| 1 | <!--startmeta |
| 2 | custom_edit_url: "https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/src/collectors/proc.plugin/integrations/system_load_average.md" |
| 3 | meta_yaml: "https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/src/collectors/proc.plugin/metadata.yaml" |
| 4 | sidebar_label: "System Load Average" |
| 5 | learn_status: "Published" |
| 6 | learn_rel_path: "Collecting Metrics/Collectors/Operating Systems" |
| 7 | keywords: ['load', 'load average'] |
| 8 | message: "DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY, IT IS GENERATED BY THE COLLECTOR'S metadata.yaml FILE" |
| 9 | endmeta--> |
| 10 | |
| 11 | # System Load Average |
| 12 | |
| 13 | |
| 14 | <img src="https://netdata.cloud/img/linuxserver.svg" width="150"/> |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Plugin: proc.plugin |
| 18 | Module: /proc/loadavg |
| 19 | |
| 20 | <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/maintained%20by-Netdata-%2300ab44" /> |
| 21 | |
| 22 | ## Overview |
| 23 | |
| 24 | The `/proc/loadavg` file provides information about the system load average. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | The load average is a measure of the amount of computational work that a system performs. It is a |
| 27 | representation of the average system load over a period of time. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | This file contains three numbers representing the system load averages for the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes, |
| 30 | respectively. It also includes the currently running processes and the total number of processes. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Monitoring the load average can be used for: |
| 33 | |
| 34 | - **System performance**: If the load average is too high, it may indicate that your system is overloaded. |
| 35 | On a system with a single CPU, if the load average is 1, it means the single CPU is fully utilized. If the |
| 36 | load averages are consistently higher than the number of CPUs/cores, it may indicate that your system is |
| 37 | overloaded and tasks are waiting for CPU time. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | - **Troubleshooting**: If the load average is unexpectedly high, it can be a sign of a problem. This could be |
| 40 | due to a runaway process, a software bug, or a hardware issue. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | - **Capacity planning**: By monitoring the load average over time, you can understand the trends in your |
| 43 | system's workload. This can help with capacity planning and scaling decisions. |
| 44 | |
| 45 | Remember that load average not only considers CPU usage, but also includes processes waiting for disk I/O. |
| 46 | Therefore, high load averages could be due to I/O contention as well as CPU contention. |
| 47 | |
| 48 | |
| 49 | |
| 50 | |
| 51 | This collector is supported on all platforms. |
| 52 | |
| 53 | This collector only supports collecting metrics from a single instance of this integration. |
| 54 | |
| 55 | |
| 56 | ### Default Behavior |
| 57 | |
| 58 | #### Auto-Detection |
| 59 | |
| 60 | This integration doesn't support auto-detection. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | #### Limits |
| 63 | |
| 64 | The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection. |
| 65 | |
| 66 | #### Performance Impact |
| 67 | |
| 68 | The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system. |
| 69 | |
| 70 | ## Setup |
| 71 | |
| 72 | |
| 73 | ### Prerequisites |
| 74 | |
| 75 | No action required. |
| 76 | |
| 77 | ### Configuration |
| 78 | |
| 79 | #### Options |
| 80 | |
| 81 | |
| 82 | |
| 83 | There are no configuration options. |
| 84 | |
| 85 | |
| 86 | |
| 87 | #### via File |
| 88 | |
| 89 | There is no configuration file. |
| 90 | |
| 91 | ##### Examples |
| 92 | There are no configuration examples. |
| 93 | |
| 94 | |
| 95 | |
| 96 | ## Alerts |
| 97 | |
| 98 | |
| 99 | The following alerts are available: |
| 100 | |
| 101 | | Alert name | On metric | Description | |
| 102 | |:------------|:----------|:------------| |
| 103 | | [ load_cpu_number ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/load.conf) | system.load | number of active CPU cores in the system | |
| 104 | | [ load_average_15 ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/load.conf) | system.load | system fifteen-minute load average | |
| 105 | | [ load_average_5 ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/load.conf) | system.load | system five-minute load average | |
| 106 | | [ load_average_1 ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/load.conf) | system.load | system one-minute load average | |
| 107 | | [ active_processes ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/processes.conf) | system.active_processes | system process IDs (PID) space utilization | |
| 108 | |
| 109 | |
| 110 | ## Metrics |
| 111 | |
| 112 | Metrics grouped by *scope*. |
| 113 | |
| 114 | The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels. |
| 115 | |
| 116 | |
| 117 | |
| 118 | ### Per System Load Average instance |
| 119 | |
| 120 | |
| 121 | |
| 122 | This scope has no labels. |
| 123 | |
| 124 | Metrics: |
| 125 | |
| 126 | | Metric | Dimensions | Unit | |
| 127 | |:------|:----------|:----| |
| 128 | | system.load | load1, load5, load15 | load | |
| 129 | | system.active_processes | active | processes | |
| 130 | |
| 131 |