Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:12:51 +0200 From: Damien Fleuriot <ml@my.gd> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: load average with multi-core CPU's Message-ID: <4E7C3F83.2050805@my.gd> In-Reply-To: <4E7BA1B8.5070109@estrads.com.ar> References: <CAK1r8CX_c3Rap4GfqbzV%2BA9QBaWq%2BwJ-h-K44gFVJYeS6wY=0w@mail.gmail.com> <op.v175r5oh34t2sn@cr48.lan> <4E7BA1B8.5070109@estrads.com.ar>
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On 9/22/11 10:59 PM, Rodrigo Gonzalez wrote: > On 09/22/2011 04:29 PM, Mark Felder wrote: >> On Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:22:43 -0500, Henry M <henry95@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> Can someone explain, or point me to correct documentation on what the >>> load >>> average on top/uptime is actually displaying? >> >> Load average is "average number of processes in the run queue" for the >> 1, 5, and 15 minute intervals. If you have a quad core CPU a 4.00 load >> average means you've been keeping the CPU busy at 100%. > Not exactly as I understand it....IO (disk, network or whatever) affects > it too... > It is the number of task waiting in queue to be run....but IO is > important...if 2 processes are waiting for IO and it is completely > saturated they will be kept in queue so load will get higher > I think there are other things that affect load average but are over my > current knowledge... > > Regards > > Rodrigo Gonzalez Actually, I could be wrong but that is the number of tasks both in the waiting *AND* the running queue.
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