When troubleshooting your website, it is useful to know how many CPU resources are being consumed by that site. If you are a webmaster like me, you are likely to use your DreamHost account to host multiple websites.

One of the problems an account with many hosted domains can have is tracking down which particular user/domain is at fault when a server resource issue arises. If we could see how much resources each user/domain used individually, we would have a better shot at fixing issues.

By default DreamHost combines all users into their resource reports (how to access these reports is at the end of this post). If you want to know the resources used by an individual user/domain — you’ll need to enable it manually.

Enabling Individual User Resource Reporting:

To enable user resource reporting for a particular user:

1. Navigate to: USERS > MANAGE USERS via the Web Panel
2. One the right, click on the Edit button for the user account in question.
3. Find and check the box labeled “CPU Reporting”.
4. Finish by clicking on “Save Changes”.

Rinse and repeat for each user you would like individual resource reporting. Remember: you’ll need to wait at least 24 hours before these reports are generated and accessible.

Now you can see exactly how much processor time a user/domain consumes on the server. The report comes in two forms named either USER.sa.itemized.X or USER.sa.analyzed.X . The x represents how many days back the file was created.

This itemized report contains a line for each time a script was run on the server, plus how much CPU time was used to execute that script. While, the analyzed report totals processor time for each unique executable and sorts based on CPU time.

Fancy, eh?

Accessing User Resource Reports:

These reports can be found in: /home/user/logs/resources – and can be accessed via FTP or Shell.

Note: This feature isn’t available to DreamHost PS users.

Related posts:

1. How to Report Abuse to DreamHost If you think a DreamHost customer is behind illegal activities...
2. Email Upgrades at DreamHost DreamHost recently announced some upgrades to their email service: New!...
3. Enabling Shell Access at Dreamhost DreamHost offers shell access, but it needs to be specifically...
4. PhpBB Optimization on Dreamhost PhpBB is one of the most popular free message board...
5. DreamHost Private Servers: First Week Free Instead of guessing how many resources you will need when...