CPU Thresholding Notification

Last Updated: October 14, 2012

The CPU Thresholding Notification feature notifies users when a predefined threshold of CPU usage is crossed by generating a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap message for the top users of the CPU.

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Restrictions for CPU Thresholding Notification

CPU utilization averages are computed by Cisco IOS software using a 4-millisecond Network-to-Management Interface (NMI) tick. In the unlikely event where the traffic rate is a multiple of this tick rate over a prolonged period of time, the CPU Thresholding Notification feature may not accurately measure the CPU load.

Information About CPU Thresholding Notification

The CPU Thresholding Notification feature allows you to configure CPU utilization thresholds that, when crossed, trigger a notification. Two types of CPU utilization threshold are supported:

Rising Threshold

A rising CPU utilization threshold specifies the percentage of CPU resources that, when exceeded for a configured period of time, triggers a CPU threshold notification.

Falling Threshold

A falling CPU utilization threshold specifies the percentage of CPU resources that, when CPU usage falls below this level for a configured period of time, triggers a CPU threshold notification.

How to Configure CPU Thresholding Notification

Enabling CPU Thresholding Notification

To specify the recipient of SNMP notification operations and enable CPU thresholding notification, perform these steps:

SUMMARY STEPS

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    snmp-server enable traps cpu threshold

4.    snmp-server host host-address [traps | informs] [version {1 | 2c | 3 [auth | noauth | priv]}] community-string [udp-port port] cpu[notification-type] [vrf vrf-name]


DETAILED STEPS
  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1
enable


Example:

Router> enable

 

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.
 
Step 2
configure terminal


Example:

Router# configure terminal

 

Enables global configuration mode.

 
Step 3
snmp-server enable traps cpu threshold


Example:

Router(config)# snmp-server enable traps cpu threshold

 

Enables CPU thresholding violation notification as traps and inform requests.

 
Step 4
snmp-server host host-address [traps | informs] [version {1 | 2c | 3 [auth | noauth | priv]}] community-string [udp-port port] cpu[notification-type] [vrf vrf-name]


Example:

Router(config)# snmp-server host 192.168.0.0 traps public cpu

 

Sends CPU traps to the specified address.

 

Defining CPU Thresholding Notification

To define a rising and a falling CPU threshold notification, perform these steps:

SUMMARY STEPS

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    process cpu threshold type {total | process | interrupt} rising percentage interval seconds [falling percentage interval seconds]


DETAILED STEPS
  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1
enable


Example:

Router> enable

 

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.
 
Step 2
configure terminal


Example:

Router# configure terminal

 

Enters global configuration mode.

 
Step 3
process cpu threshold type {total | process | interrupt} rising percentage interval seconds [falling percentage interval seconds]


Example:

Router(config)# process cpu threshold type total rising 80 interval 5 falling 20 interval 5

 

Sets the CPU thresholding notifications types and values.

  • In this example, the CPU utilization threshold is set to 80 percent for a rising threshold notification and 20 percent for a falling threshold notification, with a 5-second polling interval.
 

Setting the Entry Limit and Size of CPU Utilization Statistics

To set the process entry limit and the size of the history table for CPU utilization statistics, perform these steps:

SUMMARY STEPS

1.    enable

2.    configure terminal

3.    process cpu statistics limit entry-percentage number [size seconds]


DETAILED STEPS
  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1
enable


Example:

Router> enable

 

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.
 
Step 2
configure terminal


Example:

Router# configure terminal

 

Enters global configuration mode.

 
Step 3
process cpu statistics limit entry-percentage number [size seconds]


Example:

Router(config)# process cpu statistics limit entry-percentage 40 size 300

 

Sets the process entry limit and the size of the history table for CPU utilization statistics.

  • In this example, to generate an entry in the history table, a process must exceed 40 percent CPU utilization.
  • In this example, the duration of time for which the most recent history is saved in the history table is 300 seconds.
 

Configuration Examples for CPU Thresholding Notification

Setting a Rising CPU Thresholding Notification Example

The following example shows how to set a rising CPU thresholding notification for total CPU utilization. When total CPU utilization exceeds 80 percent for a period of 5 seconds or longer, a rising threshold notification is sent.

Router(config)# process cpu threshold type total rising 80 interval 5

Note
When the optional falling arguments (percentage and seconds) are not specified, they take on the same values as the rising arguments (percentage and seconds).

Setting a Falling CPU Thresholding Notification Example

The following example shows how to set a falling CPU thresholding notification for total CPU utilization. When total CPU utilization, which at one point had risen above 80 percent and triggered a rising threshold notification, falls below 70 percent for a period of 5 seconds or longer, a falling threshold notification is sent. 

Router(config)# process cpu threshold type total rising 80 interval 5 falling 70 interval 5

Note
When the optional falling arguments (percentage and seconds) are not specified, they take on the same values as the rising arguments (percentage and seconds).

Additional References

For additional information related to the CPU Thresholding Notification feature, refer to the following references:

Related Documents

Related Topic

Document Title

SNMP traps

Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference

Standards

Standards

Title

No new or modified standards are supported by this feature and support for existing standards has not been modified by this feature.

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MIBs

MIBs

MIBs Link

CISCO-PROCESS-MIB

To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/go/mibs

RFCs

RFCs

Title

No new or modified RFCs are supported by this feature and support for existing RFCs has not been modified by this feature.

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Technical Assistance

Description

Link

The Cisco Support and Documentation website provides online resources to download documentation, software, and tools. Use these resources to install and configure the software and to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with Cisco products and technologies. Access to most tools on the Cisco Support and Documentation website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/support/index.html

Feature Information for CPU Thresholding Notification

Table 1 Feature Information for CPU Thresholding Notification

Feature Name

Releases

Feature Information

CPU Thresholding Notification

12.0(26)S 12.3(4)T 12.2(25)S

The following commands were introduced or modified:

process cpu statistics limit entry-percentage, process cpu threshold type, snmp-server enable traps cpu, snmp-server host.

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© 2012 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.