Utilization Statistic Definition

The per virtual CPU utilization statistic (UTIL) is shown by the ldm list -l command. The statistic is the percentage of time that the virtual CPU spends executing on behalf of the guest domain OS. A virtual CPU is considered to be executing on behalf of the guest domain OS except when the virtual CPU yields to the hypervisor.

Note:

The CPU utilization (UTIL) for an active domain that has a single CPU is 100% regardless of load.

The utilization statistic reported for a logical domain is the average of the virtual CPU utilizations for the virtual CPUs in the domain. The per-virtual-CPU utilization statistic is averaged over a 20-second interval. The logical domain utilization statistic is computed over a 10-second interval.

The normalized utilization statistic (NORM) is the percentage of time the virtual CPU spends executing on behalf of the guest domain OS. This value reflects the effect of CPUs running at lower frequency due to power management. Normalized virtualization is only available when your system runs at least version 8.2.0 of the system firmware.

When CPU power management is enabled, the utilization of CPUs is monitored and the effective frequency is adjusted in response to the workload. A guest domain that does not yield to the hypervisor and uses its full CPU cycles to run at full frequency has a normalized utilization of 100%. A guest domain that has a lower workload still uses its CPUs, but they run at a lower effective frequency. The normalized utilization of such a guest domain reports a lower percentage. Thus, normalized utilization is processor-dependent and can vary on different platforms. Use the ldm list or ldm list -l command to show normalized utilization for both virtual CPUs and the guest domain OS.