question for server guru re: %CPU load
 

how much is too much?

i.e. when do you decide to stop throwing traffic at a box?

101% :1orglaugh

Your gallery just came up on the Hun....

"The load average is the average number of processes in the run queue. By that, it means the number of processes waiting to be processed by the CPU. The uptime command gives you a 5,10 and 15 minute average so that you can see if the server performance is getting worse/better/stable.

As to what a good and bad figure is, depends a bit on the system and type of processes running. As a very rough rule of thumb, when the load average gets above 10, you may experience some minor performance issues. However, I've been on some systems where we've had the load average over 500 and the system coped OK (obviously not as efficient as when it is in normal operation).

Load average is just one component at looking at general performance. You really need to look at it in conjunction with memory and I/O to get an overall view."

Above copied from another site. Surf your sites at primetime.. if they seem slow then worry. If not don't. :) :2 cents: