1. Overview

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It is important to clarify that on Linux at least, the load average and CPU utilisation are actually two different things. Load average is a measurement of how many tasks are waiting  for the CPU (not just CPU time but also disk activity) over a period of time. CPU utilisation is a measure of how busy the CPU is right now. The most load that a single CPU thread pegged at 100% for one minute can "contribute" to the 1 minute load average is 1. A 4 core CPU with hyper-threading (8 virtual cores) all at 100% for 1 minute would contribute 8 to the 1 minute load average.

If you are not familiar with these concepts, here you can find detailed information about Understanding Linux CPU Load and Linux Load Averages.

2. Set up your environment

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- In blue, the name of the 'item' holding the variable, mentioned just a step beforesee 'item' in blue box in the Common-stats.nmis pictre above.

- In magenta, the name of the data source specified in the model inside the rrd section, in this case is “laLoad5"

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