2.4.7, 2.4.4 VM swaps out unnecessarily

Simon Kirby (sim@netnation.com)
Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:19:51 -0700


I'm developing an application which, when run, reads a large amount of
sequential data from disk for processing. The average data set does not
fit in cache (128MB box). When my application runs, X becomes very jumpy
and I'm not able to even load new terminals without having to wait 5-10
seconds. This didn't happen with 2.2, and it's quite frustrating.

IDE 5400 RPM disk, hdparm -u 1 -d 1 -c 1, Celeron 500. "vmstat 1" shows
the machine swapping out like crazy, and processes getting blocked. I'm
not sure where the out blocks are coming from as my program writes
absolutely nothing until right at the end.

procs memory swap io system cpu
r b w swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
0 1 0 0 3684 23120 35028 11 4 356 6 133 677 2 1 97
1 0 0 0 3100 16080 42580 0 0 7552 0 324 1020 8 19 74
1 0 0 0 2800 7584 51620 0 0 10419 0 394 1191 5 16 79
1 0 0 0 2800 912 58508 0 0 10193 0 414 1202 4 13 83
1 0 0 0 2800 872 58548 0 0 5857 59 335 1004 3 8 89
1 0 0 25012 2800 912 58276 0 1468 3842 1481 274 918 2 8 90
1 0 0 26428 2800 948 61288 0 1980 3191 2001 262 884 1 8 91
1 0 1 27764 2800 976 63280 0 2892 2714 2893 255 866 2 4 94
0 1 1 29128 2732 1012 65960 0 2124 3608 2131 261 1007 1 6 93
0 1 1 32732 2800 1032 67420 0 2452 1801 2456 207 860 0 5 95
1 0 0 33400 2800 1060 69232 0 1868 3341 1876 253 868 0 6 94
0 1 1 33628 2760 1040 70424 0 660 7287 671 358 1124 2 13 85
1 0 0 34804 2800 1048 70912 0 428 4804 429 288 992 1 6 93
1 0 0 35376 2800 1088 71688 0 568 6257 570 328 1080 2 11 87
1 0 0 36288 2800 1072 72356 0 672 5625 675 329 1104 2 10 88
1 0 0 37360 2800 1076 72652 0 400 7616 418 349 1116 1 11 88
0 1 0 38036 2800 940 73344 0 1208 5741 1231 319 1112 2 8 90
1 0 0 38844 2800 988 73852 0 432 6991 432 355 1090 2 10 88
1 1 0 39372 2800 892 74916 0 656 3551 658 241 938 1 6 93
0 2 0 40264 2800 896 74900 36 368 1745 370 200 749 0 5 95
1 1 0 40808 2800 904 75212 0 1228 440 1334 217 662 0 1 99
0 1 0 41632 2800 932 76976 0 1228 3022 1269 229 858 0 1 99
0 6 1 43444 2620 956 78392 40 1936 2509 1936 468 1434 0 8 92
0 4 1 44460 2800 960 78384 0 1392 294 1392 564 1574 1 2 97
0 1 0 44604 2800 976 79980 0 960 1812 960 624 1687 5 8 87
1 0 0 45792 2800 996 81396 0 636 2981 638 477 1513 1 8 91
1 0 1 47072 2732 1012 82372 0 1540 2365 1550 276 953 0 7 93
1 0 0 47808 2800 988 82780 0 440 2918 440 272 848 1 5 94
1 0 0 48128 2800 964 84404 0 1416 2161 1416 252 1020 1 6 93
0 1 1 48336 2712 992 85768 0 1904 3504 1906 253 1050 0 5 95
0 1 0 48556 2800 996 86836 0 1432 3216 1435 257 1052 1 4 95
0 1 0 48620 2800 1008 87920 0 748 4053 764 320 1074 0 7 93
1 0 0 48684 2800 1020 88868 0 1064 4361 1064 362 1104 0 4 96
0 1 1 48836 2672 1036 89924 0 1732 4392 1734 296 1116 3 9 88
procs memory swap io system cpu
r b w swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
2 0 0 48848 2816 1024 91232 0 748 2460 749 257 960 0 5 95
0 1 1 48848 2800 1028 91220 0 1560 3097 1560 251 812 1 5 94
1 0 0 48876 2800 1036 92852 64 84 4476 84 284 881 1 5 94
1 0 0 48904 2800 1044 93616 0 932 4080 954 307 884 2 7 91
0 1 0 48952 2800 1048 94088 0 932 5166 932 322 1070 0 11 89
1 0 0 49000 2800 1064 95004 52 780 4410 782 307 1087 0 7 93
0 2 1 49000 2800 1072 95084 0 724 7159 724 367 1088 2 13 85
0 2 0 49044 2800 1072 95660 164 332 1430 365 223 724 1 5 94
0 1 0 49048 2800 1068 95828 48 704 4765 704 502 1513 3 8 89
0 3 0 49048 2800 1052 95880 412 0 7269 0 344 1067 2 13 85
1 2 0 49048 2800 1052 95408 484 0 1283 0 190 707 0 2 98
0 1 0 49048 2800 1048 95052 508 0 5970 0 301 985 4 9 87
1 0 0 49052 2800 1060 95816 0 932 5316 954 370 1190 1 7 92
0 1 0 49092 2800 1100 96440 0 644 5249 644 309 1064 4 6 90
1 0 0 49176 2800 1116 96480 0 372 4175 372 256 873 1 8 91
1 0 0 49276 2800 1152 97032 44 228 6791 229 384 1109 2 14 84
1 0 0 49344 2800 1172 97396 52 128 6284 136 319 970 5 13 82
1 0 0 49368 2800 1192 97784 456 0 7325 0 631 1620 2 12 86
1 0 0 49392 2800 1180 96692 692 0 1451 0 303 827 18 4 78
0 1 0 48788 2800 1180 96996 680 0 1157 0 254 859 17 0 83
1 1 0 48788 2800 1184 96396 428 0 1417 0 197 752 0 1 99
0 1 0 48788 2800 1164 94820 1480 0 1999 0 233 1201 2 1 97
0 3 0 48856 2800 1132 91952 1676 0 2182 0 254 1421 9 9 82
0 3 0 48916 2800 1112 90604 1364 0 2237 0 214 2125 4 6 90
0 0 0 48816 2800 1096 89384 1320 0 1739 0 181 1015 2 2 96
0 0 0 48816 2800 1096 89384 0 0 0 0 109 627 0 0 100
0 0 0 48816 2800 1096 89384 0 0 0 0 108 624 0 0 100
0 0 0 48816 2800 1096 89384 0 0 0 0 106 625 0 0 100
0 0 0 48816 2800 1096 89384 0 0 0 0 110 624 0 0 100

Simon-

[ Stormix Technologies Inc. ][ NetNation Communications Inc. ]
[ sim@stormix.com ][ sim@netnation.com ]
[ Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employers. ]
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