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uencoder

Saturation

Saturation is how full a resource is; as utilization approaches 100%, queuing latency rises sharply.

Purpose

Identify resource bottlenecks and scale before saturation to avoid latency spikes.

Mechanism

USE method: Utilization, Saturation (e.g., queue length), Errors. Near 100% CPU, requests queue and latency spikes. Near disk IOPS limits, latency surges.

Use cases

  • Performance analysis
  • Capacity planning
  • Bottleneck identification

Related terms

USE Method
The USE method analyzes three metrics per resource—Utilization, Saturation, and Errors—for systematic bottleneck hunting.
GLOSSARY

Related tools

Color Adjust Saturation
Color Adjust Saturation — pure client-side tool. Privacy-first, no server round-trip.
TOOL

References