uptime prints one line: the current time, how long the system has been up, the number of logged-in users, and the load average for the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes.
$ uptime
14:32:07 up 12 days, 4:17, 3 users, load average: 0.42, 0.55, 0.61
Load average is the average number of processes either running or waiting for resources. As a rule of thumb, a sustained load above the number of CPU cores means the system is over-committed; values well below mean it has headroom. Uptime also appears in the top line of top, htop, and w.
Related terms: top, Load Average
Discussed in:
- Chapter 19: Performance and Observability — Load and Responsiveness