vps high load or main node high load

[metalcut]

Hi Guys

I would just like to know if there is any way to find out if my vps is the cause of my high load or the main server node. My load often goes up by quite a lot and reaches like 50.00.
According to my apache status the cpu load of my vps is very low, below are some info. The load is 18.17 at the moment.

Total accesses: 463089 - Total Traffic: 5.2 GB
CPU Usage: u7.44 s.43 cu26.02 cs0 - .0132% CPU load
1.81 requests/sec - 21.3 kB/second - 11.8 kB/request
9 requests currently being processed, 6 idle workers

Regards
Tinus

 

[simonas]

There is a great tutorial on: http://forums.cpanel.net/f34/troubleshooting-high-server-loads-linux-servers-319352.html

 

[metalcut]

Thanks, I did see that threat, but according to my apache status would you say I have a high load or does it look normal?

 

[simonas]

I don't know what you mean "load".

Real server load should never be above 1.

As on one of my servers:

Server uptime: 21 hours 28 minutes 48 seconds
Server load: 0.01 0.00 0.00
Total accesses: 41829 - Total Traffic: 1.1 GB
CPU Usage: u14.28 s1.05 cu0 cs0 - .0198% CPU load
.541 requests/sec - 15.0 kB/second - 27.7 kB/request
1 requests currently being processed, 8 idle workers

In my example .0198% CPU load, it means very low CPU usage.
If you get near 100% and notice that server is slower, you should investigate, if it's natural visitor caused CPU usage, and try to optimize scripts, server configuration, or pick a higher plan.

P.S. There is a explanation of each numbers you see http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/42048-uncover-the-meaning-of-tops-statistics