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At Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:53:06 +0100,
Mark Cullen wrote:
>=20
> I shall at some point. Going single user would be a bit of hassle, so
> it might have to be a multi user test. Regardless of the results, I am
> forced to run without softdep anyway so...

It is very difficult, next to impossible, to believe benchmark results
when they're run in conjunction with any other activity that might use
the same resources.  :-)

(unless you can _guarantee_ exactly the same background activity occurs
at exactly the same time during each run :-))


> Well, the system wasn't swapping and still had idle CPU to spare, I
> can say that much! I don't really know what else to look for.

Look at the current and changing usages of all relevant resources, not
just externally observable activity.  Look at accumulations of CPU time
for each and every process over a relatively long period of time (say an
hour).  Look at various kernel table sizes.  Look at all I/O activity.

Post the output of "vmstat -w 1" for a while during the time when the
load average is ~1 and you don't see anything else going on.  Make sure
to list all your active disk devices on the command-line too.  Post a
full "ps -auxww" after running for a while.

Build your kernel with "options KMEMSTATS" and post "vmsstst -m" after
running for a while.

--=20
						Greg A. Woods

H:+1 416 218-0098 W:+1 416 489-5852 x122 VE3TCP RoboHack <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>       Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>

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