[plug] Load (overloading...)

[Russell Steicke]

On Tue, Sep 21, 2004 at 08:28:38PM +0800, Tim White wrote:
...
> similar to CPU usage but I'm not to sure anymore.
> What is the maximum load? That I also do not know.
> During my testing the loadavg got to 232.64, with 234 CPU intensive 
> processes. From this I could infer that the loadavg is the # of active 
> processes. Would I be correct?

I've always understood that load average is the number of process that
the scheduler thinks are ready to run as soon as the CPU is available,
averaged over some number of seconds.  ie processes that are not
sleeping, waiting for children, waiting for I/O, or zombies (and
probably some other states I've missed.)

There isn't really a limit to this number, except your patience and
the size of the process table.

> Just looking for some enlightenment and showing off what my 667Mhz P3 
> can do[1].
> BTW, I was very impressed with the way linux handeled the system under 
> such high load. I could still use terminals fine (X was a little bit 
> touch but still running) the slowest part was actually starting the 
> screen session at login (due to my .bashrc automatically opening a 
> screen session)

If they're just spinning in loops you'll be ok, it's just like you've
divided the CPU speed by the load average.  But add in some processes
doing heavy I/O and it'll look very different.



-- 
Russell Steicke

-- Fortune says:
Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be;
They are but broken lights of thee.
		-- Tennyson