Linux – Load on linux system is High but CPU is idle

linux

On one of CentOS server i found that load is around 10 , vmstat output says a large number of process are in blocking state. In top command output, cpu is almost 70% idel. What i conclude from my investigation that may be a large number of process saturated system . Now i decided to limit nproc by making entries in /etc/security/limits.conf

Am i on right track of troubleshooting ?

Best Answer

What are you actually trying to achieve? I'd guess the issue is most likely due to large amounts of I/O. Either way, I'd be slow to jump on ulimits as the solution to your issue, unless you're absolutely certain that the issue is someone spawning large numbers of processes, that you don't mind being killed.