When a Cisco device suffers from high CPU usage, you can use the show processing command to list all processes that are running and to determine the cause of the problem. Use this command to get a list of active processes together with the corresponding process ID, priority, CPU time, the number of calls and other information used.
Here is an example of the output of this command called a Cisco router:
R1 # shows processes
CPU usage for five seconds: 0% / 0%; one minute: 0%; five minutes: 0%
PID NUMBER PC Runtime (ms) called usecs stacks TTY Process
1 Csp 602F3AF0 0 1627 0 2600/3000 0 Cargo meter
2 Lwe 60C5BE00 4 136 29 5572/6000 0 CEF scanner
3 Lst 602D90F8 1676 837 2002 5740/6000 0 Check the pile
4 Cwe 602D08F8 0 1 0 5568/6000 0 Chunk Manager
5 Cwe 602DF0E8 0 1 0 5592/6000 0 Pool Manager
6 Mst 60251E38 0 2 0 5560/6000 0 Hours
7 Mwe 600D4940 0 2 0 5568/6000 0 Serial Backgrou
8 Mwe 6034B718 0 1 0 2584/3000 0 OIR trades
9 Mwe 603FA3C8 0 1 0 5612/6000 0 IPC zone management
10 Mwe 603FA1A0 0 8124 0 5488/6000 0 IPC Periodic Ti
11 Mwe 603FA220 0 9 0 4884/6000 0 IPC Seat Management
12 Lwe 60406818 124 2003 61 5300/6000 0 ARP input
13 Mwe 60581638 0 1 0 5760/6000 0 HC aging time
The first line of output shows CPU usage over the last 5 seconds, 1 minute and 5 minutes. Here is a description of other fields in the output:
PID process ID.
Q - prioritization of the process queue. Possible values are: C (critical), H (high), M (medium) and L (low).
For scheduler test (status). Possible values are: * E said (sleeping (running) (waiting for an event), S (clear voluntarily terminated processor), rd (completed awakening conditions have occurred), we (waiting for an event), up to an absolute time) , say (sleep during a time interval), sp (sleep during a time interval (alternatively call), st (sleep until a timer expires), ed (locks, the process is never running again) xx (dead: the process was finished but not yet erased).
PC - current program counter.
Runtime - CPU time the process used.
Called - how often was the process called.
microSecs - CPU time for each process call.
Stack - low water level or total available stack space, in exchange.
TTY terminal that controls the process.
Process - the name of the process.
Here is an example of the output of this command called a Cisco router:
R1 # shows processes
CPU usage for five seconds: 0% / 0%; one minute: 0%; five minutes: 0%
PID NUMBER PC Runtime (ms) called usecs stacks TTY Process
1 Csp 602F3AF0 0 1627 0 2600/3000 0 Cargo meter
2 Lwe 60C5BE00 4 136 29 5572/6000 0 CEF scanner
3 Lst 602D90F8 1676 837 2002 5740/6000 0 Check the pile
4 Cwe 602D08F8 0 1 0 5568/6000 0 Chunk Manager
5 Cwe 602DF0E8 0 1 0 5592/6000 0 Pool Manager
6 Mst 60251E38 0 2 0 5560/6000 0 Hours
7 Mwe 600D4940 0 2 0 5568/6000 0 Serial Backgrou
8 Mwe 6034B718 0 1 0 2584/3000 0 OIR trades
9 Mwe 603FA3C8 0 1 0 5612/6000 0 IPC zone management
10 Mwe 603FA1A0 0 8124 0 5488/6000 0 IPC Periodic Ti
11 Mwe 603FA220 0 9 0 4884/6000 0 IPC Seat Management
12 Lwe 60406818 124 2003 61 5300/6000 0 ARP input
13 Mwe 60581638 0 1 0 5760/6000 0 HC aging time
The first line of output shows CPU usage over the last 5 seconds, 1 minute and 5 minutes. Here is a description of other fields in the output:
PID process ID.
Q - prioritization of the process queue. Possible values are: C (critical), H (high), M (medium) and L (low).
For scheduler test (status). Possible values are: * E said (sleeping (running) (waiting for an event), S (clear voluntarily terminated processor), rd (completed awakening conditions have occurred), we (waiting for an event), up to an absolute time) , say (sleep during a time interval), sp (sleep during a time interval (alternatively call), st (sleep until a timer expires), ed (locks, the process is never running again) xx (dead: the process was finished but not yet erased).
PC - current program counter.
Runtime - CPU time the process used.
Called - how often was the process called.
microSecs - CPU time for each process call.
Stack - low water level or total available stack space, in exchange.
TTY terminal that controls the process.
Process - the name of the process.