Resource usage spikes on VirtualMin

VPS Specs:
Ram: 12GB
CPU: 4 Core Intel E5
SSD: 300GB

Yesterday I installed virtualmin and I am running just 1 wordpress website. For monitoring I installed nixstats.com service and after 12 hours I started getting CPU usage spikes. Screenshot link: https://i.imgur.com/7tqWCiO.png

Is this normal or I still need to configure something?

Note: I am new to server management and have zero-day experience in this field.

Hi,

Check “top” and sort the processes by CPU utilization to see what’s causing the spikes.

Looks like some kind of scheduled service as it seems to run periodically. Also, if using a VPS, if it’s openvz you are the mercy of other instances on the same hardware. Top is a good start as mentioned. I also like to use sar (part of the sysstat package on Debian and needs to be enabled once installed) as it also records iowait figures to see if the system is diskbound.

Hi,

Yeah, OpenVZ providers are often notorious for “overselling” resources if they’re using “container” based model. That said, I used to make use of such a provider and was able to get Virtualmin running clean on it. One of the biggest steps you should take especially on a VPS is to “optimize” your install so that you are reducing the overhead of Virtualmin and related software it installs and configures by default.

For a small fee, I’ve helped dozens of users optimize their dedicated and VPS nodes to reduce overhead as mentioned above. If you’re interested, let me know.