- 7 minutes to read

Monitoring CPU and CPU Cores

Proactively monitor CPU and CPU Core usage on your Windows Servers with the Nodinite Windows Server Monitoring Agent. This guide shows you how to set custom thresholds, receive actionable alerts, and leverage real-time metrics to ensure optimal performance and prevent outages.

✅ Real-time monitoring of all CPUs and CPU Cores
✅ Customizable thresholds for performance and alerting
✅ Actionable alerts and remote actions to resolve issues fast
✅ Visualize CPU usage with charts and dashboard widgets

Learn how to monitor the utilization of your CPUs and CPU Cores and get alerts when the percentage used is too high over time

This page describes how Nodinite monitors CPUs using one or more role-based Monitor Views. Nodinite evaluates state based on user-defined thresholds, either global or specific. For managing CPUs, remote commands are available as Actions to help you swiftly resolve reported problems. The implemented Remote Actions are detailed on this page.

CPU items as Resources
Example list of monitored CPU-related items in a Monitor View.

Monitoring Features

  • Automatic Discovery
  • State Evaluation - Based on user-defined thresholds (percentage over time)
  • Category-based monitoring - Organize different types of CPU-related items; monitored Resources are grouped by Categories.

The monitored CPU-related items are displayed within Nodinite as Resources. For example, if you have 1 CPU with 4 cores, you will have 5 Resources in Nodinite.

  • Resources - The name of the Resources comes from the count and index of the number of CPUs

    • CPU => CPU Overall
    • Core => CPU0, CPU1...

  • Categories - All monitored CPU items belong to one of the following 'CPU' Categories

    Category Description
    CPU Make sure the CPU is running within user-defined monitoring thresholds
    CPU Core Make sure the CPU cores are running within user-defined monitoring thresholds

    Categories
    List of CPU-related categories as a filter in Monitor View.

  • Applications - The Application name is the Display Name from the configuration of the monitored Windows Server:
    Application naming example
    Example of Application naming pattern.

Each item (presented in Nodinite as a Resource), is evaluated with a state (OK, Warning, Error, Unavailable).

From within Nodinite, you can reconfigure the state evaluation on Resource level using the Expected State feature.

Note

Depending on the user-defined synchronization interval set for the Windows Server Monitoring Agent, there might be a delay before Nodinite Web Client/Monitor Views reflects the change. Click the Sync All button (or use the dropdown for individual agent selection) to force Nodinite to request a resynchronization.

Sync
Option to force Nodinite to request a resynchronization request with the Monitoring Agent.

Monitoring CPUs

For the CPU category, the monitored state evaluates as described in the table below:

State Status Description Actions
Unavailable Service not available If the server can't be reached and evaluated either due to network or security-related problems Review prerequisites
Error Error state raised The 'CPU' is using too much resources for too long time Details
Warning Warning state raised Not yet implemented -
OK Online The 'CPU' is accessible and is within user-defined monitoring thresholds Details
CPU Chart
Edit

Actions for CPU

The following Remote Actions are available for the CPU and CPU - Core Categories:

Remote Actions for CPU Category
Remote Actions available for the CPU category.

CPU Details

New 6.4.0.0

View comprehensive CPU information including current usage, historical statistics, hardware specifications, and monitoring thresholds. Click the Action button and select the Details menu item within the 'Control Center' section.

The CPU Details page displays:

CPU Overview:

  • Current Usage - Real-time processor utilization percentage
  • Status - Current evaluation state (OK, Warning, Error, Unavailable)
  • Last Sample - Timestamp of most recent data collection
  • Status message indicating whether CPU usage is within configured thresholds

Recent Samples:

  • Historical CPU usage data showing recent measurements
  • Timestamp - When each sample was collected
  • Usage - CPU utilization percentage at sample time
  • Helps identify usage patterns and spikes

Monitoring Thresholds:

  • Monitoring Status - Whether CPU monitoring is enabled or disabled
  • Warning Limit - CPU usage percentage that triggers warning alerts
  • Error Limit - CPU usage percentage that triggers error alerts
  • Duration - How long CPU must exceed threshold before alert triggers (in seconds)
  • Description - User-friendly configuration description

Utilization Statistics:

  • Average Usage - Mean CPU utilization across sample window
  • Peak Usage - Maximum CPU usage recorded during sample window
  • Lowest Usage - Minimum CPU usage recorded during sample window
  • Samples - Number of data points collected
  • Sample Window - Time range for statistical analysis (e.g., "1.1 minutes")
  • Latest/Oldest Sample - Timestamps for data collection range

Processor Information:

  • Name - CPU model and manufacturer (e.g., "Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 275HX")
  • Manufacturer - Processor vendor (e.g., "GenuineIntel")
  • Socket/Architecture - CPU socket type and instruction set architecture (e.g., "x64")
  • Cores - Physical CPU core count
  • Logical Processors - Thread count including hyperthreading/SMT
  • Clock Speeds - Base and current processor frequencies (MHz)
  • Caches - L2 and L3 cache sizes
  • Virtualization - Hardware virtualization support status (Enabled/Disabled)
  • Details - Processor family, model, stepping, and processor ID

Note

The Details view provides comprehensive diagnostic information without requiring RDP access to the server. Use the refresh button to update data on demand. The status message indicates whether CPU usage is within thresholds during the configured duration period.

Edit thresholds

You can manage the alert thresholds for the selected CPU/CPU Core Resource; simply click on the Action button and then click the Edit thresholds menu item within the 'Control Center' section.
Edit thresholds Menu Action
Edit thresholds, using the 'Edit' action.

Next, click the option to present the modal.

Edit thresholds modal - CPU (6.1.1.0)
'Edit thresholds' modal for CPU Monitoring.

The CPU Core section is not enabled by default; you can expand the accordion to view and manage the Monitoring thresholds.
Edit thresholds modal - CPU Core (6.1.1.0)
'Edit thresholds' accordion for CPU Core Monitoring.

Metrics chart: Metrics

You can view statistics about the selected CPU instance by clicking the Action button and then the CPU Chart menu item within the 'Control Center' section.
CPU Chart Menu Item
Show CPU statistics, using the 'CPU Chart' action.

Next, click the option to present the modal.
CPU Performance Counters
Example of CPU usage statistics.

This modal is designed to be used as a Widget in the Dashboard.
Widget on Dashboard
CPU statistics example as a Widget on the Dashboard.

Monitoring CPU Cores

Monitoring CPU Cores is a more fine-grained monitoring option compared with CPU Monitoring. All monitoring options are the same, so the previous documentation above for monitoring CPUs covers this topic.

Configuration

Use the Remote Configuration to manage the CPU configuration.

CPU tab

Click the CPU tab to manage CPU Monitoring options.
CPU Tab
Example of the 'CPU' tab.

There are multiple options for Monitoring the CPU. Two major subcategories exist:

  • CPU
  • CPU Core

CPU

  • Enable CPU Monitoring - When checked, enables the Monitoring of the 'CPU Overall' usage. Otherwise, Monitoring is disabled.
  • CPU Warning Threshold % - When the CPU usage exceeds this threshold for more than the configured number of seconds (CPU Duration), the evaluated state is 'Warning'.
  • CPU Error Threshold % - When the CPU usage exceeds this threshold for more than the configured number of seconds (CPU Duration), the evaluated state is 'Error'.
  • CPU Threshold overrun duration - The maximum allowed duration breaching the threshold (seconds).

CPU Core

  • Enable CPU - Core Monitoring - When checked, each Core in the CPU(s) will be monitored individually for this Windows Server
  • CPU Core Warning Threshold % - When the CPU Core usage exceeds this threshold for more than the configured number of seconds (CPU Core Duration), the evaluated state is 'Warning'.
  • CPU Core Error Threshold % - When the CPU Core usage exceeds this threshold for more than the configured number of seconds (CPU Core Duration), the evaluated state is 'Error'.
  • CPU Core Duration - The maximum allowed duration breaching the threshold (seconds).

Next Step

Add or manage Monitor View

Windows Server Monitoring Agent
Resources
Monitoring
Monitor Views