
This is also true for multiple processors. For example, a load average of 1.5 in a single CPU system indicates that one-third of the CPU instructions are forced to wait to be executed until the one preceding it has completed. A load average of less than one means that the CPU is underutilized and a load average of greater than 1 means that the CPU is overutilized and that there is pent-up, unsatisfied demand.
This means that the CPU is keeping up exactly with the demand in other words it has perfect utilization. So this is a true measure of CPU performance, unlike the standard "CPU percentage" which includes I/O wait times during which the CPU is not really working.įor example, a fully utilized single processor system CPU would have a load average of 1. Load averages are an important criteria for measuring CPU usage, but what does this really mean when I say that the 1 (or 5 or 10) minute load average is 4.04, for example? Load average can be considered a measure of demand for the CPU it is a number that represents the average number of instructions waiting for CPU time.

Load averagesīefore I go on to discuss the monitoring tools, it is important to discuss load averages in more detail. All provide near real-time views of system activity. Some monitor other aspects of a Linux system as well. For me, these are top, atop, htop, and glances.Īll of these tools monitor CPU and memory usage, and most of them list information about running processes at the very least. My go to tools for problem determination in a Linux environment are almost always the system monitoring tools. If I did not cover your favorite tool, please forgive me and let us all know what tools you use and why in the comments section. This article concentrates on the tools that I typically use.

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