Linux uptime Guide

⏱ Linux uptime Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to uptime on Linux, covering Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions including system uptime, load averages, and system status.

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Table of Contents

1. uptime Basics
2. System Uptime
3. Load Averages
4. Additional Information
5. Troubleshooting

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⏱ uptime Basics

Show Uptime

Basic usage:

# Show system uptime
uptime

# Shows:
# - Current time
# - System uptime
# - Number of users
# - Load averages

Simple Format

Just uptime:

# Simple format
uptime -s

# -s = since (shows when system started)

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System Uptime

Uptime Information

System status:

# Uptime output
uptime

# Example: "up 5 days, 3 hours, 15 minutes"

Since Boot

Boot time:

# When system started
uptime -s

# Shows: "2024-01-15 10:30:00"

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Load Averages

Load Average

System load:

# Load averages shown in uptime
uptime

# Shows: load average: 0.50, 0.75, 1.00
# 1 min, 5 min, 15 min averages

Understanding Load

Load interpretation:

# Load average meaning:
# - 1.00 = 100% CPU usage
# - 0.50 = 50% CPU usage
# - 2.00 = 200% (2 CPUs fully loaded)

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Additional Information

Pretty Format

Human-readable:

# Pretty format
uptime -p

# -p = pretty (human-readable format)

Version

Version info:

# Version information
uptime -V

# -V = version (shows version)

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Troubleshooting

uptime Not Found

Check installation:

# uptime is part of procps
# Usually pre-installed

# Check uptime
which uptime

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Summary

This guide covered uptime usage, system uptime, and load averages for Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions.

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Next Steps

• System Monitoring - System monitoring
• htop Guide - Process monitoring
• top Guide - Resource monitoring
• uptime Documentation: man uptime

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This guide covers Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other Linux distributions. For distribution-specific details, refer to your distribution's documentation.