From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Feb 12 00:44:52 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83A06106566C; Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:44:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from asmtpout027.mac.com (asmtpout027.mac.com [17.148.16.102]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6ABDD8FC08; Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:44:52 +0000 (UTC) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Received: from cswiger1.apple.com ([17.209.4.71]) by asmtp027.mac.com (Oracle Communications Messaging Exchange Server 7u4-18.01 64bit (built Jul 15 2010)) with ESMTPSA id <0LGH0038FBEGUK40@asmtp027.mac.com>; Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:44:41 -0800 (PST) X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=fsecure engine=2.50.10432:5.2.15,1.0.148,0.0.0000 definitions=2011-02-11_09:2011-02-11, 2011-02-11, 1970-01-01 signatures=0 X-Proofpoint-Spam-Details: rule=notspam policy=default score=0 spamscore=0 ipscore=0 suspectscore=2 phishscore=0 bulkscore=0 adultscore=0 classifier=spam adjust=0 reason=mlx engine=6.0.2-1012030000 definitions=main-1102110155 From: Chuck Swiger In-reply-to: <20110212004100.GA98882@freebsd.org> Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:44:40 -0800 Message-id: <2325F972-050A-4CA2-9900-27000776E52A@mac.com> References: <20110212002129.GA95360@freebsd.org> <2F104DA0-9420-4E7A-9023-A7C6AC5EC173@mac.com> <20110212004100.GA98882@freebsd.org> To: Alexander Best X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1082) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: deciphering top(1) output X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:44:52 -0000 On Feb 11, 2011, at 4:41 PM, Alexander Best wrote: >> It means (c). Kernel activity, short-lived transient processes, and imperfections in sampling data are the other ~13 / 10 %.... > > thanks. it seems in some cases these imperfections have quite an impact: > > last pid: 48135; load averages: 5.11, 5.38, 5.02 up 0+03:15:20 19:31:52 > 271 processes: 15 running, 242 sleeping, 14 waiting > CPU 0: 76.4% user, 0.0% nice, 21.7% system, 2.0% interrupt, 0.0% idle > CPU 1: 85.0% user, 0.0% nice, 12.6% system, 2.4% interrupt, 0.0% idle > Mem: 1078M Active, 334M Inact, 403M Wired, 79M Cache, 212M Buf, 68M Free > Swap: 18G Total, 438M Used, 18G Free, 2% Inuse > > PID UID THR PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND > 48131 0 1 77 0 92112K 67164K CPU1 1 0:02 17.77% cc1 > 48135 0 1 76 0 90992K 65712K RUN 0 0:01 15.87% cc1 Sure. Compiling software is a classic example where lots and lots of CPU intensive, short-lived processes are started. Pay attention to last pid field; if it is steadily growing, especially at a rapid rate, lots of processes are spawning.... Regards, -- -Chuck