Help Determinig Top Output

XaViaR · 02-13-2007, 02:13 PM

Hello,

I am running Fedora Core 6 (fully patched). Ever since I installed Fedora, I noticed my CPU idle is ~65-70% via top command. I am puzzled why it would be so low. Ususally, it is 99% idle when not being used. I noticed that 28.6% is being used by si. I don't know what si represents. I man'd top. And, I couldn't find si. (I guess I might have missed it).

Below is a capture of the output of my top command:

Cpu(s): 4.0%us, 1.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 65.8%id, 0.3%wa, 0.3%hi, 28.6%si, 0.0%st

Notes:
* After I installed Fedora, I turned off all those unneccessary services.
* My computer is idleing. (All the windows are closed i.e. firefox)

Can you help me find what service/command is using my CPU?

Thanks in advance for your help!

weibullguy · 02-13-2007, 02:40 PM

I believe si stands for 'swap in', the amount of memory swapped in from disk. But, I thought that was part of the vmstat output, not top. If you're using top, it should tell you what is using your CPU and memory. The bottom half of the top output has a list of processes:

Code:

  PID USER       PRI  NI SIZE  RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM   TIME COMMAND
 8532 weibullguy 16   0  1156 1156   912 R     0.5  0.4   0:11 top

XaViaR · 02-13-2007, 04:41 PM

Arow,

Below is the `top` command that was completed after a reboot. I waited 5 minutes just to make sure services finished running.

As you can see, my idle is 73.9% with a si of 24.1%. The top command does not show %CPU usage that will cause the idle to be lower than usuall and how do I find what is using si?

Below I also listed my free -m and vmstat outputs.

Thanks again for your help!

Code:

top - 16:29:20 up 5 min,  1 user,  load average: 0.23, 0.48, 0.26
Tasks:  91 total,   1 running,  89 sleeping,   0 stopped,   1 zombie
Cpu(s):  1.0%us,  0.7%sy,  0.0%ni, 73.9%id,  0.0%wa,  0.3%hi, 24.1%si,  0.0%st
Mem:    774924k total,   606848k used,   168076k free,    40912k buffers
Swap:  2096472k total,        0k used,  2096472k free,   419128k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                                                                         
 2527 username  15   0 41456  13m 9220 S  1.0  1.8   0:02.04 gnome-terminal                                                                                  
 2295 root      15   0  162m  10m 5152 S  0.7  1.4   0:07.01 Xorg                                                                                            
    1 root      15   0  2032  648  556 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.78 init                                                                                            
    2 root      RT   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/0                                                                                     
    3 root      39  19     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0                                                                                     
    4 root      RT   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 watchdog/0                                                                                      
    5 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.07 events/0                                                                                        
    6 root      19  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 khelper                                                                                         
    7 root      11  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kthread                                                                                         
   10 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kblockd/0                                                                                       
   11 root      20  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kacpid                                                                                          
   77 root      20  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 cqueue/0                                                                                        
   80 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 khubd                                                                                           
   82 root      18  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kseriod                                                                                         
  144 root      25   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 pdflush                                                                                         
  145 root      15   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.01 pdflush                                                                                         
  146 root      20  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kswapd0                                                                                         
  147 root      20  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 aio/0                                                                                           
  312 root      11  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kpsmoused                                                                                       
  329 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.08 kjournald                                                                                       
  357 root      11  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kauditd                                                                                         
  391 root      12  -4  2412  884  368 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.69 udevd                                                                                           
  851 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.01 kgameportd                                                                                      
 1394 root      20  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kmpathd/0                                                                                       
 1400 root      20  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kmirrord                                                                                        
 1421 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kjournald                                                                                       
 1423 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kjournald                                                                                       
 1823 root      21   0  2276  492  196 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 dhclient                                                                                        
 1900 root      15   0  1700  584  484 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.05 syslogd                                                                                         
 1904 root      15   0  1644  392  328 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.08 klogd                                                                                           
 1950 root      25   0  1488   92   48 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 vmnet-bridge                                                                                    
 1965 dbus      18   0  2708  932  700 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.05 dbus-daemon                                                                                     
 1976 root      15   0  1640  544  460 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 acpid                                                                                           
 1990 root      22   0  5172  924  612 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 sshd                                                                                            
 2008 ntp       15   0  4128 1260  972 S  0.0  0.2   0:00.00 ntpd                                                                                            
 2028 root      15   0  8584 1656  660 S  0.0  0.2   0:00.00 sendmail                                                                                        
 2036 smmsp     25   0  7560 1444  616 S  0.0  0.2   0:00.00 sendmail                                                                                        
 2048 root      24   0  1800  564  460 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 nasd                                                                                            
 2059 root      18   0  5224 1104  568 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 crond                                                                                           
 2094 xfs       17   0  4120 1952  780 S  0.0  0.3   0:00.02 xfs                                                                                             
 2126 root      15   0 48972  35m 3788 S  0.0  4.7   0:13.21 yum-updatesd                                                                                    
 2137 haldaemo  18   0  5392 3780 1668 S  0.0  0.5   0:02.44 hald                                                                                            
 2138 root      16   0  2976 1000  860 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.01 hald-runner                                                                                     
 2144 haldaemo  15   0  1968  792  704 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 hald-addon-acpi                                                                                 
 2152 haldaemo  15   0  1964  792  700 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 hald-addon-keyb                                                                                 
 2161 root      15   0  1920  620  544 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 hald-addon-stor                                                                                 
 2163 root      15   0  1924  712  636 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.01 hald-addon-stor                                                                                 
 2190 root      17   0  1624  428  372 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 mingetty                                                                                        
 2193 root      17   0  1628  428  372 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 mingetty                                                                                        
 2196 root      17   0  1628  428  372 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 mingetty                                                                                        
 2199 root      17   0  1624  424  372 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 mingetty                                                                                        
 2200 root      17   0  1624  428  372 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 mingetty                                                                                        
 2201 root      23   0  1624  428  372 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 mingetty                                                                                        
 2227 root      22   0  4484 1116  988 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 prefdm                                                                                          
 2230 root      24   0 15360 3556 2988 S  0.0  0.5   0:00.06 gdm-binary                                                                                      
 2291 root      15   0 15740 2772 2092 S  0.0  0.4   0:00.01 gdm-binary                                                                                      
 2316 username  15   0 22424 6776 5772 S  0.0  0.9   0:00.15 gnome-session                                                                                   
 2370 username  15   0  4288  496  256 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 ssh-agent                                                                                       
 2373 username  18   0  2736  624  508 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 dbus-launch                                                                                     
 2374 username  15   0  2708  952  736 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.02 dbus-daemon                                                                                     
 2380 username  18   0  7424 3908 1780 S  0.0  0.5   0:00.62 gconfd-2                                                                                        
 2383 username  19   0  2408  692  600 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 gnome-keyring-d                                                                                 
 2385 username  15   0 33360 7848 6508 S  0.0  1.0   0:00.17 gnome-settings-                                                                                 
 2402 username  15   0 16424 7612 6088 S  0.0  1.0   0:00.18 metacity                                                                                        
 2407 username  15   0 80068  11m 8784 S  0.0  1.5   0:00.65 gnome-panel                                                                                     
 2409 username  18   0  115m  16m  13m S  0.0  2.2   0:00.68 nautilus                                                                                        
 2413 username  18   0 38516 2876 2208 S  0.0  0.4   0:00.17 bonobo-activati                                                                                 
 2415 username  16   0 11160 3364 2832 S  0.0  0.4   0:00.01 gnome-vfs-daemo                                                                                 
 2420 username  20   0 44252 7884 6616 S  0.0  1.0   0:00.06 eggcups                                                                                         
 2423 username  23   0 22148 4680 3680 S  0.0  0.6   0:00.01 gnome-volume-ma                                                                                 
 2424 username  15   0 77192 6072 4600 S  0.0  0.8   0:00.06 gnome-power-man                                                                                 
 2432 username  18   0 24596  12m 7716 S  0.0  1.7   0:00.29 puplet                                                                                          
 2448 username  15   0 77420 9.8m 8536 S  0.0  1.3   0:00.12 nm-applet                                                                                       
 2449 username  15   0 87352  21m  11m S  0.0  2.8   0:02.33 beagled                                                                                         
 2451 username  15   0 14780 4328 3728 S  0.0  0.6   0:00.02 pam-panel-icon                                                                                  
 2454 root      15   0  1808  612  516 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 pam_timestamp_c                                                                                 
 2458 username  18   0  5896 1876 1548 S  0.0  0.2   0:00.00 escd                                                                                            
 2460 username  21   0     0    0    0 Z  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 netstat <defunct>                                                                               
 2473 username  15   0  2392 1092  904 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.01 gam_server                                                                                      
 2476 username  15   0 78856   9m 7848 S  0.0  1.3   0:00.23 wnck-applet                                                                                     
 2478 username  15   0  105m 8380 6896 S  0.0  1.1   0:00.10 trashapplet                                                                                     
 2491 username  15   0  2312  780  692 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 mapping-daemon                                                                                  
 2503 username  19   0 27836 9960 7868 S  0.0  1.3   0:00.11 clock-applet                                                                                    
 2514 username  15   0 22568 7376 6292 S  0.0  1.0   0:00.07 notification-ar                                                                                 
 2516 username  15   0 80440  11m 8608 S  0.0  1.5   0:00.21 mixer_applet2                                                                                   
 2524 username  15   0 15936 2068 1304 S  0.0  0.3   0:00.04 gnome-screensav                                                                                 
 2529 username  19   0  2312  624  532 S  0.0  0.1   0:00.00 gnome-pty-helpe                                                                                 
 2530 username  15   0  4624 1444 1160 S  0.0  0.2   0:00.05 bash                                                                                            
 2570 username  16   0 80992 6224 5112 S  0.0  0.8   0:00.06 evolution-data-                                                                                 
 2583 username  30  15 42328  18m 8172 S  0.0  2.4   0:05.68 beagled-helper                                                                                  
 2612 username  15   0  2164  992  784 R  0.0  0.1   0:00.02 top

command: free -m

Code:

            total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           756        748          7          0          4        564
-/+ buffers/cache:        180        576
Swap:         2047          0       2047

command: vmstat

Code:

procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- -----cpu------
 r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   so    bi    bo   in   cs us sy id wa st
 0  0    328   8140   4276 577636    0    0  2243    68 1067  441 18 23 50  8  0