Load is a measure of how many processes are running or runnable and is not directly related to % of CPU used. There are cases where Load average is through the roof but CPU % is very low, usually when when the server is having issues talking to NFS storage or accessing some kind of I/O resource.
We generally monitor load average based on number of CPUs in the box. Our standard is yellow at 1.5 * # CPUs and red at 2 * # CPUs. YMMV.
On Oct 8, 2008, at 5:16 PM, Gavin Leonard wrote:
I am getting pages from my hobbit server when some of my linux systems are hitting 15 on their load avg. does that equate to something worse than it sounds? Cause 15% load average on a linux system does not seem that bad? Or is it not a percentage?
Gavin Leonard
<image001.gif>
Director, Systems-Network Engineering
T
XXX-XXX-XXXX
F
XXX-XXX-XXXX
E
user-d65663809eb4@xymon.invalid
Research | Marketing | Sales Generation
www.progrexion.com
This email and its contents are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, delete this email and do not use or disclose the information within this email or its attachments. Thank you.