CPU usage problem

[chadon]

I have problems with my VPS account with CPU usage since a few weeks. It only happens for a few hours about twice a week and the websites hosted there don't receive much traffic.
Is there a way to find out what uses so much CPU resources?
Support didn't give me any answer about my problem other than upgrading to a dedicated server. I don't think this is the solution for a few forums with less than 2000 unique visitors a day on the server.
Any help is appreciated.

[Connie]

Some times you may need to keep bugging support about a problem. Some problems take more than one set of eyes to find.

This is rare but it does happen. I never accept a response from support that says "there is no problem", when I am experiencing the problem on my end.

[chadon]

I have been exchanging messages with support since the problem started a few weeks ago and with various technicians. I didn't post this message to complain and I know they have other things to do than teaching me how to run a server but if someone could point me a webpage or give me some tips on how to check what is running on a server that would be great.

[JPC-Veena]

Hi chadon,

I am sure support would have informed you where the problem lies, http/mysql taffic or any specific websites/scripts if they said you need to upgrade to a dedicated box. Regardless, you can login to your vps via ssh as root and run the command "top" to see the processes running on your vps at the moment, press 'M' to sort by memory and "P" to sort by cpu usage. If you use cpanel, then whm -> apache usage will show you the sites being accessed and their cpu usage etc. This is all real-time, you will need to check at the time you see problems. You can also contact us while it happens and we could check your vps for you.
If you are seeing QoS alerts in your powerpanel too, check out these kbs:

http://www.jaguarpc.com/support/kbase/713.html
http://www.jaguarpc.com/support/kbase/742.html

[chadon]

I am sure support would have informed you where the problem lies, http/mysql taffic or any specific websites/scripts if they said you need to upgrade to a dedicated box

Yes they did but they only told me that yesterday before to suspend the account where the problem happened. Before yesterday they told me the CPU was shared with other VPS accounts and it could be coming from another user.
Now I have to wait and find out what script it's coming from.
Thank you very much Veena, this is the help I needed. I have been running websites for years but I am in a lost world when it's something about hosting problems.

[chadon]

My second VPS account had the same overload problem today and was down all morning. I only have 2 VPS here and all my websites are hosted there. This is becoming a nightmare.
My first VPS is up again and it had no overload since over 8h after I installed a bad bot script on the website. It did ban something and its IP address is from China. Can a bot crash a server that easy? and if anyone had this problem what is the best solution to top them. The script I have seems to be good but I have to place a hidden link in all pages of the sites which may be a problem if Google and other search engines bans the websites. What do you think?