Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 14:13:19 -0600 (CST) From: Alex Charalabidis <alex@wnm.net> To: Systems Technician <systech@maui.net> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: high load averages on mail server Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.4.05.10002091336550.16136-100000@earth.wnm.net> In-Reply-To: <20000209114921.C17536@fw.wintelcom.net>
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On Wed, 9 Feb 2000, Alfred Perlstein wrote: > * Systems Technician <systech@maui.net> [000209 11:38] wrote: > > Aloha, > > > > I'm stumped! Here's what I got FreeBSD 3.4 running Sendmail 8.9.3 > > and Cucipop for POP. (I've tried qpopper and no noticeable difference.) > > Anyhow, my load averages just skyrocket from 8 - 5pm, especially in the morning > > when people are checking their email at work or home. I attached a print out > > of 'w', 'top', 'vmstat 1', and 'systat -vm 1'. > > > > You pretty much nailed it on the head, you have... > > > PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE TIME WCPU CPU COMMAND > > 53298 xxxxxxx 91 0 1188K 852K RUN 0:22 29.02% 26.76% cucipop > > 53391 root 57 0 1860K 1016K RUN 0:03 9.46% 6.15% top > > 53508 xxxxxxx 92 0 1128K 792K RUN 0:01 17.88% 4.64% cucipop > > 107 root 2 0 6904K 6348K select 2:28 1.61% 1.61% named > > what seems to be some pretty CPU intensive pop3 daemons running, not > only that but a whole bunch of them. Load avg is some mystical calculation > involving how much contention for reasources there is on the machine. > > you have contention. > > there may be a more effecient pop3 daemon you might want to try, either > that or get more CPU and better disks. > The time of day during which it happens is the tell-tale sign. Your problem is most likely to be clueness business users who never delete their mail from the server and check it every minute. You need to impose quotas or ruthlessly wipe those 50MB mailboxes full of baby pictures and Valentines from 1997. I can testify from experience that talking sense to them will accomplish little. :) Cucipop tends to eat fewer resources than qpopper but a couple of enormous mailboxes checked at short intervals will drive either one sky-high. -ac -- ============================================================== Alex Charalabidis (AC8139) 5050 Poplar Ave, Ste 170 Systems Administrator Memphis, TN 38157 WebNet Memphis (901) 432 6000 ============================================================== To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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