As a customer of a hosting company, you will notice that on your control panel, under "Server Status", there is usually a number labelled as "Server Load". This number gives you an indication of how many processes are waiting in the queue for access to the processor or processors. The number is in the format "#.##" and of course, the smaller the number, the better. A higher number is usually associated with poorer server performance. You can keep refreshing the page to get an indication of average server load.

A server load of less than 1.00 is usually considered safe. There shouldn’t be any problems with website speed if the server load is under 1.00 (per CPU; if there are two CPUs, 2.00 is the limit, and so on). However, remember that average server loads vary. At busy times they are likely to climb, and at quieter times they will fall. Modern, more powerful processors can often cope with server loads of up to 2.00. Also, bear in mind that processes are prioritised, and something like a page request will be treated as high-priority, while lower priority processes will be moved to the back of the queue. It is not a simple and frustrating first-come-first-served system; the organisation is more complex and efficient than that.

Basically, it comes down to the actual behaviour of the server. If you find that your site is slow, and there is a correspondingly high server load, then it’s worth notifying your host and asking them to do something about it (they might need a RAM upgrade, for example), or to move your site to a host which is not as crowded. If they refuse, it might be worth switching hosts. If your website is nice and quick, and you notice a server load of 3.00 or so, so what? The main thing is that everything runs smoothly and quickly, and ultimately the server load is of little consequence if everything is running well.

Author: Natalie Catchpole

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