[rhn-users] /usr/bin/top showing false values? (Reply includes some OT waffle.)

[rhn-users List Readers at Axoria Ltd]

On Fri, 2004-03-05 at 02:28, White, Shane wrote:

> I think you're showing 4 CPUs because of the hyepthreading feature of
> the Xeons.  We have a Dell server with 2 Xeons that show the same
> result.   You say in your follow-up email that you have disabled
> hyperthreading in the BIOS - why?

Yup, same here - although I have a single CPU showing as two.

Does the ES (available for 1-2 CPUs) run okay in this case, then?
Presumably the limitation for "1-2 CPUs" refers to physical CPUs.

My BIOS displays two (virtual) CPUs too, but I hear they really are just
virtual as a result of HT. Before I realised, I did remove the lid to
check I hadn't been supplied the wrong machine :)

>  
> As for the memory use, Linux grabs a lot of RAM even when it's not
> busy.  It will be available for applications if required.  

This is one of the things I like about Linux. I have a wide variety of
specs and find that my servers (not running X) tend to use "most" of the
RAM most of the time. The more the O.S. can grab to improve operational
efficiency, the better -- and it does -- and then once applications
start to need it, no problem. Even after being left running for months
or years, the machine is still happily ticking over with all the RAM
used and barely any swap at all, even despite fluctuating loads and
demands over time. All very sweet.

Some X-based _applications_ are a bit more leaky, though. Evolution
(yuk) and the RHEL stock text-editor (!) seem to leak like a sieve.
Restart those every few days. And I even restart X ever week or few. The
O.S. never seems to need rebooting. Hey, Linus... fancy rewriting X for
us, too? ;)


-- 
Best regards,
James.
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