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CPU cores (logical processors)

CPU cores are the processors your server’s operating system reports, more precisely its logical processors: a physical core counts once, or twice when it can run two tasks at a time. On a virtual server, these are the virtual CPUs the hosting provider assigned. The number says how many tasks the server can work on at the same moment.

Why it matters

Section titled “Why it matters”

Each page that WordPress builds runs as a PHP process on one core at a time. With more cores, the server can build more pages in parallel, so it copes better with many visitors at once. A single slow page doesn’t get faster, though: it still runs on one core.

The count is also the yardstick for the load average: a load equal to the number of cores means they’re fully busy.

What influences it

Section titled “What influences it”

Server: The hosting plan and the server behind it. On shared hosting and in containers, the system often shows all the processors of the machine, even though your site may use only a share of them. The number can then look larger than the capacity you actually have.

In Permo

Section titled “In Permo”

The CPU cores card is in System info, tab Server & System, under Server, with the note Logical processors of the server. The card gives context; Permo doesn’t rate it. If the hosting provider doesn’t let PHP read the number, the card shows a dash, and the server load appears without a rating.

Permo counts the logical CPUs: on Linux, the processor entries in /proc/cpuinfo, or else the online CPUs listed in /sys/devices/system/cpu/online, or else the answer of the nproc command where the server allows it; on Windows, the variable NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS. Permo counts them because they’re the yardstick for the load average. The count doesn’t distinguish physical cores, and it doesn’t know about limits a container or hosting plan sets.

Section titled “Related”

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