Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:09:12 +0100, Mark Cullen <mark.r.cullen@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> 
>> I think my load average problem may be something to do with Samba or 
>> RAIDFrame?! That's the only thing I haven't really tried to kill (it'd 
>> be a bit of hassle because all of my computers are logged on to the 
>> server). I've tried killing everything but Samba and it doesn't make any 
>> difference.
>>
>> I'm guessing that it's not really anything to be overly concerned about, 
>> as I am not experiencing slowness and the CPU time in `top` says it's 
>> nearly always idle. It's a little annoying having it constantly ~1.00 
>> when it's not actually doing anything most of the time, but never mind 
>> :-) Makes it look busier than it actually is I suppose!
>>
> I used to have a machine that showed that symptom.  It wasn't running
> RAIDFrame or Samba, and behaved that way well before the new VM system.  I
> never did figure it out.
> 
> 		--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
> 

Oh :-) Maybe not then. Do you happen to remember the specs of the system 
and what it was running? Perhaps our two machines have something in 
common...

Intel Celeron 1GHz
MSI MS-6368 v2.1 (VIA chipset)
2 x PC100 128MB
2 x Intel 100mbit NICS (8255x)
4 x IDE hard disks (one is UDMA66, rest are 100)
Prolific USB -> Serial adapter
Serial 4x20 LCD
Serial console boot loader installed for com1, 57600 baud.

Samba (as a PDC)
BIND9
Apache 1.3.xx
PHP 4.x
MySQL 4.1.x
Courier IMAP
Postfix
ISC DHCPd
apcupsd
SSH
mbmon in daemon mode
Acting as a gateway using PF + PF's inbuilt NAT.
ADSL modem (xmodem ce) on fxp1, IP address via dhclient.

Kernel stripped of most of the stuff I don't need, ACPI added just so I 
can use `shutdown -p now` and it'll power off automatically. Can't 
really think of anything else particularly unusual...

Maybe it's some kinda strange time counter issue?

---
NetBSD 3.0.1 (BONE) #11: Thu Jun 29 23:16:12 BST 2006
         mrboo@bone.bone.servebeer.com:/usr/obj/sys/arch/i386/compile/BONE
total memory = 253 MB
avail memory = 243 MB
BIOS32 rev. 0 found at 0xfb090
mainbus0 (root)
cpu0 at mainbus0: (uniprocessor)
cpu0: Intel Celeron (686-class), 1002.34 MHz, id 0x68a
cpu0: features 383f9ff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,SEP,MTRR>
cpu0: features 383f9ff<PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,MMX>
cpu0: features 383f9ff<FXSR,SSE>
cpu0: I-cache 16 KB 32B/line 4-way, D-cache 16 KB 32B/line 4-way
cpu0: L2 cache 128 KB 32B/line 4-way
cpu0: ITLB 32 4 KB entries 4-way, 2 4 MB entries fully associative
cpu0: DTLB 64 4 KB entries 4-way, 8 4 MB entries 4-way
cpu0: 8 page colors
acpi0 at mainbus0
acpi0: using Intel ACPI CA subsystem version 20040211
acpi0: X/RSDT: OemId <VIA601,MSI ACPI,42302e31>, AslId <AWRD,00000000>
acpi0: SCI interrupting at int 9
acpi0: fixed-feature power button present
ACPI Object Type 'Processor' (0x0c) at acpi0 not configured
acpibut0 at acpi0 (PNP0C0C): ACPI Power Button
acpibut1 at acpi0 (PNP0C0E): ACPI Sleep Button
PNP0C01 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0A03 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0C0F at acpi0 not configured
PNP0C0F at acpi0 not configured
PNP0C0F at acpi0 not configured
PNP0C02 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0000 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0200 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0100 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0B00 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0800 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0C04 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0700 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0501 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0501 at acpi0 not configured
PNP0401 at acpi0 not configured
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1
pci0: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, rd/mult, wr/inv ok
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0
pchb0: VIA Technologies product 0x0601 (rev. 0x05)
agp0 at pchb0: aperture at 0xd4000000, size 0xe800000
ppb0 at pci0 dev 1 function 0: VIA Technologies product 0x8601 (rev. 0x00)
pci1 at ppb0 bus 1
pci1: i/o space, memory space enabled
vga1 at pci1 dev 0 function 0: Trident Microsystems product 0x8500 (rev. 
0x6a)
wsdisplay0 at vga1 kbdmux 1
wsmux1: connecting to wsdisplay0
pcib0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0
pcib0: VIA Technologies VT82C686A PCI-ISA Bridge (rev. 0x40)
viaide0 at pci0 dev 7 function 1
viaide0: VIA Technologies VT82C686A (Apollo KX133) ATA100 controller
viaide0: bus-master DMA support present
viaide0: primary channel configured to compatibility mode
viaide0: primary channel interrupting at irq 14
atabus0 at viaide0 channel 0
viaide0: secondary channel configured to compatibility mode
viaide0: secondary channel interrupting at irq 15
atabus1 at viaide0 channel 1
uhci0 at pci0 dev 7 function 2: VIA Technologies VT83C572 USB Controller 
(rev. 0                                                  x16)
uhci0: interrupting at irq 12
usb0 at uhci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0 at usb0
uhub0: VIA Technologies UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1 at pci0 dev 7 function 3: VIA Technologies VT83C572 USB Controller 
(rev. 0                                                  x16)
uhci1: interrupting at irq 12
usb1 at uhci1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1 at usb1
uhub1: VIA Technologies UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
viapm0 at pci0 dev 7 function 4
viaenv0 at viapm0
fxp0 at pci0 dev 8 function 0: i82559 Ethernet, rev 8
fxp0: interrupting at irq 10
fxp0: Ethernet address 00:06:29:6f:12:85
inphy0 at fxp0 phy 1: i82555 10/100 media interface, rev. 4
inphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
fxp1 at pci0 dev 9 function 0: i82559 Ethernet, rev 8
fxp1: interrupting at irq 11
fxp1: Ethernet address 00:04:ac:23:02:77
inphy1 at fxp1 phy 1: i82555 10/100 media interface, rev. 4
inphy1: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
isa0 at pcib0
lpt0 at isa0 port 0x378-0x37b irq 7
com0 at isa0 port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4: ns16550a, working fifo
com0: console
com1 at isa0 port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3: ns16550a, working fifo
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60-0x64
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
midi0 at pcppi0: PC speaker
spkr0 at pcppi0
sysbeep0 at pcppi0
isapnp0 at isa0 port 0x279: ISA Plug 'n Play device support
npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0-0xff: using exception 16
fdc0 at isa0 port 0x3f0-0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2
isapnp0: no ISA Plug 'n Play devices found
Kernelized RAIDframe activated
wd0 at atabus0 drive 0: <FUJITSU MPF3102AT>
wd0: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
wd0: 9773 MB, 19857 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 20015856 sectors
wd0: 32-bit data port
wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 4 (Ultra/66)
wd2 at atabus0 drive 1: <ST3802110A>
wd2: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA48 addressing
wd2: 76319 MB, 155061 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 156301488 
sectors
wd2: 32-bit data port
wd2: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100)
wd0(viaide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 4 (Ultra/66) (using DMA)
wd2(viaide0:0:1): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100) (using DMA)
wd1 at atabus1 drive 0: <ST310211A>
wd1: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
wd1: 9541 MB, 19386 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 19541088 sectors
wd1: 32-bit data port
wd1: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100)
wd3 at atabus1 drive 1: <IC35L060AVVA07-0>
wd3: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
wd3: 58644 MB, 119150 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 120103200 
sectors
wd3: 32-bit data port
wd3: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100)
wd1(viaide0:1:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100) (using DMA)
wd3(viaide0:1:1): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 5 (Ultra/100) (using DMA)
uplcom0 at uhub1 port 2
uplcom0: Prolific Technology Inc. USB-Serial Controller, rev 1.10/3.00, 
addr 2
ucom0 at uplcom0
raid1: RAID Level 1
raid1: Components: /dev/wd0a /dev/wd1a
raid1: Total Sectors: 19540864 (9541 MB)
raid0: RAID Level 1
raid0: Components: /dev/wd3a /dev/wd2a
raid0: Total Sectors: 120102912 (58644 MB)
boot device: raid1
root on raid1a dumps on raid1b
root file system type: ffs
wsdisplay0: screen 1 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 2 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 3 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
wsdisplay0: screen 4 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
---

-- 
Mark Cullen <mark.r.cullen@gmail.com>