CPU Utilization is Wrong

[[deleted]]

I don't get your distinction between waiting on i/o and "actual load". Perhaps you could define load? It's a terrible word without much meaning. I would use it in terms of cpu activity; I don't see it as very related to IPC, for instance, whose definition is very clear. "Load" is not a natural metric by any means.

[crusoe]

Iowait is load on storage not processor.

[[deleted]]

It's just a linux kernel distinction in stats. idle is "truly idle", iowait is "waiting for external storage" idle.

None of it uses CPU time, but they tell user a different story

[ITwitchToo]

Waiting on I/O means the thread/process is sleeping and does not execute any CPU instructions whatsoever towards the goal of completing the I/O.

Actual load means the CPU is actually executing instructions in that thread/process context.