Debian test if load average shows real value

How can I test that my kernel is showing the correct load average ? The load is always high on this server, and I doubt it’s the real one. I use kernel 3.2.0

Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.53-2 x86_64 GNU/Linux

and Debian version 7.3

Answer

If you are planning get more info directly from kernel, then it’s better to look at /proc/sched_debug (this requires, SCHED_DEBUG=y), then you can look for load related info in there. They basically export various runqueues fields like. load, # of running tasks, load stat via cpu_load[] and many more. Interpreting those field might require some inside knowledge of Linux scheduler.

To keep things straight, you can do:

      cat /proc/sched_debug|grep -w load

This will give you all the load related info. If possible write a script or program to parse the required fields for better interpretation. Hope this helps!