What is load average in Linux and what does this value indicate?

Load average in Linux is a measure of the average system load over specific time intervals (usually 1, 5, and 15 minutes). It reflects the average number of processes that are either executing on the CPU or waiting to execute (in the CPU queue or in I/O wait state).

The load average values indicate how busy the system is:

• If the load average is approximately equal to the number of CPU cores, the system is optimally loaded.
• If the load average is significantly higher than the number of cores, processes are waiting in line to execute, and the system is overloaded.

For example, for a 4-core processor, a load average of 4 means full utilization, and 8 indicates heavy overload.

Command to view load average:

uptime

Or:

cat /proc/loadavg