CPU Metrics

Metric NameDescriptionBasic or Server VisibilityWindowsLinuxSolarisAIXDefault Monitoring Mode
%IdlePercentage of time the CPU was idle; the CPU had completed its tasks and has nothing to do.Basic Diagnostic
%Busy

Percentage of time the CPU was busy processing system or user requests; this metric includes CPU Stolen time.

Basic KPI
%Stolen4

Usually, stolen time is the percentage of time a virtual CPU waits for a real CPU while the hypervisor is servicing another virtual processor.

Basic KPI
%NicePercentage of CPU time spent on low priority processes.Server Visibility Advanced
System

Percentage of time the CPU was busy processing kernel code.

Server Visibility KPI
User

Percentage of time the CPU was busy processing non-kernel code.

Server Visibility KPI
IOWait

Percentage of CPU time spent waiting for an I/O request.

Server Visibility KPI
%IrqPercentage of CPU time spent servicing hardware interrupts.Server Visibility Diagnostic
%SoftIrqPercentage of CPU time spent servicing software interrupts.Server Visibility Advanced
%Busy 95th Percentile2

The CPU %Busy percentage was at this level or lower 95% of the time.

Server Visibility KPI
IOWait 95th Percentile2The CPU %Busy percentage was at this level or lower 95% of the time.Server Visibility KPI

1See Linux Kernel Processes.

2See Percentile Metric Reporting must be Enabled.

3See Default Monitoring Mode.

4See Stolen Times are Reported Differently.