Understanding the Load Average

vtglockster · Mar 8, 2021, 1:30 PM

I recently upgraded from a consumer router using DD-WRT to a pfSense router and I'm trying to figure out how to read the Load Average readings.

In DD-WRT I had three numbers which stood for 1, 5 and 15 minute intervals and where in decimal format. A reading of .7 meant you were using 70% of the CPU.

In pfSense I see three numbers as well but I have separate readings for Memory and CPU usage.

I have read that the load is an indicator of how much traffic being routed and like DD-WRT the decimals equal a percentage so a reading of 1 = 100%.

I have also read that if you have a multi-core processor then in theory you can run numbers larger than 1 without traffic backing up.

In my case I have an Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU J1900 @ 1.99GHz
Current: 1992 MHz, Max: 1993 MHz
4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s)

Currently with the packages I have installed my averages run between .7 to .9 with spikes over 1.

Am I OK running these numbers or should I consider removing some of the packages?

Thanks,
Andy