mpstat

Overview

mpstat (sysstat) reports per-CPU utilization so you can see imbalance, softirq load, or steal time on individual cores.

Syntax

mpstat [options] [interval [count]]

Common Options

Option	Description
-P ALL	Each CPU plus average
-P 0,2	Specific CPUs
-u	Utilization (default)
-I SUM\|CPU\|SCPU\|ALL	Interrupt statistics
-A	Equivalent to wide set of reports
-o JSON	JSON (newer sysstat)

Examples with Explanations

mpstat 1 5
mpstat -P ALL 1 5
mpstat -P ALL -u 1 3
mpstat -I SUM 1 3

Interpret

• One CPU at 100% usr while others idle → single-thread bottleneck
  
• High %soft → network/softirq pressure
  
• High %steal → hypervisor contention

Pair with process tools

mpstat -P ALL 1 3 &
pidstat -u 1 3

Install

sudo apt install sysstat

Related Commands

• vmstat — aggregate
  
• sar -P ALL — history
  
• top then press 1
  
• pidstat — per-process