Linux Red Hat 5 and VMware

I have VM Server that has Oracle 11g on it. I have ESRI software that we use on it also. The problem we have is that the cpu usage on the VM server will top at 100% and will not let users access anything from that server for about 10 minutes in which it will drop below 100% and is functional again. Does anyone know of any issues with this software working with this OS? Thanks.