Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 06:54:52 +1000 (EST) From: Ian Smith <smithi@nimnet.asn.au> To: Vivek Khera <khera@kciLink.com> Cc: stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Odd Load average problem Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.1000908064743.20849C-100000@gaia.nimnet.asn.au> In-Reply-To: <14775.65131.298732.839601@onceler.kciLink.com>
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On Thu, 7 Sep 2000, Vivek Khera wrote: > >>>>> "IS" == Ian Smith <smithi@nimnet.asn.au> writes: > > IS> For what it's worth, I've noticed this occasionally over a couple of > IS> years on a 2.2.6 box; same, seems like 1.00 has been added to the load > IS> average, lasts for hours, goes away. Thought it'd be fixed ages ago :) > > There was a big discussion about this on the bsdi-users mailing list a > year or so ago. The gist of the problem was that on x86 architecture, > you don't have enough timers to measure the system without affecting > the system. Something about needing to make the resolution of the > measuring timer be relatively prime to the scheduling timer. Thus, it > is possible for the two logical timers to get in sync and artifically > increase the load. Usually running some CPU intensive job breaks the > synchronization. Guess that makes some sort of sense. Oddly maybe, I most often noticed this after running top just after an /etc/daily /etc/security run, one of the few times of day that the l.a. ever gets past 1 around here .. > This is from memory, so may be slightly inaccurate, and may not apply > to FreeBSD, though I suspect it does considering the issue was with > the hardware capabilities. A mystery it remains. Not one I've been too stressed about, but still. Thanks, Ian To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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