Best way to identify causes of massive, spontaneous spikes in server load?

[mahz]

...

[Speysider]

DDoS attacks against the server?

[mahz]

DDoS attacks against the server?

How do you identify a DDoS attack versus what's maybe just a glitch or bug? Usually these spikes generally last 10 minutes and pass.

[Speysider]

DDoS attacks typically bring a server down with high loads.