From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 22 19:30:03 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 188A11065670 for ; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:30:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from feld@feld.me) Received: from mwi1.coffeenet.org (unknown [IPv6:2607:f4e0:100:300::2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B0FAF8FC0C for ; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:30:02 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=feld.me; s=blargle; h=In-Reply-To:Message-Id:From:Mime-Version:Date:References:Subject:To:Content-Type; bh=+SgJHp+7ujAVp9ig8MslFaNflz6huXj3j/HC5EUXaTw=; b=TG2KcBqHkT8mEQPxxkwaj+aZqmOkfLeJ42OIs9ZU05dgF4Mx1sMukWYKHadVDp/OpN7EOHqKieVxqf/9XIJVztA7LBMGB0NNScfQin+s8wH8CuTyDyRV7MzbwTmVtz29; Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=mwi1.coffeenet.org) by mwi1.coffeenet.org with esmtp (Exim 4.76 (FreeBSD)) (envelope-from ) id 1R6oy9-000KIO-53 for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:30:02 -0500 Received: from feld@feld.me by mwi1.coffeenet.org (Archiveopteryx 3.1.3) with esmtpsa id 1316719795-70120-70119/4/6; Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:29:55 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:29:55 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 From: Mark Felder Message-Id: In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Opera Mail/11.51 (Linux) X-SA-Score: -1.0 Subject: Re: load average with multi-core CPU's X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:30:03 -0000 On Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:22:43 -0500, Henry M 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%. Does that make sense? Regards, Mark