Load average

The term Load average denotes the average system load over a period of time. Load Average denotes the number processes, on average, needs the attention of the CPU. It takes into account processes that are actively running on a CPU and are considered to be runnable. It's calculated according CPU usage, Disk I/O, Network I/O. Load average – is the average system load calculated over a given period of time of 1, 5 and 15 minutes.