This script can check the sytem load with cronjob and send email or even SMS if the load is too high. Anyway I preffer using monit. Tested with ubuntu.
#!/bin/bash #Load Monitor - sends email when the sytem load reach 5.00, and sms when reach 9. #first {print$10} check for the last 5 min load, replace with 9 to check for 1 min and 11 for 15 min. LOAD=`uptime | tr ' ' ' ' | awk '{print$10}' | tr '.' ' ' | awk '{print$1}'` if [ $LOAD -ge "2" ]; then echo "High Load: $LOAD" | mail -s "Load Alert" your@email.com fi if [ $LOAD -ge "5" ]; then echo "High Load: $LOAD" | mail -s "Load Alert" yourphonenumber@sms.mtel.net fi