I have taken delivery of two identically specced CentOS/cPanel servers, showing the same behaviour of a resting load average of 1.30, 1.21, 1.16 and yet the CPU is sitting 100% idle. Hardware: Xeon(R) CPU E3-1270 4GB RAM Behavior:- top shows CPU 99.9% idle virtually no disk IO Some command output :- uname -a Linux server.myserver.com 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5PAE #1 SMP Tue Apr 17 17:47:38 EDT 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux top top - 10:37:50 up 1:47, 1 user, load average: 1.28, 1.20, 1.17 Tasks: 199 total, 1 running, 198 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 0.0%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 99.9%id, 0.1%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st Mem: 4125104k total, 438764k used, 3686340k free, 25788k buffers Swap: 2096440k total, 0k used, 2096440k free, 291080k cached PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 1 root 15 0 2160 640 552 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.89 init 2 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0 3 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0 4 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/0 5 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/1 6 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/1 7 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/1 8 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/2 9 root 35 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/2 10 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/2 11 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/3 12 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/3 13 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/3 14 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/4 15 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/4 16 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/4 17 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/5 18 root 38 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/5 19 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/5 20 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/6 21 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/6 22 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/6 23 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/7 24 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/7 25 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/7 26 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:06.42 events/0 27 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/1 28 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/2 29 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/3 30 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/4 31 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/5 32 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/6 33 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/7 34 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 khelper 35 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthread 45 root 13 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/0 46 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/1 47 root 14 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/2 48 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/3 49 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/4 50 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/5 51 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/6 52 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd/7 53 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpid 189 root 11 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/0 190 root 11 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/1 191 root 12 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/2 192 root 12 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/3 193 root 13 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/4 194 root 13 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/5 195 root 14 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/6 196 root 14 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 cqueue/7 199 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 khubd ps axf PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND 1 ? Ss 0:00 init [3] 2 ? S< 0:00 [migration/0] 3 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0] 4 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/0] 5 ? S< 0:00 [migration/1] 6 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/1] 7 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/1] 8 ? S< 0:00 [migration/2] 9 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/2] 10 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/2] 11 ? S< 0:00 [migration/3] 12 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/3] 13 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/3] 14 ? S< 0:00 [migration/4] 15 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/4] 16 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/4] 17 ? S< 0:00 [migration/5] 18 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/5] 19 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/5] 20 ? S< 0:00 [migration/6] 21 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/6] 22 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/6] 23 ? S< 0:00 [migration/7] 24 ? SN 0:00 [ksoftirqd/7] 25 ? S< 0:00 [watchdog/7] 26 ? S< 0:06 [events/0] 27 ? S< 0:00 [events/1] 28 ? S< 0:00 [events/2] 29 ? S< 0:00 [events/3] 30 ? S< 0:00 [events/4] 31 ? S< 0:00 [events/5] 32 ? S< 0:00 [events/6] 33 ? S< 0:00 [events/7] 34 ? S< 0:00 [khelper] 35 ? S< 0:00 [kthread] 45 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/0] 46 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/1] 47 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/2] 48 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/3] 49 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/4] 50 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/5] 51 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/6] 52 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kblockd/7] 53 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kacpid] 189 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/0] 190 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/1] 191 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/2] 192 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/3] 193 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/4] 194 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/5] 195 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/6] 196 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cqueue/7] 199 ? S< 0:00 \_ [khubd] 201 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kseriod] 301 ? S 0:00 \_ [khungtaskd] 302 ? S 0:00 \_ [pdflush] 303 ? S 0:00 \_ [pdflush] 304 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kswapd0] 305 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/0] 306 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/1] 307 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/2] 308 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/3] 309 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/4] 310 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/5] 311 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/6] 312 ? S< 0:00 \_ [aio/7] 472 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kpsmoused] 551 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/0] 552 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/1] 553 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/2] 554 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/3] 555 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/4] 556 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/5] 557 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/6] 558 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata/7] 559 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ata_aux] 569 ? S< 0:00 \_ [scsi_eh_0] 570 ? S< 0:00 \_ [scsi_eh_1] 571 ? S< 0:00 \_ [scsi_eh_2] 572 ? S< 0:00 \_ [scsi_eh_3] 573 ? S< 0:00 \_ [scsi_eh_4] 574 ? S< 0:00 \_ [scsi_eh_5] 593 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kstriped] 630 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kjournald] 655 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kauditd] 1860 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/0] 1861 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/1] 1862 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/2] 1863 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/3] 1864 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/4] 1865 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/5] 1866 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/6] 1867 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpathd/7] 1868 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kmpath_handlerd] 1902 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kjournald] 1904 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kjournald] 1906 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kjournald] 1908 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kjournald] 1910 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kjournald] 2184 ? S< 0:00 \_ [iscsi_eh] 2288 ? S< 0:00 \_ [cnic_wq] 2298 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/0] 2299 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/1] 2300 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/2] 2301 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/3] 2302 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/4] 2303 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/5] 2304 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/6] 2305 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bnx2i_thread/7] 2330 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_addr] 2359 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_mcast] 2360 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_inform] 2361 ? S< 0:00 \_ [local_sa] 2371 ? S< 0:00 \_ [iw_cm_wq] 2381 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/0] 2382 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/1] 2383 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/2] 2384 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/3] 2385 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/4] 2386 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/5] 2387 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/6] 2388 ? S< 0:00 \_ [ib_cm/7] 2398 ? S< 0:00 \_ [rdma_cm] 2684 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bond0] 2882 ? S< 0:00 \_ [bond1] 3195 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/0] 3197 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/1] 3198 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/2] 3199 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/3] 3200 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/4] 3201 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/5] 3202 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/6] 3203 ? S< 0:00 \_ [kondemand/7] 688 ? S<s 0:00 /sbin/udevd -d 2425 ? S<Lsl 0:00 iscsiuio 2432 ? Ss 0:00 iscsid 2434 ? S<Ls 0:00 iscsid 3061 ? S<sl 0:00 auditd 3063 ? S<sl 0:00 \_ /sbin/audispd 3121 ? Ss 0:00 syslogd -m 0 3124 ? Ss 0:00 klogd -x 3220 ? Ss 0:00 irqbalance 3278 ? Ss 0:00 dbus-daemon --system 3324 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/acpid 3337 ? Ss 0:00 hald 3338 ? S 0:00 \_ hald-runner 3345 ? S 0:00 \_ hald-addon-acpi: listening on acpid socket /var/run/acpid.socket 3349 ? S 0:00 \_ hald-addon-keyboard: listening on /dev/input/event1 3360 ? S 0:00 \_ hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sr0 3413 ? Ssl 0:00 automount 3435 ? Ssl 0:00 /usr/sbin/named -u named 3466 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd 4072 ? Ss 0:00 \_ sshd: root@pts/0 4078 pts/0 Ss 0:00 \_ -bash 5436 pts/0 R+ 0:00 \_ ps axf 3484 ? Ss 0:00 xinetd -stayalive -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid 3500 ? SLs 0:00 ntpd -u ntp:ntp -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -g 3514 ? S 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --pid-file=/var/lib/mysql/server.myserver.com.pid 3575 ? Sl 0:00 \_ /usr/sbin/mysqld --basedir=/ --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --user=mysql --log-error=/var/lib/mysql/server.myserver.com.err --pid-fil 3687 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/exim -bd -q1h 3709 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/dovecot 3710 ? S 0:00 \_ dovecot-auth 3725 ? S 0:00 \_ pop3-login 3726 ? S 0:00 \_ pop3-login 3727 ? S 0:00 \_ imap-login 3728 ? S 0:00 \_ imap-login 3729 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4326 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/bin/perl /usr/local/cpanel/bin/leechprotect 4332 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4333 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4334 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4335 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4336 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4337 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4382 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4383 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 4384 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 5389 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 5390 ? S 0:00 \_ /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL 3741 ? Ss 0:00 pure-ftpd (SERVER) 3746 ? S 0:00 /usr/sbin/pure-authd -s /var/run/ftpd.sock -r /usr/sbin/pureauth 3759 ? Ss 0:00 crond 3772 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/atd 3909 ? S 0:00 cpsrvd (SSL) - waiting for connections 5435 ? Z 0:00 \_ [cpsrvd-ssl] <defunct> 3931 ? S 0:00 queueprocd - wait to process a task 3948 ? S 0:00 tailwatchd 3954 ? SN 0:00 cpanellogd - sleeping for logs 4003 ? Ss 0:00 ./nimbus /opt/nimsoft 4016 ? S 0:00 \_ nimbus(controller) 4053 ? Sl 0:00 \_ nimbus(spooler) 4066 ? S 0:00 \_ nimbus(hdb) 4069 ? S 0:00 \_ nimbus(cdm) 4070 ? S 0:00 \_ nimbus(processes) 4023 ? S 0:00 /usr/sbin/smartd -q never 4027 tty1 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty1 4028 tty2 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty2 4029 tty3 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty3 4030 tty4 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty4 4031 tty5 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty5 4033 tty6 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty6 4035 ttyS1 Ss+ 0:00 /sbin/agetty -h -L ttyS1 19200 vt100 vmstat 10 6 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 0 3718136 25684 257424 0 0 8 3 127 189 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 3718136 25700 257420 0 0 0 7 1013 1500 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 3718136 25700 257424 0 0 0 1 1013 1551 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 3718136 25700 257424 0 0 0 0 1012 1469 0 0 100 0 0 1 0 0 3712680 25716 257424 0 0 0 2 1013 1542 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 0 3718376 25740 257424 0 0 0 46 1017 1534 0 0 100 0 0 Can anyone advise me as to what is the cause of and how I may resolve this behaviour? A kernel/driver conflict perhaps? I don't see any processes in R or D state that might inflate the load averages artificially, I realise it may be considered low in an 8 thread system but its higher at idle than any normal behaviour I've previously come across. Thanks in advance for your time. Edit: iotop Total DISK READ: 0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE: 0.00 B/s TID PRIO USER DISK READ DISK WRITE SWAPIN IO> COMMAND 26 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.29 % [events/0] 3205 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.10 % [kondemand/2] 3208 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kondemand/5] 3209 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kondemand/6] 3207 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.10 % 0.00 % [kondemand/4] 3210 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kondemand/7] 3227 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % irqbalance 3288 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [rpciod/1] 3287 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [rpciod/0] 3206 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kondemand/3] 3069 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % auditd 3070 be/2 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % audispd 655 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kauditd] 3619 be/4 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % automount 3 be/7 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [ksoftirqd/0] 3068 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % auditd 29 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [events/3] 4 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/0] 7 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/1] 10 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/2] 13 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/3] 16 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/4] 19 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/5] 22 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/6] 25 rt/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [watchdog/7] 27 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [events/1] 28 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.29 % 0.00 % [events/2] 30 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [events/4] 31 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [events/5] 32 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [events/6] 33 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [events/7] 34 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [khelper] 35 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kthread] 45 be/3 root 0.00 B/s 0.00 B/s 0.00 % 0.00 % [kblockd/0]