Profiler

CLI reference:/tool/profile

The Profiler tool shows CPU usage for each process running in RouterOS. It helps to identify which process is using most of the CPU resources. See the video about this feature.

[admin@MikroTik] > /tool/profile

Processes are grouped by type (classifiers), for example wireless, bridging or console, and each classifier's CPU usage is shown separately. Only the classifiers with running processes appear, so the rows depend on the device and the features in use.

On multi-core systems, the cpu parameter selects the view: cpu=total (the default) sums the usage of all cores, cpu=all shows every core separately with per-core cpuN summary rows, and cpu=<number> shows only that core. Both views are demonstrated in the example below. Without a duration, the profile keeps refreshing until you stop it; freeze-frame-interval (in seconds) sets how often a new frame is printed, and each frame shows the usage measured since the previous frame. With duration, the tool stops after the given number of seconds. The first one or two frames show only the total row before the sampled data arrives.

For a plain per-core load summary without the process split (for example for scripts), use /system/resource/cpu/print.

Find a busy process

A runaway script keeps one core busy. In the summed view (cpu=total), 100% usage of one core of a 4-core router shows as 25%:

[admin@MikroTik] > /tool/profile cpu=total freeze-frame-interval=1 duration=5
Columns: NAME, USAGE
NAME            USAGE
interface-mgmt  0%   
bridging        0%   
console         25.1%
resource-mgmt   0%   
ssh             0%   
total           25.1%

console consuming the CPU points at script or console session activity (here a script loop). The per-core view shows the exact core and its total in the cpuN rows:

[admin@MikroTik] > /tool/profile cpu=all freeze-frame-interval=1 duration=3
Columns: NAME, CPU, USAGE
NAME         CPU  USAGE
console        0  95.5%
cpu0              95.5%
console        1  0.5% 
wireless       1  0.5% 
kernel         1  0.5% 
cpu1              1.5% 
console        2  4%   
certificate    2  0.5% 
cpu2              4.5% 
console        3  0.5% 
cpu3              0.5% 

Classifiers

RouterOS processes are classified by type and the CPU usage of each type is displayed separately for ease of debugging. Besides the feature classifiers below, system rows such as kernel, ipc, interface-mgmt and resource-mgmt can also appear; anything without a classifier accounts under unclassified:

Property	Description
backup	Backup service
bfd	BFD service
bgp	BGP service
bridging	Bridging service
btest	Bandwidth test.
certificate	Certificate service
console	Console
container	combined container usage
dhcp	DHCP-Server and DHCP-Client services
disk	storage-related services
dns	DNS-related services
dude	The Dude package services
e-mail	e-mail tool
encrypting	encrypting processes
eoip	EoIP
ethernet	Ethernet-related properties like link speed, auto-negotiation, duplex mode, monitor transceiver diagnostic information, etc.
fetcher	Fetch tool
fileman	File manager
firewall	Firewall-related processes
firewall-mgmt	Firewall Management: Filtering, NAT, Mangle
flash	storage-related services
ftp	FTP Service
gps	GPS Service
graphing	Graphing tool
gre	GRE
health	system monitoring, system health
hotspot	Hotspot service
idle	Free CPU resources
igmp-proxy	IGMP Proxy service
internet-detect	Detect Internet tool
ip-pool	IP Pool service
ipsec	IPsec service: xfrm - set of statistics showing numbers of packets dropped by the transformation code and why. drivers/crypto - drivers that provide access to the hardware cryptographic accelerators. ipsec - processes that relate to the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocols, Authentication Header (AH), Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP).
kvm	KVM virtual machine functionality
l7-matcher	L7 matcher
lcd	LCD Interfaces system
ldp	Label Distribution Protocol (LDP)
logging	Logging system
management	different subsystems: scheduler, networking, file management, etc.
mpls	MPLS-related features
neighbor-discovery	Neighbor discovery service
networking	common set of services included in the networking
ntp	NTP service
ospf	OSPF service
ovpn	OVPN service
pim	Protocol Independent Multicast
profiling	Profiler service
queue-mgmt	Queues: Simple queues, Queue tree, Queue types
queuing	Intermediate Queuing
radius	RADIUS service
radvd	IPv6 Router Advertisement daemon (radvd) service
remote-access	accessing the device directly without logging into RouterOS
rip	Routing Information Protocol
routing	Routing-related services
serial	serial console and terminal tool
sniffing	packet Sniffer tool
snmp	SNMP
socks	Socket Secure
spi	storage-related services
ssh	SSH Server
ssl	SSL
supout.rif	supout.rif file generation
telnet	Telnet service
tftp	TFTP service
traffic-accounting	Traffic-Flow log system
traffic-flow	Traffic-Flow system
unclassified	processes or services that are not defined by this classifier
upnp	UPnP protocol
usb	USB features
user-manager	User Manager service
vrrp	VRRP
web-proxy	Web Proxy
winbox	Winbox
wireguard	Wireguard
wireless	common set of services using Wireless systems
www	Webfig HTTP service
zerotier	ZeroTier

For all parameters, see the /tool/profile CLI reference.