Comment 28 for bug 721896

I can confirm. This also affects Ubuntu Linux 10.04.3 kernel: 2.6.32-34-server #77-Ubuntu SMP. The symptoms are the same.
When applications are using only swap the disk start working like crazy. Also everything that works on the machine slows down thereby. Even simple tasks like ls take 20 min. Not to mention every day work on the server, it's impossible to open any type of connection to it.