JAVA and CPU usage

[Scott Meyer-Kukan]

I am running ArchivesSpace 4.1.1 on a VPS using Ubuntu 24.04. The server has 4 vCPU cores, 16 GB of ram, and 200 GB NVMe disk space. We've been running ArchivesSpace for a little over a year with no problems until now. 

For whatever reason, JAVA is using too much CPU and when I run the command top, I see that it is using almost 350% CPU. Any thoughts on what might be causing this?

Thanks in advance for any help and support.

Scott

[Bridger Dyson-Smith]

Hi Scott 

On Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:15 PM Scott Meyer-Kukan <smeye...@gmail.com> wrote:

I am running ArchivesSpace 4.1.1 on a VPS using Ubuntu 24.04. The server has 4 vCPU cores, 16 GB of ram, and 200 GB NVMe disk space. We've been running ArchivesSpace for a little over a year with no problems until now. 

For whatever reason, JAVA is using too much CPU and when I run the command top, I see that it is using almost 350% CPU. Any thoughts on what might be causing this?

You're seeing the sum total of all the Java processes on the system, by default at a 5s interval (I think). The level of utilization you're seeing isn't abnormal, especially considering *all* of the AS functionality that runs under the JVM.

 

For a clearer process snapshot, you might want to dip into JVM profiling, or even use htop for a per-thread view.

Are you seeing specific problems with the application? 

Thanks in advance for any help and support.

Hope that's helpful - more specific info would help with diagnostic suggestions.

Scott

All the best,

Bridger 

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[Scott Meyer-Kukan]

Hi Bridger,

Thanks for your message. I’ve attached a screenshot of what I see when I run the command htop. I am not really sure what is causing the CPU issue. We are only running ArchivesSpace and Omeka Classic on the server and haven’t made any major changes in the past 6 months other than editing a few collections. When this happens, I am unable to access ArchivesSpace on the staff side and the PUI. I also cannot access Omeka.

I’ve tried restoring the server from a snapshot taken a week earlier. The problem continues to resurface. I’ve also checked the ArchivesSpace log, particularly around the date/time the CPU began to substantially increase.

Best,

Dr. Scott Meyer-Kukan

Pronouns: (he/him/his)

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[Bridger Dyson-Smith]

Dr. Meyer-Kukan - 

I confess that it has been a few years since I've had to triage this type of issue in AS, but absolutely checking the logs should give you an idea of where the problem is originating. 

Is the Solr UI still accessible (I would imagine "no")?

If there's any one thing that seems encouraging: you aren't running into memory pressure issues. 

The logs will be a key!

Best,

Bridger