Understanding Linux CPU Load - when should you be worried?
Linux load average represents how many processes are running or queued on the CPU, analogous to cars on a bridge—a load of 1.0 means full utilization on a single-core system, while values above 1.0 indicate queued processes waiting for CPU time. On multi-core systems, the concerning threshold scales with core count; for example, a load of 4.0 on a quad-core system represents full utilization, not an overload. Rather than reacting to one-minute spikes, administrators should monitor the five or fifteen-minute averages, investigating when load consistently exceeds 0.70 and taking immediate action if it stays above the number of available cores.