{"id":18098,"date":"2026-09-29T02:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/?p=18098"},"modified":"2026-09-29T04:43:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:43:43","slug":"aws-ec2-high-load-average-linux-vs-application-vs-infrastructure-causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/aws-ec2-high-load-average-linux-vs-application-vs-infrastructure-causes\/","title":{"rendered":"AWS EC2 High Load Average: Linux vs Application vs Infrastructure Causes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A high load average on an AWS EC2 instance can be an early warning that the server is under pressure. Administrators often see a high load value and immediately assume that the CPU is overloaded. However, load average does not directly measure CPU utilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A server can have a high load average while CPU usage remains relatively low. This can happen when processes are waiting for disk I\/O, memory resources, network operations, or other system resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Understanding what load average actually represents is essential for troubleshooting EC2 performance problems. The cause may exist at the Linux operating-system level, inside an application, or within the underlying AWS infrastructure and resource configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Is Load Average?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Linux, load average represents the average number of processes that are either actively running or waiting for certain resources, particularly CPU or uninterruptible I\/O activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can view the load average with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">up-time<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">load average: 8.20, 7.50, 6.90<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These three values generally represent the average load over the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The important point is that the number must be interpreted relative to the number of available CPU cores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An instance with 8 vCPUs can generally handle a larger runnable workload than an instance with 2 vCPUs. Therefore, a load average of 4 means something very different on those two systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Load average should always be evaluated alongside CPU usage, I\/O wait, memory pressure, and application behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Linux-Level Causes of High Load<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first category to investigate is the operating system itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">up-time<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">top<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top command provides a useful overview of CPU utilization, running processes, memory, and load average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pay particular attention to the CPU breakdown. If %wa is high, the system may be spending significant time waiting for I\/O rather than executing CPU instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can also examine the process state:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ps -eo state,pid,cmd | grep &#8216;^D&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Processes in the D state are typically waiting for an uninterruptible kernel operation, commonly related to I\/O.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Disk I\/O Pressure<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Storage problems are one of the most common reasons a high load average does not correspond to high CPU usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">iostat -xz 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">if sysstat is installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look for high device utilization, increased latency, or substantial read\/write activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Potential causes include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Large backup operations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Database workloads<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Log processing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>File synchronization<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Heavy application writes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Storage reaching its performance limits<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If processes are waiting for storage operations, load average can rise even though the CPU has available capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Memory Pressure<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Insufficient memory can also contribute to system slowdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check memory with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">free -h<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">and inspect swap:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">swap on &#8211;show<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When physical memory becomes constrained, the system may begin using swap. Heavy swapping can increase I\/O activity and cause processes to spend more time waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Memory pressure should therefore be investigated alongside load average rather than treating the load number independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Application-Level Causes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next area to investigate is the application itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An application can generate a high load average through excessive requests, inefficient operations, or too many concurrent workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, a web application may suddenly receive a large increase in traffic. Each request may not consume significant CPU individually, but hundreds or thousands of simultaneous requests can create a substantial queue of active or waiting processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ps aux &#8211;sort=-%cpu | head<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">to identify CPU-intensive processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also examine memory consumption:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ps aux &#8211;sort=-%mem | head<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The process consuming the most CPU or memory is not necessarily the root cause, but it provides a useful starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Database Workloads<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Databases are another common source of high load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A database server may experience increased load because of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Long-running queries<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Missing indexes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Excessive concurrent connections<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Large table scans<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lock contention<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Heavy reporting operations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Backup activity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A poorly optimized query can cause many processes to wait for disk operations or locks. This may increase load average without producing consistently high CPU utilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Review database activity and logs when the load spike occurs. Compare the timing with application requests and scheduled tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Too Many Workers or Processes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Application servers often use multiple workers to handle concurrent requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If worker limits are configured too aggressively, an EC2 instance can have many processes competing for memory, CPU, storage, or other resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, a PHP-FPM configuration with a large number of workers may appear reasonable on a high-memory server but create significant resource pressure on a smaller instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check the number of active processes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ps -e &#8211;no-headers | wc -l<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then identify which services are creating them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reducing unnecessary concurrency can sometimes improve performance without changing the EC2 instance type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>AWS Infrastructure Causes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third category is the AWS infrastructure and instance configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>EBS Performance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For instances using Amazon EBS, review the attached volume&#8217;s performance characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Depending on the workload and volume type, the instance may encounter limitations involving IOPS, throughput, or burst-related performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A storage bottleneck can cause applications to wait for disk operations, resulting in a high load average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Review relevant EBS metrics in CloudWatch and compare them with the time of the load spike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Instance Capacity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An instance may simply be too small for its workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, an application that previously handled 500 requests per minute may struggle after traffic increases significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Review CPU, memory, network, and storage metrics together before deciding whether the instance needs to be resized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scaling the instance can address genuine capacity limitations, but it should not be used as a substitute for fixing an application-level memory leak, inefficient query, or runaway process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Network Dependencies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An application can also appear slow while waiting for remote services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, an EC2-hosted application may depend on a database, API, cache, or another internal service. Network latency or connectivity problems can cause application processes to remain active while waiting for responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Review application logs and request timing to determine whether delays occur locally or between services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Troubleshoot High Load Average<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A structured investigation is more effective than reacting to the load number alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Start with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">up-time<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then check:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">top<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">free -h<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">iostat -xz 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">if available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next, identify resource-heavy processes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ps aux &#8211;sort=-%cpu | head<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ps aux &#8211;sort=-%mem | head<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then correlate the findings with CloudWatch metrics for CPU, EBS, network traffic, and other available instance metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The objective is to determine whether processes are primarily <strong>running<\/strong>, <strong>waiting for storage<\/strong>, <strong>waiting for memory<\/strong>, or <strong>blocked by an application dependency<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>High Load Does Not Always Mean High CPU<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the most important troubleshooting principles is that load average and CPU utilization measure different aspects of system behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A high load average with high CPU usage can indicate that the instance has a CPU-bound workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A high load average with low CPU usage may instead point toward I\/O, memory pressure, blocked processes, database activity, or another bottleneck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This distinction prevents administrators from unnecessarily upgrading CPU resources when the actual problem is storage or memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">High load average on an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/aws-services-are-up-but-the-application-is-down-why\/\">AWS<\/a> EC2 instance should be treated as a starting point for investigation, not as a diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Linux-level issues such as disk I\/O, swap activity, and blocked processes can increase load. Application-level problems such as inefficient queries, excessive workers, and traffic spikes can create additional pressure. Infrastructure limitations involving EBS performance, instance capacity, or network dependencies can also contribute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center has-white-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Facing issues? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Our technical support<br>engineers can solve it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-3350a795-db50-482f-9911-301930d1b1be\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-3350a795-db50-482f-9911-301930d1b1be\" id=\"hs-cta-3350a795-db50-482f-9911-301930d1b1be\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/2725694\/3350a795-db50-482f-9911-301930d1b1be\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-3350a795-db50-482f-9911-301930d1b1be\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/2725694\/3350a795-db50-482f-9911-301930d1b1be.png\"  alt=\"Contact Us today!\"\/><\/a><\/span><script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> hbspt.cta.load(2725694, '3350a795-db50-482f-9911-301930d1b1be', {\"useNewLoader\":\"true\",\"region\":\"na1\"}); <\/script><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"904\" height=\"931\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Free-server-checkup.png\" alt=\"guy server checkup\" class=\"wp-image-12943 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Free-server-checkup.png 904w, https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Free-server-checkup-291x300.png 291w, https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Free-server-checkup-768x791.png 768w, https:\/\/www.supportpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Free-server-checkup-585x602.png 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 904px) 100vw, 904px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A high load average on an AWS EC2 instance can be an early warning that the server is under pressure. Administrators often see a high load value and immediately assume&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":18099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aws"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro 5.0.1.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to troubleshoot high load average on AWS EC2 by identifying Linux, application, disk I\/O, memory, database, and infrastructure bottlenecks.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anjali Sindhu\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" 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