[Orca-users] Interpreting kernel contention results

[Lester, Mike]

I am trying to drill down into what kernel contention is and how I
improve the situation.  Orca is monitoring an Oracle database server
running Solaris 9 with over 50 databases on it and I consistently see
Kernel contention on the System Overview Chart above 1.  The databases
are in a development environment and the vast majority are idle.  They
are accessed on an ad-hoc basis and are not all in use at one time.  
 
First of all, is this a problem or just the way a database server looks?
If I understand the description of kernel contention, this graph
indicates multiple processors are trying to access the same data.  More
processors would seem to make the problem worse.  Does anyone have any
words of wisdom for this behavior?  
 
Thanks
Mike
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