Here is some more info for the system: uname -a Linux 2.6.35-24-virtual #42-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 2 05:15:26 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux free -m total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 15013 13626 1387 0 10 6252 -/+ buffers/cache: 7363 7649 Swap: 0 0 0 mysql> show global status; +-----------------------------------+--------------+ | Variable_name | Value | +-----------------------------------+--------------+ | Aborted_clients | 10 | | Aborted_connects | 13 | | Binlog_cache_disk_use | 0 | | Binlog_cache_use | 0 | | Bytes_received | 130917748045 | | Bytes_sent | 463004385200 | | Com_admin_commands | 1243499 | | Com_assign_to_keycache | 0 | | Com_alter_db | 0 | | Com_alter_db_upgrade | 0 | | Com_alter_event | 0 | | Com_alter_function | 0 | | Com_alter_procedure | 0 | | Com_alter_server | 0 | | Com_alter_table | 0 | | Com_alter_tablespace | 0 | | Com_analyze | 0 | | Com_backup_table | 0 | | Com_begin | 48696103 | | Com_binlog | 0 | | Com_call_procedure | 0 | | Com_change_db | 1382874 | | Com_change_master | 0 | | Com_check | 0 | | Com_checksum | 0 | | Com_commit | 48695901 | | Com_create_db | 0 | | Com_create_event | 0 | | Com_create_function | 0 | | Com_create_index | 156 | | Com_create_procedure | 0 | | Com_create_server | 0 | | Com_create_table | 515 | | Com_create_trigger | 0 | | Com_create_udf | 0 | | Com_create_user | 1 | | Com_create_view | 0 | | Com_dealloc_sql | 402 | | Com_delete | 59004 | | Com_delete_multi | 3 | | Com_do | 0 | | Com_drop_db | 0 | | Com_drop_event | 0 | | Com_drop_function | 0 | | Com_drop_index | 0 | | Com_drop_procedure | 0 | | Com_drop_server | 0 | | Com_drop_table | 3 | | Com_drop_trigger | 0 | | Com_drop_user | 0 | | Com_drop_view | 0 | | Com_empty_query | 0 | | Com_execute_sql | 402 | | Com_flush | 0 | | Com_grant | 1 | | Com_ha_close | 0 | | Com_ha_open | 0 | | Com_ha_read | 0 | | Com_help | 0 | | Com_insert | 721842 | | Com_insert_select | 223 | | Com_install_plugin | 0 | | Com_kill | 0 | | Com_load | 78 | | Com_load_master_data | 0 | | Com_load_master_table | 0 | | Com_lock_tables | 108 | | Com_optimize | 0 | | Com_preload_keys | 0 | | Com_prepare_sql | 402 | | Com_purge | 0 | | Com_purge_before_date | 0 | | Com_release_savepoint | 0 | | Com_rename_table | 0 | | Com_rename_user | 0 | | Com_repair | 0 | | Com_replace | 0 | | Com_replace_select | 0 | | Com_reset | 0 | | Com_restore_table | 0 | | Com_revoke | 0 | | Com_revoke_all | 0 | | Com_rollback | 57 | | Com_rollback_to_savepoint | 0 | | Com_savepoint | 0 | | Com_select | 66737457 | | Com_set_option | 2408764 | | Com_show_authors | 0 | | Com_show_binlog_events | 0 | | Com_show_binlogs | 4 | | Com_show_charsets | 1 | | Com_show_collations | 1 | | Com_show_column_types | 0 | | Com_show_contributors | 0 | | Com_show_create_db | 0 | | Com_show_create_event | 0 | | Com_show_create_func | 0 | | Com_show_create_proc | 0 | | Com_show_create_table | 19284 | | Com_show_create_trigger | 0 | | Com_show_databases | 86 | | Com_show_engine_logs | 0 | | Com_show_engine_mutex | 0 | | Com_show_engine_status | 1602 | | Com_show_events | 0 | | Com_show_errors | 0 | | Com_show_fields | 26700 | | Com_show_function_status | 0 | | Com_show_grants | 1 | | Com_show_keys | 1482 | | Com_show_master_status | 2 | | Com_show_new_master | 0 | | Com_show_open_tables | 0 | | Com_show_plugins | 6 | | Com_show_privileges | 0 | | Com_show_procedure_status | 0 | | Com_show_processlist | 1636 | | Com_show_profile | 0 | | Com_show_profiles | 0 | | Com_show_slave_hosts | 0 | | Com_show_slave_status | 2 | | Com_show_status | 1859 | | Com_show_storage_engines | 0 | | Com_show_table_status | 19287 | | Com_show_tables | 1152 | | Com_show_triggers | 19284 | | Com_show_variables | 1689 | | Com_show_warnings | 0 | | Com_slave_start | 0 | | Com_slave_stop | 0 | | Com_stmt_close | 402 | | Com_stmt_execute | 402 | | Com_stmt_fetch | 0 | | Com_stmt_prepare | 402 | | Com_stmt_reprepare | 0 | | Com_stmt_reset | 0 | | Com_stmt_send_long_data | 0 | | Com_truncate | 78 | | Com_uninstall_plugin | 0 | | Com_unlock_tables | 5748 | | Com_update | 1962434 | | Com_update_multi | 144 | | Com_xa_commit | 0 | | Com_xa_end | 0 | | Com_xa_prepare | 0 | | Com_xa_recover | 0 | | Com_xa_rollback | 0 | | Com_xa_start | 0 | | Compression | OFF | | Connections | 438401 | | Created_tmp_disk_tables | 3574469 | | Created_tmp_files | 5 | | Created_tmp_tables | 3839283 | | Delayed_errors | 0 | | Delayed_insert_threads | 0 | | Delayed_writes | 0 | | Flush_commands | 1 | | Handler_commit | 118272996 | | Handler_delete | 19369 | | Handler_discover | 0 | | Handler_prepare | 0 | | Handler_read_first | 984869 | | Handler_read_key | 1388536135 | | Handler_read_next | 1685040901 | | Handler_read_prev | 16148 | | Handler_read_rnd | 140349027 | | Handler_read_rnd_next | 2596062021 | | Handler_rollback | 186 | | Handler_savepoint | 0 | | Handler_savepoint_rollback | 0 | | Handler_update | 2905636 | | Handler_write | 269203343 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_data | 153732 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_dirty | 407 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_flushed | 1635974 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_free | 0 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_misc | 6268 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_pages_total | 160000 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_read_ahead_rnd | 39328 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_read_ahead_seq | 15053 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_read_requests | 7279234546 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_reads | 1134380 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_wait_free | 0 | | Innodb_buffer_pool_write_requests | 18677824 | | Innodb_data_fsyncs | 2386609 | | Innodb_data_pending_fsyncs | 0 | | Innodb_data_pending_reads | 1 | | Innodb_data_pending_writes | 0 | | Innodb_data_read | 52827901952 | | Innodb_data_reads | 1539734 | | Innodb_data_writes | 3506209 | | Innodb_data_written | 55904710656 | | Innodb_dblwr_pages_written | 1635974 | | Innodb_dblwr_writes | 44931 | | Innodb_log_waits | 0 | | Innodb_log_write_requests | 2810654 | | Innodb_log_writes | 2109312 | | Innodb_os_log_fsyncs | 2135437 | | Innodb_os_log_pending_fsyncs | 0 | | Innodb_os_log_pending_writes | 0 | | Innodb_os_log_written | 2284036096 | | Innodb_page_size | 16384 | | Innodb_pages_created | 18239 | | Innodb_pages_read | 3223977 | | Innodb_pages_written | 1635974 | | Innodb_row_lock_current_waits | 0 | | Innodb_row_lock_time | 72242 | | Innodb_row_lock_time_avg | 178 | | Innodb_row_lock_time_max | 6586 | | Innodb_row_lock_waits | 404 | | Innodb_rows_deleted | 19165 | | Innodb_rows_inserted | 337311 | | Innodb_rows_read | 4517083981 | | Innodb_rows_updated | 2405610 | | Key_blocks_not_flushed | 0 | | Key_blocks_unused | 107112 | | Key_blocks_used | 3183 | | Key_read_requests | 765666162 | | Key_reads | 4039 | | Key_write_requests | 199358206 | | Key_writes | 4245 | | Last_query_cost | 0.000000 | | Max_used_connections | 364 | | Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 | | Open_files | 179 | | Open_streams | 0 | | Open_table_definitions | 822 | | Open_tables | 1024 | | Opened_files | 14388742 | | Opened_table_definitions | 44124 | | Opened_tables | 55783 | | Prepared_stmt_count | 0 | | Qcache_free_blocks | 12896 | | Qcache_free_memory | 174807008 | | Qcache_hits | 105237204 | | Qcache_inserts | 66041432 | | Qcache_lowmem_prunes | 3518039 | | Qcache_not_cached | 665042 | | Qcache_queries_in_cache | 36407 | | Qcache_total_blocks | 86899 | | Queries | 276447147 | | Questions | 276447147 | | Rpl_status | NULL | | Select_full_join | 875327 | | Select_full_range_join | 107 | | Select_range | 1729489 | | Select_range_check | 0 | | Select_scan | 156437 | | Slave_open_temp_tables | 0 | | Slave_retried_transactions | 0 | | Slave_running | OFF | | Slow_launch_threads | 0 | | Slow_queries | 63 | | Sort_merge_passes | 0 | | Sort_range | 17579089 | | Sort_rows | 140903551 | | Sort_scan | 3547949 | | Ssl_accept_renegotiates | 0 | | Ssl_accepts | 0 | | Ssl_callback_cache_hits | 0 | | Ssl_cipher | | | Ssl_cipher_list | | | Ssl_client_connects | 0 | | Ssl_connect_renegotiates | 0 | | Ssl_ctx_verify_depth | 0 | | Ssl_ctx_verify_mode | 0 | | Ssl_default_timeout | 0 | | Ssl_finished_accepts | 0 | | Ssl_finished_connects | 0 | | Ssl_session_cache_hits | 0 | | Ssl_session_cache_misses | 0 | | Ssl_session_cache_mode | NONE | | Ssl_session_cache_overflows | 0 | | Ssl_session_cache_size | 0 | | Ssl_session_cache_timeouts | 0 | | Ssl_sessions_reused | 0 | | Ssl_used_session_cache_entries | 0 | | Ssl_verify_depth | 0 | | Ssl_verify_mode | 0 | | Ssl_version | | | Table_locks_immediate | 97160664 | | Table_locks_waited | 0 | | Tc_log_max_pages_used | 0 | | Tc_log_page_size | 0 | | Tc_log_page_waits | 0 | | Threads_cached | 55 | | Threads_connected | 209 | | Threads_created | 473 | | Threads_running | 3 | | Uptime | 260324 | | Uptime_since_flush_status | 260324 | +-----------------------------------+--------------+ 291 rows in set (0.00 sec)