Joseph A. Dacuma wrote:
>>>As for NEW_BUFQ_STATEGY, the comments sound like it would be very
>>>beneficial:
>>>
>>>"Enable experimental buffer queue strategy for better responsiveness
>>>under high disk I/O load. Likely stable but not yet the default."
>>>
>>>I am noticing some pretty severe slow-down's when I, for instance, untar
>>>pkgsrc. It was really quite bad actually, while it was doing it I did a
>>>`ps ax`, which took around 30 seconds (possibly more) to return and
>>>print to the console! If it makes any difference, I am using UFS2 and
>>>softdep.
>>
>>Yup, I too am curious on the NEW_BUFQ_STRATEGY option. Like Mark, I
>>had some pretty server slow-downs during high disk loads ...... while
>>untar-ing pkgsrc, or moving large directories from one place to
>>another, etc ......
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Rakhesh
> 
> 
> Hi!
> 
> I have a similar sluggish I/O performance on untarring files. However, not
> directly related to NEW_BUFQ_STRATEGY, just using generic kernel tracking
> 3-current. One unique variable on my setup is the use of the new ciss
> driver.
> 
> Anybody on this list using ciss? Details of my experience can be
> referenced here:
> 
> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/current-users/2006/05/18/0001.html
> 
> Joseph
> 
> 

Just curious, are you using UFS2?

The pauses sound alot like the same problem I am having, but I haven't 
timed how long it takes to untar the same file on a different O/S on the 
same machine.