The load average is the average system load on a Linux server for a defined period of time. In other words, it is the CPU demand of a server that includes sum of the running and the waiting threads. … These numbers are the averages of the system load over a period of one, five, and 15 minutes.

What is a good load average Linux?

In practice, many sysadmins will draw a line at 0.70: The “Need to Look into it” Rule of Thumb: 0.70 If your load average is staying above > 0.70, it’s time to investigate before things get worse. The “Fix this now” Rule of Thumb: 1.00. If your load average stays above 1.00, find the problem and fix it now.

What does load average mean?

The load average represents the average system load over a period of time. It conventionally appears in the form of three numbers which represent the system load during the last one-, five-, and fifteen-minute periods.