HP -UX CPU 100% usage

[juan cevallos]

I work as internal System auditor for Banco del Pichincha in Ecuador (south america) where we have a Superdome processor with IBM TX-series. Our engineer IT area has been monitoring the system and found this last month some peaks of 90% of CPU usage. I need to know if there is no risk for integrity information in case of system breakdown, because of 100% cpu usage.

[Michael Tully]

I see no great problem with odd spikes of 90% CPU or higher. But in saying that, this will depend on the frequency and quality of the monitoring tool being used. If you know what is occuring at that time, like batch runs etc, you may need to look at spreading the load of the batch. As far as reliability is concerned, the hardware will cope quite well with load.

[juan cevallos]

Thanks for your reply.
We have aditional problem. we have a very bad system time response. We have over 250 branch offices with more than 5000 points of contact connected to superdome and it is a real problem.

[Michael Tully]

Well in order to assist further, perhaps we can get some stats.

printscreen of 'top -h'

sar -d 5 1

swapinfo -tam

[Bill Hassell]

100% CPU usage is just fine since your system has asked to do a lot of work. There is nothing wrong with 100% usage. Now whether the application programs are working efficiently or the operating system and the applications have been configured to maximize performance, there is no simple answer. The machine is a large scale computer with a lot of connections so analyzing what it is currently doing and what can be changed to improve performance will require GlancePlus and Measureware and the help of an HP-UX performance specialist. You could try to figure it out yourself with the help of the HP-UX performance book: HP-UX 11i Tuning and Performance (2nd Edition)
by Bob Sauers and others.