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    High CPU usage after upgrading to 2.7.1 Community Edition in XenServer

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Virtualization
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    • Cool_CoronaC
      Cool_Corona @DrydenK 0
      last edited by

      @DrydenK-0 I cant give you good arguments. Odd things happen when memory and disk is low/small. Try it.

      D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • D
        DrydenK 0 @Cool_Corona
        last edited by

        @Cool_Corona

        I tried reinstalling the VM from scratch and then reloading it with my setup. The result is still the same high load.

        Since it was just a reload away, I tried increasing memory to 4GB (I had already used 10gb for disk). Still, no change as seen below.

        Also, to isolate if it's something in my setup, I did a new install and checked top before setting anything. With pfSense still on the initial setup web page, I went to the command line and ran 'top -HaSP'. Even with nothing set, the result was still the same with a very high interrupt load.

        Since no one else seems to be seeing this, my conclusion is that it may be something related to virtualization in Citrix-Xen.

        top -HaSPb
        last pid: 98295; load averages: 0.33, 0.17, 0.07 up 0+00:01:50 11:24:26
        310 threads: 5 running, 278 sleeping, 27 waiting
        CPU 0: 7.9% user, 0.1% nice, 0.0% system, 47.3% interrupt, 44.7% idle
        CPU 1: 9.2% user, 0.0% nice, 0.0% system, 37.3% interrupt, 53.5% idle
        CPU 2: 8.0% user, 0.0% nice, 0.0% system, 44.1% interrupt, 47.9% idle
        CPU 3: 10.4% user, 0.0% nice, 0.0% system, 38.5% interrupt, 51.1% idle
        Mem: 114M Active, 84M Inact, 236M Wired, 3478M Free
        ARC: 109M Total, 20M MFU, 85M MRU, 158K Anon, 593K Header, 3260K Other
        86M Compressed, 190M Uncompressed, 2.22:1 Ratio
        Swap: 1024M Total, 1024M Free

        PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND
        11 root 187 ki31 0B 64K CPU1 1 1:48 100.00% [idle{idle: cpu1}]
        11 root 187 ki31 0B 64K CPU0 0 1:49 98.97% [idle{idle: cpu0}]
        11 root 187 ki31 0B 64K RUN 3 1:45 98.97% [idle{idle: cpu3}]
        11 root 187 ki31 0B 64K CPU2 2 1:36 98.97% [idle{idle: cpu2}]
        0 root -16 - 0B 1536K swapin 3 0:44 0.00% [kernel{swapper}]

        stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @DrydenK 0
          last edited by

          @DrydenK-0 said in High CPU usage after upgrading to 2.7.1 Community Edition:

          it may be something related to virtualization in Citrix-Xen.

          Yes that seems likely. Do you see this on a clean install of a new VM with something close to the default config?

          D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • D
            DrydenK 0 @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10

            VERY default. As I said, i went to the console with pfSense still in the initial setup page, so no setting made at all.

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            • stephenw10S stephenw10 moved this topic from General pfSense Questions on
            • I
              ichor99
              last edited by ichor99

              We can also confirm that we are observing the same behavior after the upgrade to 2.7.1.

              Running XenServer as well (8.2.1)

              top -HaSPb
              last pid: 23570; load averages: 0.24, 0.25, 0.17 up 0+13:10:50 00:03:38
              239 threads: 5 running, 187 sleeping, 47 waiting
              CPU 0: 0.1% user, 0.1% nice, 0.0% system, 17.9% interrupt, 81.9% idle
              CPU 1: 0.1% user, 0.1% nice, 0.0% system, 12.6% interrupt, 87.3% idle
              CPU 2: 0.1% user, 0.1% nice, 0.0% system, 13.3% interrupt, 86.5% idle
              CPU 3: 0.1% user, 0.1% nice, 0.0% system, 13.4% interrupt, 86.4% idle
              Mem: 94M Active, 220M Inact, 315M Wired, 124M Buf, 5284M Free
              Swap: 1024M Total, 1024M Free

              We can confirm that the interrupts are not showing up on the host server. The high interrupt is only reflected in the VM.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                But you do see CPU usage like OP shows in the first post?

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  What do you see causing the interrupt load in vmstat -i?

                  D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • D
                    DrydenK 0 @stephenw10
                    last edited by stephenw10

                    @stephenw10

                    ]/root: vmstat -i
                    interrupt                          total       rate
                    irq1: atkbd0                           2          0
                    irq15: ata1                       111765          1
                    irq23: uhci0                          16          0
                    cpu0:xen                        10385530         61
                    cpu1:xen                         8100717         48
                    cpu2:xen                         7320906         43
                    cpu3:xen                         7430090         44
                    irq2096: cpu0:r                     1031          0
                    irq2097: cpu0:itlb                236290          1
                    irq2098: cpu0:b                  4252302         25
                    irq2102: cpu1:r                     1309          0
                    irq2103: cpu1:itlb                235826          1
                    irq2104: cpu1:b                  4563379         27
                    irq2108: cpu2:r                      373          0
                    irq2109: cpu2:itlb                234740          1
                    irq2110: cpu2:b                  4808132         28
                    irq2114: cpu3:r                      224          0
                    irq2115: cpu3:itlb                235961          1
                    irq2116: cpu3:b                  4736445         28
                    irq2120: xen_et0:c0              2678328         16
                    irq2121: xen_et0:c1              1831505         11
                    irq2122: xen_et0:c2              1881594         11
                    irq2123: xen_et0:c3              1869526         11
                    irq2124: xenstore0                   824          0
                    irq2129: xbd0                    2762175         16
                    irq2130: xn0                      507745          3
                    irq2131: xn0                      609115          4
                    irq2132: xn0                      418078          2
                    irq2133: xn0                     1492607          9
                    Total                           66706535        392
                    
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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Hmm, nothing that would normally worry me.... 🤔

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • I
                        ichor99
                        last edited by stephenw10

                        This is vmstat -i for us:

                        vmstat -i

                        interrupt                          total       rate
                        irq1: atkbd0                           2          0
                        irq15: ata1                        73032          1
                        irq23: uhci0                          16          0
                        cpu0:xen                        38060450        345
                        cpu1:xen                        39683377        359
                        cpu2:xen                        35947584        325
                        cpu3:xen                        35061579        317
                        irq2096: cpu0:r                     1627          0
                        irq2097: cpu0:itlb                379625          3
                        irq2098: cpu0:b                 12717262        115
                        irq2102: cpu1:r                     2726          0
                        irq2103: cpu1:itlb                375826          3
                        irq2104: cpu1:b                 12093642        109
                        irq2108: cpu2:r                     1270          0
                        irq2109: cpu2:itlb                373779          3
                        irq2110: cpu2:b                 13025219        118
                        irq2114: cpu3:r                     1244          0
                        irq2115: cpu3:itlb                373885          3
                        irq2116: cpu3:b                 12454464        113
                        irq2120: xen_et0:c0              1486542         13
                        irq2121: xen_et0:c1              1224535         11
                        irq2122: xen_et0:c2              1217963         11
                        irq2123: xen_et0:c3              1213515         11
                        irq2124: xenstore0                 20877          0
                        irq2129: xbd0                      83349          1
                        irq2130: xn0                    11538967        104
                        irq2131: xn0                     8785273         80
                        irq2132: xn0                    13063677        118
                        irq2133: xn0                    16360612        148
                        irq2134: xn1                     8424918         76
                        irq2135: xn1                     7869522         71
                        irq2136: xn1                     6623171         60
                        irq2137: xn1                     7929750         72
                        irq2138: xn2                     1668062         15
                        irq2139: xn2                     1563326         14
                        irq2140: xn2                     1591044         14
                        irq2141: xn2                     1444504         13
                        irq2142: xn3                     1827567         17
                        irq2143: xn3                     2453480         22
                        irq2144: xn3                          29          0
                        irq2145: xn3                         232          0
                        irq2146: xn4                      579364          5
                        irq2147: xn4                      794470          7
                        irq2148: xn4                      514168          5
                        irq2149: xn4                      970528          9
                        irq2150: xn5                       57959          1
                        irq2151: xn5                       53901          0
                        irq2152: xn5                       61069          1
                        irq2153: xn5                      151422          1
                        Total                          300200405       2718
                        
                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          sknigen
                          last edited by

                          There is already a discussion on this topic here https://forum.netgate.com/topic/184245/high-interrupt-cpu-usage-in-v2-7-1/7
                          After upgrading to 2.7.2 nothing has changed. The problem only appears on Xen, on ESXi everything is fine.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            @sknigen said in High CPU usage after upgrading to 2.7.1 Community Edition in XenServer:

                            https://forum.netgate.com/topic/184245/high-interrupt-cpu-usage-in-v2-7-1/7

                            Ah, better to use that thread going forward then.

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