thx a lot for your answer. i will provide some stats, so if you could help me figure out the source of the problem that would be great -top -c Tasks: 1220 total, 49 running, 1171 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 84.1%us, 2.8%sy, 0.0%ni, 12.3%id, 0.1%wa, 0.1%hi, 0.6%si, 0.0%st Mem: 98846996k total, 98632044k used, 214952k free, 134320k buffers Swap: 50331640k total, 116312k used, 50215328k free, 89445208k cached -SELECT count(procpid) FROM pg_stat_activity -> 422 -SELECT count(procpid) FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE (NOW() - query_start) > INTERVAL '1 MINUTES' AND current_query = '<IDLE>' -> 108 -SELECT count(procpid) FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE (NOW() - query_start) > INTERVAL '5 MINUTES' AND current_query = '<IDLE>' -> 45 -vmstat -n 1 10 procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- -----cpu------ r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa st 41 1 116300 347008 134176 89608912 0 0 143 210 0 0 11 1 88 0 0 20 0 116300 423556 134116 89581840 0 0 8336 3038 11118 21139 81 5 13 0 0 24 0 116300 412904 134108 89546840 0 0 8488 9025 10621 22921 81 4 15 0 0 23 0 116300 409388 134084 89513728 0 0 8320 548 11386 20226 82 4 14 0 0 34 0 116300 403688 134088 89509520 0 0 6336 0 9552 20994 83 3 14 0 0 22 1 116300 337972 134104 89518624 0 0 8792 28 8980 20455 83 4 13 0 0 37 0 116300 303956 134116 89528720 0 0 8440 536 9644 20492 84 3 13 0 0 17 1 116300 293212 134112 89532816 0 0 5864 8240 9527 19771 85 3 12 0 0 14 0 116300 282168 134116 89540720 0 0 7772 752 10141 21780 84 3 13 0 0 44 0 116300 278684 134100 89536080 0 0 7352 555 9856 21539 85 2 13 0 0 -vmstat -s 98846992 total memory 98685392 used memory 40342200 active memory 52644588 inactive memory 161604 free memory 129960 buffer memory 89421936 swap cache 50331640 total swap 116300 used swap 50215340 free swap 2258553017 non-nice user cpu ticks 1125281 nice user cpu ticks 146638389 system cpu ticks 17789847697 idle cpu ticks 83090716 IO-wait cpu ticks 5045742 IRQ cpu ticks 38895985 softirq cpu ticks 0 stolen cpu ticks 29142450583 pages paged in 42731005078 pages paged out 39784 pages swapped in 3395187 pages swapped out 1338370564 interrupts 1176640487 CPU context switches 1305704895 boot time 24471946 forks (after 30 sec) -vmstat -s 98846992 total memory 98367312 used memory 39959952 active memory 52957104 inactive memory 479684 free memory 129720 buffer memory 89410640 swap cache 50331640 total swap 116296 used swap 50215344 free swap 2258645091 non-nice user cpu ticks 1125282 nice user cpu ticks 146640181 system cpu ticks 17789863186 idle cpu ticks 83090856 IO-wait cpu ticks 5045855 IRQ cpu ticks 38896749 softirq cpu ticks 0 stolen cpu ticks 29142861271 pages paged in 42731249289 pages paged out 39784 pages swapped in 3395187 pages swapped out 1338808821 interrupts 1177463384 CPU context switches 1305704895 boot time 24472003 forks from the above -> context switches /s = (1177463384 - 1176640487)/30 = 27429 thx in advance for any advice -- View this message in context: http://postgresql.1045698.n5.nabble.com/heavy-load-high-cpu-itilization-tp4647751p4651856.html Sent from the PostgreSQL - performance mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- Sent via pgsql-performance mailing list (pgsql-performance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-performance