Server is dying please HELP!! WA time at 100%

gazj · 2007-12-11 00:11:52

Hi

Could really do with some help on this one

My server keeps coming to a standstill with top showing 100% wa time (which i belive is the cpu waiting for i/o)

I have got a feeling it's something to do with one of my hd's

I am really lost, any idea's ??

gazj · 2007-12-11 00:28:07

ok a bit more info

if i stop the nfsd daemon cpu time returns to normal

if i restart nfsd all is fine

if i start the mpd daemon (this is not on the server it's on a workstation, the files mpd uses are on the nfs filesystem) the cpu time on the server goes all to wa time again.

if i then stop mpd daemon wa remains at 100% until the nfsd is restarted.

Just browsing around the nfs filesystem on the workstation seems fine. I have had this setup porbably 12 to 18 mths no probs.

Any ideas??

gazj · 2007-12-11 00:33:24

forget most of that last post

it is all local to the server

if i copy a big file the wa time goes sky high again. (this source and destination are on the same disc)

any ideas guys and gels, much appreciated

gazj · 2007-12-11 00:46:20

almost certain this is my second disk now sdb

if i run df -h in /

it runs through sda really quickly, but when it gets to sdb it really is not happy

rhfrommn · 2007-12-11 16:56:34

This is not much help, but after reading your posts I agree you are on the right track with blaming the freeze on your hard drive sdb.

Unfortunately, troubleshooting I/O problems is a pretty big topic and there's no quick hint I can give to fix it. I'd start by checking any config files related to your drives (grep sdb /etc/* to find them) to see if settings for sda and sdb are different. You could also try replacing the drive, then cable, then controller for that 2nd drive and see if any of those swaps improves performance, indicating a hardware problem.

gazj · 2007-12-11 19:04:20

thanks, i think it's the disk, sda is on the same ide cable as sdb. I have put a third disc in sdc and started copying the essential files across.

sda is arch, sdb was mounted as data, and had apache webpages my home directories for my workstations etc on it. It was only a couple of hundred meg, but has taken all day, sdc is now mounted under data.

Unfortunately there is about 9 gig of music on sdb which fortunately i mostly have ripped from cd. Unfortunatly thou after taking all day to copy just a few hundred meg, i plan to copy just the albums i don't have on cd before the drive dies completely.

I think when i get a new disc i will get 2 and software raid them. i was lucky this time

Arch Linux

#1 2007-12-11 00:11:52

Server is dying please HELP!! WA time at 100%

#2 2007-12-11 00:28:07

Re: Server is dying please HELP!! WA time at 100%

#3 2007-12-11 00:33:24

Re: Server is dying please HELP!! WA time at 100%

#4 2007-12-11 00:46:20

Re: Server is dying please HELP!! WA time at 100%

#5 2007-12-11 16:56:34

Re: Server is dying please HELP!! WA time at 100%

#6 2007-12-11 19:04:20

Re: Server is dying please HELP!! WA time at 100%

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