root@host [/etc]# iostat -xkLinux 2.6.32-279.19.1.el6.x86_64 (host.superhostsite.com)       01/13/2013      _x86_64_        (24 CPU)avg-cpu:  %user   %nice %system %iowait  %steal   %idle          12.53    0.19    3.72    0.18    0.00   83.38Device:         rrqm/s   wrqm/s     r/s     w/s    rkB/s    wkB/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz   await  svctm  %utilsda               0.24   252.39   13.95    4.24   381.61  1026.56   154.88     1.35   73.99   1.67   3.04sdb               0.00    12.88   62.55  134.82   755.65  1146.14    19.27     0.82    4.17   0.10   1.92sdc               0.01   129.31   28.19  298.49   451.10  1711.38    13.24     0.21    0.63   0.05   1.75root@host [/etc]# mount/dev/sda3 on / type ext4 (rw,noatime,noload,data=ordered,commit=10)proc on /proc type proc (rw)sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,rootcontext=system_u:object_r:tmpfs_t:s0)/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext4 (rw)/dev/sdb1 on /home2 type ext2 (rw,noatime)/dev/sdc1 on /home3 type ext4 (rw,noatime,noload,data=ordered,commit=10)none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)/usr/tmpDSK on /tmp type ext3 (rw,noexec,nosuid,loop=/dev/loop0)/tmp on /var/tmp type none (rw,noexec,nosuid,bind)root@host [/etc]#1026 wKB/s and 73 seconds wait. What is being written there? It makes the whole server slow.SDA is the only drive that is not SSD. This could be the bottle neck.One approach I am thinking is to do solution in How to know recently updated filesHowever, sda, being the root, is mounted at /there are files in sdb and sdc that are written but I don't care about them.iotop -o -a yieldsTotal DISK READ: 1314.41 K/s | Total DISK WRITE: 3.58 M/s  TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN     IO>    COMMAND13266 be/4 root          0.00 B      2.22 M  0.00 %  0.67 % [flush-8:16]  880 be/3 root          0.00 B    144.00 K  0.00 %  0.61 % [jbd2/sda3-8] 1778 be/4 root          0.00 B      0.00 B  0.00 %  0.08 % [kjournald]  940 be/4 root          0.00 B   1024.00 K  0.00 %  0.04 % [flush-8:32]26823 be/4 nudenude     24.00 K    300.00 K  0.00 %  0.01 % php /home2/nudenude/public_html/hello/index.php 1775 be/0 root          0.00 B     56.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % [loop0]27273 be/4 nudenude      8.00 K    360.00 K  0.00 %  0.01 % [php]  128 be/4 root          0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % [sync_supers] 8414 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL24938 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL24997 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     16.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL25068 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     12.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL25070 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     12.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL25074 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     16.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL25075 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL25076 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL 4215 be/4 root          0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % whostmgrd - serving 139.193. --llu=1357836602 --listen=3,4,5,6,7,8 4117 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     12.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL21264 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL25398 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17226 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL21331 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL21332 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17290 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17296 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL  938 be/4 root          0.00 B     24.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % [flush-8:0]17358 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL21467 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     20.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17372 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL21470 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL21471 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     16.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17377 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17381 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17465 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     12.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17467 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17483 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17492 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17501 be/4 nobody        0.00 B     12.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17507 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      4.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL17509 be/4 nobody        0.00 B      8.00 K  0.00 %  0.00 % httpd -k start -DSSL
What files are being updated or written in /dev/sda?
devices
You want to use find as specified in your link, but with an additional -mount flag, that will restrict find to the current filesystem, and ignore any others.-mount  Don't descend directories on other  filesystems.    An  alternate            name  for  -xdev,  for compatibility with some other versions of            find.