Load average and CPU load

Articles

• uptime, who, w — who is on the system and the load — Compare load average to the core count (nproc), not an absolute threshold — the three numbers mean nothing without it.
• System monitoring: where to start when the server is slow — The order of checks for "the server is slow": CPU, memory, disk, kernel and network — what shows each resource.
• Load average: how many tasks wait for the CPU and the disk — The average number of tasks that are running or waiting for a CPU (state R) and waiting for the kernel in uninterruptible sleep (state D), over 1, 5 and 15 minutes. Compare it with the CPU count from nproc.
• Processes — Viewing processes, signals and priorities; finding the processes that hog CPU or memory.
• ps — list processes — The ps command lists running processes with PID, owner, state, CPU and memory use, and the command line.
• top — processes and load in real time — The top program refreshes the process list, CPU load, memory and load average every few seconds.