Shared and business hosting accounts run with resource limits (CPU, memory, concurrent processes, I/O) so one account can’t starve others on the same server. Here’s where to check yours and what the numbers mean.
Where to look
In cPanel, go to Metrics > Resource Usage. This shows recent history for CPU usage, physical/virtual memory, number of processes, entry processes, I/O usage, and (on LiteSpeed-based hosting) LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) faults — moments where a limit was actually hit and something was throttled or blocked.
What each metric means
- CPU — processing time your account’s processes consumed; sustained spikes near 100% of your allocation slow down every script running under the account.
- Physical/Virtual Memory (MB) — RAM your processes are using; hitting the ceiling here often shows up as a script crashing outright rather than just running slow.
- Number of Processes — how many things are running simultaneously; a traffic spike or a runaway script can exhaust this quickly.
- I/O Usage — disk read/write throughput; heavy file uploads, large database queries, or backup jobs are common causes of spikes here.
- Entry Processes — concurrent PHP processes actively handling requests; a sudden jump usually means a traffic spike or a slow script tying up processes longer than it should.
Faults and what they mean
A “fault” logged against any metric means the account genuinely hit that ceiling and something was throttled (a process killed, a request delayed) — occasional faults during a real traffic spike are normal; frequent faults at ordinary traffic levels are a sign the account needs a bigger plan, or that something (a runaway cron job, an inefficient plugin, a bot crawling aggressively) is consuming more than it should.
What to do if you’re consistently near the limit
First rule out an obvious cause — check for a plugin known for heavy resource use, an unthrottled cron job, or bot traffic hammering a specific page. If usage is genuinely just from real, growing traffic, that’s the clearest signal to move up a plan tier before it starts affecting visitors directly.