whatis load-average
Load Average
Three numbers showing the average count of runnable or waiting processes over the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes.
What Is Load Average in Linux?
Shown by uptime and top, load average counts processes running on or waiting for a CPU, plus those in uninterruptible sleep (usually waiting on disk I/O). It is not a percentage.
Compare it to your CPU count from nproc. A load of 4 on a 4-core machine means fully busy; 8 means work is queuing. High load with low CPU use usually points to slow storage or NFS.
Example
uptime
# load average: 0.52, 0.61, 0.70
nprocLearn more about Load Average
- Understanding Load Average on Linux Load average is one of the most misread numbers in Linux administration. This guide explains what it actually measures, why Linux counts differently from other Unix systems, and how to judge whether a load average is actually a problem.
- The uptime Command Explained uptime is the fastest way to check how long a Linux system has been running and how busy it is. This guide covers reading its output, the three load average numbers, and how uptime relates to system reboots and patching.
- CPU Monitoring on Linux A practical guide to monitoring CPU usage on Linux, covering top, htop, and mpstat, how to read user/system/wait time breakdowns, per-core versus aggregate views, and identifying whether a bottleneck is CPU-bound or I/O-bound.