You might be familiar with Linux load averages already. Load averages are the three numbers shown with the
uptime
and
top
commands - they look like this:
load average: 0.09, 0.05, 0.01
Most people have an inkling of what the load averages mean: the three
numbers represent averages over progressively longer periods of time
(one, five, and fifteen minute averages), and that lower numbers are
better. Higher numbers represent a problem or an overloaded machine.
But, what's the the threshold? What constitutes "good" and "bad" load
average values? When should you be concerned over a load average value,
and when should you scramble to fix it ASAP?
First, a little background on what the load average values mean.
We'll start out with the simplest case: a machine with one single-core
processor.