Server Load - What is "Good", What is "Bad", and What is "UGLY"?

[NashChristian]

Hello all!

I've just had a vB site up for about 6 months now, so forgive me for being a newbie, but I must ask a newbie question:

What should I expect for Server Load Averages on my forums?

As I said, I have a brand new site, with next to NO traffic, and these are the Server Load Averages currently in my AdminCP:

3.50, 5.75, 7.93

Is that good or bad? What does it mean? How do I interpet these numbers? Are lower numbers better, or higher?

I currently host with 1&1, but I will be switching within the week to HostGator, for larger capacity and hopefully faster speeds.

What should I expect to see for my server load averages once I move to HostGator? That will still be a shared hosting plan, but they are supposed to be much quicker from everyone's posts.

Any understanding you could help bring my way, would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Jeff

[superprogrammer]

3 or below is good
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=117679
http://www.crucialp.com/resources/tutorials/server-administration/server-loads-explained-linux-unix.php

[Marco van Herwaarden]

What kind of server gives these numbers?

How many processors?
Is it dedicated/VPS/Shared?

[NashChristian]

Shared - 2 cpus.

[SEOvB]

mines always at 0.12 to 0.89 with shared hosting over at asmallorange :D

But you shouldn't worry much about server load if you're on shared hosting, its more then likely out of your control, and unless its causing your site to become slow, i wouldn't worry at all.


(but i would get as far away from 1and1 hosting as i could )

[R1lover]

Anything over 1.0 means that the server is waiting to processing request rather then keeping up. Normally shared hosting you will see numbers in the 2-4 range, while that's not ideal, it's normal for shared hosting.

I run all of my sites on my own dedicated servers and/or vps boxes and for peak performance I keep them at about .75 or less. :) But I like things fast and quick too!

[NashChristian]

I recently switched over to HostGator, because I was hoping for faster speeds, BUT so far my page load speeds for my vB site have been slower than they were with 1&1! Major bummer!

My HostGator server loads have been running in the high 5's for 2 cpus.

Is there no such thing as a good shared host these days???

:(

[lighti]

Loads in the 5's will certainly mean your php processing time will be slow.

There is such a thing as a good shared host, www.readytohost.net :) I also hear hostgator has usually good ratings from users here. Perhaps you can ask them about the problem see if they can move you.

[Brandon Sheley]

I like to keep mine under 1, it's mostly around .05 or lower

[pspcrazy]

Mine is always at 3-6 and I can't figure a way to lower it :| I use wordpress, vbulletin, and another site with word press, vbulletin. I use a dedicated quad core server.

[Jase2]

Mines usually at 1 and below on a shared hosting account. I wouldn't worry too much though, as the server loads are for the entire server, so if you see the loads go high, then it will probably be down to another client on the same server.

Regards Jason :)

[Phaedrus]

I use Jaguar PC, mine are always below 2 and usually barely above 1 or just below it.

[tinkerbell]

For those interested my forum is at present closed and i run nothing else on this hostgator shared hosting account, my server load for 2cpu's is reading 6.12 and flashing a red dot.

I would like to thank all for replying to this thread as I thought it was me causing that load, it has been higher, now I know it obviously isn't. I have been advised to go with Surpass and get rid of hostgator, who I came to from 1 and 1 (wouldn't touch them again)

A very happy Tinkerbell :D

Update - server load is at 74.62 for 2 cpu's with hostgator's shared hosting, time to find someone else i think!!!

[Josh A]

Well, no matter how big they are - just look at there pricing and packages.. Highly over-selling, along with highly over-loading the servers.

[alphadeity]

When you pay for shared hosting the risk of the host overselling the server's resources is probable. I have 3 dedicated servers from three different hosts. They all run great, but at a slightly higher price than average. I would stay away from VPS as most are oversold. Also some control panels take up a good amount of resources. I like direct admin. There are not as many features compared to some other control panels, but direct admin is simple, secure, and fast. I try to keep my servers below 50% load on both memory and cpu. Memory is also very important. All my servers have at least 2GB. The more the better. To top it off, I make sure all clients on the servers are not running scripts that are not allowed or clients that are abusing the server. Although I don't host with either of the hosts mentioned on this thread, 1and1 is a great choice based on past experience.

[snunhuck]

Here's mine right now, and mine some time ago:

Now:Server Load Averages 6.12 4.12 5.23 | 1 Users Online (1 members and 0 guests)
Earlier: 72.37 55.40 29.45 | 3 Users Online (1 members and 2 guests)

[iRO Wiki]

Server Load Averages 1.70 1.47 1.20 | 141 Users Online (105 members and 36 guests)

1 CPU

Usually bounces between .3 - .8, when it gets busy, goes up to 1-3, goes to 5-6 with the nightly backup...

snun: a load avg of 72 means something is wrong, my box only does that when I'm getting a syn attack...

[Paul M]

I *think* the general rule is that the load should be less than the number of processors. Anything upto twice the cpu count is not good, but not bad, anything over that is just not good - the server is being pushed too much.

So if you have 2 cpus then <2 is good, 2 to 4 is ok, 4+ is not good.

So 10+ is bad no matter how you look at it (even if you have 4 cpu's).

[peterpigman]

I *think* the general rule is that the load should be less than the number of processors. Anything upto twice the cpu count is not good, but not bad, anything over that is just not good - the server is being pushed too much.

So if you have 2 cpus then <2 is good, 2 to 4 is ok, 4+ is not good.

So 10+ is bad no matter how you look at it (even if you have 4 cpu's).

Our server was hitting 2+ (twin proc) pretty much constantly and it failed last week. I don't know if it was directly the cause but thankfully our new box has halved it.
100-200 online average
1.16 1.13 0.90
now \0/.

[snunhuck]

I *think* the general rule is that the load should be less than the number of processors. Anything upto twice the cpu count is not good, but not bad, anything over that is just not good - the server is being pushed too much.

So if you have 2 cpus then <2 is good, 2 to 4 is ok, 4+ is not good.

So 10+ is bad no matter how you look at it (even if you have 4 cpu's).

So has anyone seen a server with 35CPUs?

[Yours]

So has anyone seen a server with 35CPUs?

basically impossible :P well not really but super expensive.


My server has about 100 accounts on it (shared hosting) and rarely do we go over 0.5 (mind you this is a small Pentium D 3.0GHZ Dual Processor w. 2GB ram)

[snunhuck]

Ok, I need to investigate how it's going soo hight @ 77 lol

[Marco van Herwaarden]

What about a 67 million processor computer? :D :D

http://news.softpedia.com/news/IBM-Plans-Mammoth-67-Million-Core-Computer-78114.shtml

[snunhuck]

:eek: Now that would be useful in my house :) I seemed to have lowered the load by using a different chatbox system :confused:

[antiekeradio]

generally; lowering the load starts with looking where the load is coming from :)

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Server Load Averages 0.59 1.06 1.10 | 61 Users Online (18 members and 43 guests) on reseller shared hosting account.