I left it idle all saturday and just watched the top. Load average was between .5 and 1.5 at all times. Higher than I believe it should be but not terribly. This morning (sunday) I had it backup the SQL DB. This is what I recorded with top, iotop, and iostat.
To me it almost appears to be doing something else, such as buffer the data while the load average increases and then when it actually starts some I/O action the load begins to decreases. Hope this information is useful.
As for the log comment from dd. I’ll be looking into the next.
Top Information
ViCiCluster:~ # top c
top - 10:30:33 up 1 day, 7:59, 1 user, load average: 77.04, 52.31, 25.79
Tasks: 312 total, 1 running, 311 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu0 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu1 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu2 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni,100.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu3 : 0.0%us, 0.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id, 99.3%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu4 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu5 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni,100.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu6 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni,100.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu7 : 0.7%us, 1.6%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id, 97.7%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 12038M total, 4873M used, 7165M free, 167M buffers
Swap: 4101M total, 0M used, 4101M free, 3594M cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
16378 root 20 0 8992 1428 960 R 0 0.0 0:02.46 top c
27520 mysql 20 0 3933m 642m 6644 S 0 5.3 70:23.76 /usr/sbin/mysqld
1 root 20 0 36972 4172 2000 S 0 0.0 0:05.89 /sbin/init showop
2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 [kthreadd]
3 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.43 [ksoftirqd/0]
5 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 [kworker/u:0]
6 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 [migration/0]
7 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.34 [watchdog/0]
8 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 [migration/1]
10 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.51 [ksoftirqd/1]
Backup Failed, Second attempt
ViCiCluster:~ # top c
top - 10:39:47 up 1 day, 8:09, 3 users, load average: 24.47, 21.29, 20.13
Tasks: 198 total, 1 running, 197 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu0 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu1 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu2 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu3 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu4 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu5 : 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id,100.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu6 : 3.0%us, 0.4%sy, 0.0%ni, 96.6%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Cpu7 : 0.3%us, 0.3%sy, 0.0%ni, 0.0%id, 99.3%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 12038M total, 4632M used, 7405M free, 167M buffers
Swap: 4101M total, 0M used, 4101M free, 3463M cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
18157 root 20 0 61176 10m 3416 S 2 0.1 0:11.63 /usr/bin/python /
69 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:03.89 [kworker/1:2]
16378 root 20 0 8992 1428 960 R 0 0.0 0:03.60 top c
27520 mysql 20 0 3933m 648m 6644 S 0 5.4 71:13.38 /usr/sbin/mysqld
1 root 20 0 36972 4172 2000 S 0 0.0 0:05.91 /sbin/init showop
2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 [kthreadd]
3 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.43 [ksoftirqd/0]
5 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 [kworker/u:0]
6 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 [migration/0]
7 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.34 [watchdog/0]
iotop Information
While Load Average is increasing
ViCiCluster:~ # iotop
Total DISK READ: 0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE: 0.00 B/s
TID PRIO USER DISK READ DISK WRITE SWAPIN IO> COMMAND
1 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % init showopts
2 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kthreadd]
3 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/0]
5 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kworker/u:0]
6 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/0]
7 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/0]
8 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/1]
10 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/1]
11 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kworker/0:1]
12 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/1]
13 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/2]
15 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/2]
16 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/2]
17 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/3]
19 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/3]
20 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/3]
21 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/4]
23 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/4]
24 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/4]
25 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/5]
27 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/5]
28 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/5]
While Load Average is decreasing
ViCiCluster:~ # iotop
Total DISK READ: 0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE: 94.09 K/s
TID PRIO USER DISK READ DISK WRITE SWAPIN IO> COMMAND
338 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 54.89 K/s 0.00 % 72.70 % [jbd2/cciss!c0d0]
763 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 3.92 K/s 0.00 % 0.00 % rsyslogd ~yslog.conf
1 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % init showopts
2 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kthreadd]
3 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/0]
5 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kworker/u:0]
6 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/0]
7 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/0]
8 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/1]
10 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/1]
11 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kworker/0:1]
12 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/1]
13 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/2]
15 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/2]
16 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/2]
17 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/3]
19 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/3]
20 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/3]
21 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/4]
23 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/4]
24 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/4]
25 rt/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [migration/5]
iostat Information
ViCiCluster:~ # iostat -x
Linux 3.1.10-1.16-default (ViCiCluster) 02/17/13 _x86_64_ (8 CPU)
avg-cpu: %user %nice %system %iowait %steal %idle
0.76 0.00 0.13 5.44 0.00 93.67
Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rkB/s wkB/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await r_await w_await svctm %util
cciss/c0d0 0.04 2.86 0.19 2.05 20.91 65.06 76.60 10.63 4010.17 195.10 4370.00 153.84 34.53