System Performance Tuning

System Performance Tuninganswers one of the most fundamental questions you can ask about your UNIX-based computer: How can I get it to do more work without buying more hardware? Anyone who has ever used a computer has wished that the system was faster, particularly at times when it was under heavy load.

If your system gets sluggish when you start a big job, if it feels as if you spend hours waiting for remote file access to complete, if your system stops dead when several users are active at the same time, you need to read this book. Some performance problems do require you to buy a bigger or faster computer, but many can be solved simply by making better use of the resources you already have.

Contents include:

• Real and perceived performance problems.
• Simple tricks to improve keyboard response.
• Locating your problem; finding out what your system is doing.
• Using tools such asatandbatchto manage system load.
• Surviving without a lot of memory.
• Configuring your I/O system for the best throughput.
• Detecting an overworked or malfunctioning network.
• Building a kernel that uses your system more efficiently.