On Tue, May 07, 2002 at 08:17:11AM -1000, Joseph Dane wrote: > >>>>> "Kirk" == Kirk Strauser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > Kirk> "Safe"? I think you should be more interested in CPU states > Kirk> than load average. For example, consider running 50 webserver > Kirk> processes, all of which are in an I/O wait state. Your load > Kirk> average may be near 50, but your CPU may be sitting mostly > Kirk> idle. As another example, pretend you're running an RC5 or > > no. "load average" refers to the average length of the run queue. > processes blocked on I/O are not on that queue.
The load average refers to the average number of processes that are runnable or in uninterruptible sleep. The latter usually indicates I/O. (See kernel/timer.c:count_active_tasks() (in 2.4, at least) and ps(1).) -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
