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:07:03 server CROND[14182]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:07:03 server CROND[14183]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:08:04 server CROND[14231]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:08:04 server CROND[14232]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/bin/dnsqueue > /dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:08:04 server CROND[14233]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:09:01 server CROND[14280]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:09:01 server CROND[14281]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:10:01 server CROND[14377]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/ulpatch)
Jan  6 00:10:01 server CROND[14379]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/tempftp)
Jan  6 00:10:01 server CROND[14378]: (user) CMD (sh /home4/user/public_html/mysite/cronscripts/vacuumpostgresql.sh)
Jan  6 00:10:01 server CROND[14381]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jan  6 00:10:01 server CROND[14382]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:10:01 server CROND[14380]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/dcpumon-wrapper >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:10:01 server CROND[14383]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:11:08 server CROND[14442]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:11:08 server CROND[14443]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:12:01 server CROND[14483]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:12:01 server CROND[14484]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:13:01 server CROND[14557]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:13:01 server CROND[14556]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:14:01 server CROND[14595]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:14:01 server CROND[14596]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:15:01 server CROND[14693]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/autorepair recoverymgmt >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:15:01 server CROND[14695]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/dcpumon-wrapper >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:15:01 server CROND[14694]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:15:01 server CROND[14697]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/bin/dbindex >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:15:01 server CROND[14696]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:16:01 server CROND[14807]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:16:01 server CROND[14813]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:17:01 server CROND[14850]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:17:01 server CROND[14851]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:18:01 server CROND[14933]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:18:01 server CROND[14934]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:19:21 server CROND[14983]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:19:21 server CROND[14985]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:20:01 server CROND[15114]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:20:01 server CROND[15115]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/tempftp)
Jan  6 00:20:01 server CROND[15117]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/ulpatch)
Jan  6 00:20:01 server CROND[15116]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jan  6 00:20:01 server CROND[15118]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:20:01 server CROND[15119]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/dcpumon-wrapper >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:21:01 server CROND[15202]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:21:01 server CROND[15201]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:22:11 server CROND[15254]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:22:11 server CROND[15256]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:23:19 server CROND[15294]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/bin/dnsqueue > /dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:23:19 server CROND[15295]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:23:19 server CROND[15296]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:24:01 server CROND[15357]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:24:01 server CROND[15358]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:25:01 server CROND[15410]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:25:01 server CROND[15409]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:25:01 server CROND[15413]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/dcpumon-wrapper >/dev/null 2>&1)
Jan  6 00:26:01 server CROND[15588]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)
Jan  6 00:26:01 server CROND[15589]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:27:01 server CROND[15634]: (root) CMD (/usr/sec/bin/clean_techproxy)
Jan  6 00:27:01 server CROND[15635]: (root) CMD (/bin/echo $(date) $(cat /proc/loadavg)>>/var/log/ul_load_stats/load.log)

thanks in advance

sweetp · 01-06-2017, 06:46 PM

An update for others with similar issues.
I am running 3 WordPress blogs on the server, and after searching online found that WordPress runs Cron tasks (by default) every time someone loads a page!

there are many tutorials online how to disable this and run the Cron manually. I ended up staggering the 3 blogs each 4x daily with no noticeable downsides.

smallpond · 01-07-2017, 11:57 AM

Use "top" to see which process is using the most CPU.

sweetp · 01-11-2017, 04:07 AM

another update, it seems wordpress cron was a false lead....

I have tried many other optimisations, and i have no idea which it was... but the server has been running very efficiently today.

Heres some other things i tried, one of which (maybe a combination of all?) seems to have fixed my problems
I was having mysqld cpu issues and have a mybb forum installed, so I converted the mybb_sessions table to INNODB using the following command:
ALTER TABLE mybb_sessions ENGINE = INNODB;

I also applied the mysql leap second bug fix:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...93475#11293475
/etc/init.d/ntpd stop
date -s "`date`"
/etc/init.d/ntpd start

so far so good.
my server load has dropped from regularly hitting 15-20+ down to currently 0-2!