CPU Usage on VM

[kcalderw]

We have a VM setup for our fileserver which houses all our home directories. Within the last week our CPU usage has skyrocketed and I cannot locate the cause. All the other VMs are operating under 5%. We only had about 40 concurrent client connections so there's no reason this should be happening. I even upped the processor count on this VM to 2. We ran all last year with the same server and had no issues.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5WwyYQ7JxrsR2JSOUE5dG5BdGs

 

Any suggestions?

[localzuk]

My first thought would be your anti-virus.

[kcalderw]

No A/V right now. Another person suggested event logs.

[Michael]

Are you running Server 2012 or Server 2012 R2? There's a well discussed issue with high CPU utilisation which (as far as I can tell), is linked to SMB 3.0. I'm unaware of anyone posting a proper fix for this.

[Michael]

Interestingly Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 Server are/will use the SMB 3.1.1 protocol, so it'll be interesting to see if this is still an issue when this goes RTM.

[truebluesteve]

We have a VM setup for our fileserver which houses all our home directories. Within the last week our CPU usage has skyrocketed and I cannot locate the cause. All the other VMs are operating under 5%. We only had about 40 concurrent client connections so there's no reason this should be happening. I even upped the processor count on this VM to 2. We ran all last year with the same server and had no issues.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5WwyYQ7JxrsR2JSOUE5dG5BdGs

 

Any suggestions?

 

Are you able to see any processes in task manager that might give a clue?

[kcalderw]

Yes, system is pegged at ~90% (see my screenshot in the first post). We do have our 10.9 Macs connecting to this fileshare, however this is the same setup as last year and we had no issues.

[Arthur]

Download Process Explorer to see what processes are running within the 'System' process in your screenshot.

[truebluesteve]

Ah sorry - didn't realise the link was a screenshot.

 

You could download and use perfmon which may give you an idea of what system process is hogging CPU time. There are loads of guides on the web, but this is quite good

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.08.pulse.aspx

[kcalderw]

Results from Process Explorer:

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5WwyYQ7JxrsYlRGejZhazc5YXc

[Arthur]

Results from Process Explorer:

Would it be possible to post a screenshot of Process Explorer's process tree? i.e.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8lycLBC.png

[kcalderw]

Here you go:

 

[Arthur]

Here you go:

Thanks. When you click on the [-] next to 'System' (at the top) what sub-processes are listed?

[kcalderw]

Nothing. If I go into the system process and pull up the threads, this is what is listed.

 

[kcalderw]

I worked with 3rd party support today and they mentioned dropping all our Mac clients down to SMB1. As a test he disconnected all sessions to the fileserver and the CPU usage did drop.

[Arthur]

I worked with 3rd party support today and they mentioned dropping all our Mac clients down to SMB1.

Which version(s) of OS X are your Macs running?

[kcalderw]

10.9.5

[kcalderw]

It was suggested we drop all our Macs down to SMB1.