* Paul Sommer (newsreply@paul-sommer.de) [031117 14:56]: > Hi there, > > this is nor really a problem, but I'm curious about what the system load > exactly is. > > The following scenario happens several times an hour: > > xosview and gkrellm meters say: CPU load is about 25% to 50%, disk and swap > activity is low, even Network traffic is low, but the load starts > increasing more and more up to 2 or even 3. After a short while things > becom normal ahain. > > I should mention that I'm using vmware and a with a TV timetable prpgramm > which is programmed quite ugly. > To me ist is obvious that this programk causes the strange behaviour. But > what exactly is happening here? I have not found any source of > enlightenment how the load is calculated. > The displaied value is correct, as the system (1,5 GHz Athlon) does > noticeable slow down. > > Please share your wisdom with me :-) The numbers you see when you run top, uptime, etc. labeled "load average" refer to the number of processes in the run queue, averaged over the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes. So if you have 2 or 3 processes running at a time, your load will go up to 2 or 3. This isn't necessarily correlated with your CPU usage, but it can still be a useful statistic to monitor. good times, Vineet -- http://www.doorstop.net/ -- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin
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