Subject: Strange load factor ...
To: None <netbsd-help@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Phil Nelson <phil@cs.wwu.edu>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 06/08/1998 16:44:41
Hi,  I have been seeing the load factor go to 1 on a machine I'm running
(NetBSD-1.3_BETA/i386) and I have not been able to find the process that
is responsible for the load.  The following is top output.  Am I missing
something obvious?   (Has anyone seen this before?  On 1.3, 1.3.1 or 1.3.2?)

load averages:  1.08,  0.77,  0.41                                     16:08:14
30 processes:  1 running, 29 sleeping
CPU states:  0.0% user,  0.0% nice,  0.0% system,  0.0% interrupt,  100% idle
Memory: 9772K Act 7792K Inact 9412K Wired 97M Free 4K Swap 260M Swap free 

  PID USERNAME PRI NICE   SIZE   RES STATE   TIME   WCPU    CPU COMMAND
  203 root      18    0    16K  136K sleep   1:05  0.00%  0.00% update
  127 root       2    0    72K  248K sleep   0:12  0.00%  0.00% ypbind
  251 root       2    0  4528K 6036K sleep   0:07  0.00%  0.00% X
  157 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:06  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
  244 root       2    0   292K  436K sleep   0:03  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  238 root      10    0   120K  388K sleep   0:02  0.00%  0.00% lpd
21197 root       2    0   416K  696K sleep   0:02  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  205 root      10    0   256K  352K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% cron
  158 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
21201 phil       2    0   156K 1224K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% xload
  112 root       2    0    72K  324K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% syslogd
21990 phil      28    0   300K  676K run     0:00  0.00%  0.00% top
21209 phil      10    0   796K  804K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% bash
    1 root      10    0   208K  132K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% init
  160 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
  159 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
21205 phil       2    0   380K 1468K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xterm
 3455 root       2    0   220K 1060K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xdm
 3461 root       2    0   120K  940K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xconsole
21199 root       2    0   416K  696K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  248 root       2    0   168K  480K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xdm
  146 root       2    0   120K  364K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% mountd
  239 root       2    0    84K  292K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% inetd
  224 root       2    0   112K  284K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% lpd
  122 root       2    0    56K  240K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% portmap
  148 root       2    0    28K  228K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  153 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  152 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  151 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  150 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd

And here is top output about 25 minutes later.  

load averages:  1.11,  1.07,  0.93                                     16:32:40
30 processes:  1 running, 29 sleeping
CPU states:  0.0% user,  0.0% nice,  0.0% system,  0.0% interrupt,  100% idle
Memory: 9780K Act 7828K Inact 9412K Wired 97M Free 4K Swap 260M Swap free 

  PID USERNAME PRI NICE   SIZE   RES STATE   TIME   WCPU    CPU COMMAND
  203 root      18    0    16K  136K sleep   1:05  0.00%  0.00% update
  127 root       2    0    72K  248K sleep   0:12  0.00%  0.00% ypbind
  251 root       2    0  4528K 6036K sleep   0:07  0.00%  0.00% X
  157 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:06  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
  244 root       2    0   292K  432K sleep   0:03  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  238 root      10    0   120K  388K sleep   0:02  0.00%  0.00% lpd
21197 root       2    0   416K  696K sleep   0:02  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  205 root      10    0   256K  352K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% cron
  158 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
21201 phil       2    0   156K 1224K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% xload
21199 root       2    0   416K  700K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  112 root       2    0    72K  324K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% syslogd
22007 phil      28    0   300K  676K run     0:00  0.00%  0.00% top
21209 phil      10    0   800K  808K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% bash
    1 root      10    0   208K  132K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% init
  160 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
  159 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
21205 phil       2    0   384K 1480K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xterm
 3455 root       2    0   220K 1060K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xdm
 3461 root       2    0   120K  940K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xconsole
  248 root       2    0   168K  480K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xdm
  146 root       2    0   120K  364K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% mountd
  239 root       2    0    84K  292K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% inetd
  224 root       2    0   112K  284K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% lpd
  122 root       2    0    56K  240K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% portmap
  148 root       2    0    28K  228K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  150 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  151 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  152 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  153 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd


And here is a ps axl output

  UID   PID  PPID CPU PRI NI   VSZ  RSS WCHAN  STAT TT       TIME COMMAND
    0     0     0   0 -18  0     0    0 schedu DLs  ??    0:00.24 (swapper)
    0     1     0   0  10  0   208  132 wait   Is   ??    0:00.02 /sbin/init 
    0     2     0   0 -18  0     0    0 thrd_s DL   ??    0:00.00 (pagedaemon)
    0   112     1   0   2  0    72  324 select Ss   ??    0:01.26 syslogd 
    0   122     1   0   2  0    56  240 select Is   ??    0:00.01 portmap 
    0   127     1   0   2  0    72  248 select Ss   ??    0:12.39 ypbind 
    0   146     1   0   2  0   120  364 select Is   ??    0:00.01 mountd 
    0   148     1   0   2  0    28  228 netcon Is   ??    0:00.01 nfsd: master 
    0   150   148   0   2  0    16  172 nfsd   I    ??    0:00.34 nfsd: server 
    0   151   148   0   2  0    16  172 nfsd   I    ??    0:00.03 nfsd: server 
    0   152   148   0   2  0    16  172 nfsd   I    ??    0:00.01 nfsd: server 
    0   153   148   0   2  0    16  172 nfsd   I    ??    0:00.01 nfsd: server 
    0   157     1   0  10  0    16   96 nfsidl I    ??    0:06.06 nfsiod -n 4 
    0   158     1   0  10  0    16   96 nfsidl I    ??    0:01.30 nfsiod -n 4 
    0   159     1   0  10  0    16   96 nfsidl I    ??    0:00.64 nfsiod -n 4 
    0   160     1   0  10  0    16   96 nfsidl I    ??    0:00.41 nfsiod -n 4 
    0   203     1   0  18  0    16  136 pause  Ss   ??    1:05.92 update 30 
    0   205     1   0  10  0   256  352 nanosl Ss   ??    0:01.37 cron 
    0   224     1   0   2  0   112  284 select Is   ??    0:00.05 lpd 
    0   238   224   0  10  0   120  388 nanosl I    ??    0:02.33 lpd 
    0   239     1   0   2  0    84  284 select Ss   ??    0:00.20 inetd -l 
    0   244     1   0   2  0   292  432 select Is   ??    0:03.53 /usr/local/sb
    0   248     1   0   2  0   168  480 select Is   ??    0:00.02 /usr/X11/bin/
    0   251   248   0   2  0  4528 6036 select Is   ??    0:07.42 /usr/X11R6/bi
    0  3455   248   0   2  0   220 1060 select Is   ??    0:00.04 -:0          
    0  3461     1   0   2  0   120  940 select I    ??    0:00.02 xconsole 
    0 21197   244   0   2  0   416  696 select S    ??    0:02.73 /usr/local/sb
    0 21199   244   0   2  0   416  704 select S    ??    0:01.19 /usr/local/sb
  203 21201 21197   0   2  0   156 1224 select Ss   ??    0:01.74 xload 
    0 21205 21199   0  28  0   388 1484 -      Rs   ??    0:02.00 xterm 
    0 22010   239   0   2  0    20  236 netio  S    ??    0:00.01 comsat 
  203 21209 21205   0  10  0   800  808 wait   Ss   p1    0:00.11 bash 
  203 22011 21209   1  28  0   280  160 -      R+   p1    0:00.00 ps -axl 


And then this is what it looks like just after the load starts dropping back to 0.

load averages:  0.57,  0.93,  0.92                                     16:38:59
30 processes:  1 running, 29 sleeping
CPU states:  0.0% user,  0.0% nice,  0.0% system,  0.0% interrupt,  100% idle
Memory: 9808K Act 7732K Inact 9416K Wired 97M Free 4K Swap 260M Swap free 

  PID USERNAME PRI NICE   SIZE   RES STATE   TIME   WCPU    CPU COMMAND
21199 root       2    0   416K  704K sleep   0:02  0.20%  0.20% sshd
  203 root      18    0    16K  136K sleep   1:06  0.00%  0.00% update
  127 root       2    0    72K  248K sleep   0:12  0.00%  0.00% ypbind
  251 root       2    0  4528K 6036K sleep   0:07  0.00%  0.00% X
  157 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:06  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
  244 root       2    0   292K  432K sleep   0:03  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  238 root      10    0   120K  388K sleep   0:02  0.00%  0.00% lpd
21205 phil       2    0   388K 1484K sleep   0:02  0.00%  0.00% xterm
21197 root       2    0   416K  696K sleep   0:02  0.00%  0.00% sshd
  205 root      10    0   256K  352K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% cron
  158 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
21201 phil       2    0   156K 1224K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% xload
  112 root       2    0    72K  324K sleep   0:01  0.00%  0.00% syslogd
22024 phil      28    0   300K  676K run     0:00  0.00%  0.00% top
21209 phil      10    0   800K  808K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% bash
    1 root      10    0   208K  132K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% init
  160 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
  159 root      10    0    16K   96K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsiod
 3455 root       2    0   220K 1060K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xdm
 3461 root       2    0   120K  940K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xconsole
  248 root       2    0   168K  480K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% xdm
  146 root       2    0   120K  364K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% mountd
  239 root       2    0    84K  292K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% inetd
  224 root       2    0   112K  284K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% lpd
  122 root       2    0    56K  240K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% portmap
  148 root       2    0    28K  228K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  150 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  151 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  152 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd
  153 root       2    0    16K  172K sleep   0:00  0.00%  0.00% nfsd


-- 
Phil Nelson                    NetBSD: http://www.netbsd.org
e-mail: phil@cs.wwu.edu        !gifs: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/gif.html
http://www.cs.wwu.edu/~phil