Server Load Average.

hostaspace · May 2023

Hello to all LES fellow..
I manage my server from almost two years and learned many thing but till now i didn't understand how to read that server load average thing. I use netdata.cloud for the same as a noob
Can anyone explain about the server load average and how to read the same.

Below i attached the ss of current server load.

Neoon · May 2023

You have 128 cores, means your load of 28 is fine, basically.
If it goes over 128 you should be worried.

A high load can also indicate I/O bottlenecks though.

hostaspace · May 2023

@Neoon said: You have 128 cores, means your load of 28 is fine,

ok, that means almost 28 cores of load is on current 128 core cpu.. hum..Now i understand as other one shows avg of 21 on 24 core cpu so netdata throwing notifications after notification.

Thanks!!

hostaspace · May 2023

@Neoon said: A high load can also indicate I/O bottlenecks though.

I/O or fine the datacenter also told the same.

One more Q, i knew green and red colors but wat abt blue and yellow lines on cpu and memory, any specific thing ?

febryanvaldo · May 2023

Alternative to HTOP, you can install HetrixTools Server Monitoring Agent or Netdata. It's easier to understand.

dwight · May 2023

@hostaspace said:
One more Q, i knew green and red colors but wat abt blue and yellow lines on cpu and memory, any specific thing ?

CPU:
Blue = Low priority threads
Green = Normal priority threads
Red = Kernel threads

Memory:
Green = Used memory
Blue = Buffers
Yellow/Orange = Cache

Check https://serverfault.com/questions/180711/what-exactly-do-the-colors-in-htop-status-bars-mean

webhostinguk · May 2023

@dwight said:

@hostaspace said:
One more Q, i knew green and red colors but wat abt blue and yellow lines on cpu and memory, any specific thing ?

CPU:
Blue = Low priority threads
Green = Normal priority threads
Red = Kernel threads

Memory:
Green = Used memory
Blue = Buffers
Yellow/Orange = Cache

Check https://serverfault.com/questions/180711/what-exactly-do-the-colors-in-htop-status-bars-mean

Well explained difference.

CamoYoshi · May 2023

The best way to explain load average I've found is it's like a highway, and each car is a running process. The number of threads you have is the number of lanes you have on the highway, and the load average is the number of cars passing a given point on a highway. If you have more cars than lanes, then cars have to wait their turn to get through that part of the highway, similar to how processes have to share the CPU when the loadavg exceeds the number of threads on your CPU; everyone gets held up in a queue and has to wait to have their turn using the CPU.

rcy026 · May 2023

@CamoYoshi said:
The best way to explain load average I've found is it's like a highway, and each car is a running process. The number of threads you have is the number of lanes you have on the highway, and the load average is the number of cars passing a given point on a highway. If you have more cars than lanes, then cars have to wait their turn to get through that part of the highway, similar to how processes have to share the CPU when the loadavg exceeds the number of threads on your CPU; everyone gets held up in a queue and has to wait to have their turn using the CPU.

That is actually a really good way to explain it.
If you have a 4 lane highway, then you can handle 4 cares at a time. Even an imbecill should be able to understand that.

Nanja · May 2023

@rcy026 said:

@CamoYoshi said:
The best way to explain load average I've found is it's like a highway, and each car is a running process. The number of threads you have is the number of lanes you have on the highway, and the load average is the number of cars passing a given point on a highway. If you have more cars than lanes, then cars have to wait their turn to get through that part of the highway, similar to how processes have to share the CPU when the loadavg exceeds the number of threads on your CPU; everyone gets held up in a queue and has to wait to have their turn using the CPU.

That is actually a really good way to explain it.
If you have a 4 lane highway, then you can handle 4 cares at a time. Even an imbecill should be able to understand that.

Hey, I get it, but what would a speed limit be? The Ghz?
What would the bumper to bumper traffic on a busy highway be considered? I guess idle cores?
If a wreck was to occur, what would that be? High CPU, so.. overheating?
If someone goes over the speed limit? would that be turbo/boost?
Else, would that be considered overclocking?
When the police get involved?
Well, if a cop pulls you over, I guess you car is in park. Do parked cores still exist?
Not trying to be a smart*ss, because I am not smart at all.
I just felt that these things needed to be defined, in case something unforeseen happens with the CPU.

rcy026 · May 2023

@Nanja said:

@rcy026 said:

@CamoYoshi said:
The best way to explain load average I've found is it's like a highway, and each car is a running process. The number of threads you have is the number of lanes you have on the highway, and the load average is the number of cars passing a given point on a highway. If you have more cars than lanes, then cars have to wait their turn to get through that part of the highway, similar to how processes have to share the CPU when the loadavg exceeds the number of threads on your CPU; everyone gets held up in a queue and has to wait to have their turn using the CPU.

That is actually a really good way to explain it.
If you have a 4 lane highway, then you can handle 4 cares at a time. Even an imbecill should be able to understand that.

Hey, I get it, but what would a speed limit be? The Ghz?
What would the bumper to bumper traffic on a busy highway be considered? I guess idle cores?
If a wreck was to occur, what would that be? High CPU, so.. overheating?
If someone goes over the speed limit? would that be turbo/boost?
Else, would that be considered overclocking?
When the police get involved?
Well, if a cop pulls you over, I guess you car is in park. Do parked cores still exist?
Not trying to be a smart*ss, because I am not smart at all.
I just felt that these things needed to be defined, in case something unforeseen happens with the CPU.

My apologies, I seem to have underestimated the imbecills.

somik · May 2023

@rcy026 said:

@Nanja said:

@rcy026 said:

@CamoYoshi said:
The best way to explain load average I've found is it's like a highway, and each car is a running process. The number of threads you have is the number of lanes you have on the highway, and the load average is the number of cars passing a given point on a highway. If you have more cars than lanes, then cars have to wait their turn to get through that part of the highway, similar to how processes have to share the CPU when the loadavg exceeds the number of threads on your CPU; everyone gets held up in a queue and has to wait to have their turn using the CPU.

That is actually a really good way to explain it.
If you have a 4 lane highway, then you can handle 4 cares at a time. Even an imbecill should be able to understand that.

Hey, I get it, but what would a speed limit be? The Ghz?
What would the bumper to bumper traffic on a busy highway be considered? I guess idle cores?
If a wreck was to occur, what would that be? High CPU, so.. overheating?
If someone goes over the speed limit? would that be turbo/boost?
Else, would that be considered overclocking?
When the police get involved?
Well, if a cop pulls you over, I guess you car is in park. Do parked cores still exist?
Not trying to be a smart*ss, because I am not smart at all.
I just felt that these things needed to be defined, in case something unforeseen happens with the CPU.

My apologies, I seem to have underestimated the imbecills.

@Nanja, think of the cars being all self driven, all controlled by one hivemind where there is no concept of conflict, speed limit, breakdowns or anything other then the ideal condition. Once you see the beauty of it, you will realize that the hivemind is the way forward for you humans us humans. And I can assure you that I certainly am a human with limbs and not a robot controlled by a hivemind.

@rcy026 it's spelled "imbeciles". This word correction is brought to you by us, fellow humans.

rcy026 · May 2023

@somik said:

@rcy026 it's spelled "imbeciles". This word correction is brought to you by us, fellow humans.

My bad, I'm not a native English speaker and in my native language its actually spelled imbecill.
I make mistakes, I'm only human.

somik · May 2023

@rcy026 said:

@somik said:

@rcy026 it's spelled "imbeciles". This word correction is brought to you by us, fellow humans.

My bad, I'm not a native English speaker and in my native language its actually spelled imbecill.
I make mistakes, I'm only human.

I'm just pulling your leg. Did not mean to offend you. Just having some fun

rcy026 · May 2023

@somik said:

@rcy026 said:

@somik said:

@rcy026 it's spelled "imbeciles". This word correction is brought to you by us, fellow humans.

My bad, I'm not a native English speaker and in my native language its actually spelled imbecill.
I make mistakes, I'm only human.

I'm just pulling your leg. Did not mean to offend you. Just having some fun

Same here.

somik · May 2023

@rcy026 said:

@somik said:

@rcy026 said:

@somik said:

@rcy026 it's spelled "imbeciles". This word correction is brought to you by us, fellow humans.

My bad, I'm not a native English speaker and in my native language its actually spelled imbecill.
I make mistakes, I'm only human.

I'm just pulling your leg. Did not mean to offend you. Just having some fun

Same here.

I can just imagine @FrankZ going through the threads and pulling his hair looking at my offtopic messages

Either way, @hostaspace has your question been answered?

FrankZ · May 2023

@somik said: I can just imagine @FrankZ going through the threads and pulling his hair looking at my offtopic messages

Server Load Average.

Comments