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Introduction
In this two-part series, we outline the steps to take when investigating where server load originates or causing your server to become overloaded. When running a server that hosts multiple websites, high load issues often crop up. To find out how and why this occurs, read on.
What is Server Load?
Server load is a measure of work that a server is experiencing. The load averages represent the average system load over a period of time. Servers calculate load averages as the exponentially damped/weighted moving average of the load numbers. The three values of load average refer to the past one, five, and fifteen minutes of system operation. If you have a single CPU, the load average is a percentage of the system utilization for a specific time period. If you have multiple CPU’s, you must divide by the number of processors to get a comparable percentage. To find the number of processors on the server, run the following command.
Continue reading “How to Investigate Server Load: Part 1” →