Linux Server Performance Tuning provides the knowledge and skills needed to understand and improve the performance of Linux servers. It describes the collective practical experience of IBM Linux Technology Center experts in Linux performance monitoring, evaluation and measurement, analysis, and tuning of Linux servers. It discusses methodologies for improving and maximizing the performance of business server applications running on an Intel-based hardware platform and the Linux operating system. Readers will obtains valuable insight into the tuning techniques needed to improve the performance of their software running on Linux. This includes an overview of the Linux kernel (including installation), a synopsis of the various Linux performance tools that can be used to isolate performance issues, and how to use them, and tuning principles, strategies and techniques for various Linux components such as the scheduler, memory and I/O subsystems. In addition, case studies for tuning these subsystems are also included, as well as the performance characterization of several Linux server applications, including web servers, database servers, application servers, and print and file servers.

Table of Contents:
Preface. Acknowledgments. About the Editors. About the Contributors. I. LINUX OVERVIEW. 1. Linux Installation Issues.     Introduction       Preinstallation Planning       Configurable 2.6 Kernel Features       Linux Logging Facility       System Initialization: BSD Versus System V Initialization       Summary       References   2. Kernel Overview.     Introduction       The Evolution of Linux       Linux Kernel Architecture        Process Management         Interprocess Communications        The Linux Symmetrical Multiprocessing (SMP) Model       File Systems       New Features in Linux 2.6       Summary       References   3. Overview of Server Architectures.     Introduction       Linux Servers       Processors and Multiprocessing       Memory       I/O       Linux Enterprise Servers       Linux Clusters       Examples of Server Systems       Summary   II. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS TOOLS. 4. System Performance Monitoring.     Introduction       Background on Linux and Performance Analysis       CPU Utilization       Memory Utilization       I/O Utilization       Network Utilization       Summary       References   5. System Trace Tools.     Introduction       Requirements for System Tracing       The top Utility       strace       OProfile       Performance Inspector       Summary       References   6. Benchmarks as an Aid to Understanding Workload Performance.     Introduction       Benchmarking to Improve Your Workload       What Types of Benchmarks Are There?       Microbenchmarks       Web Server Benchmarks       Summary   III. SYSTEM TUNING. 7. System Performance Principles and Strategy: A Benchmarking Methodology Case Study.     Introduction       Performance Evaluation Methodologies       Benchmarking Methodology Case Study       Analysis Methodology       Benchmarks       Summary       Acknowledgments       References   8. Scheduler Tuning.     Introduction       Single-Processor Systems       Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)       Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)       Symmetric Multithreading (SMT)       The 2.6 Linux Scheduler       Load Balancing       Tunable Parts of the Scheduler       Summary       References   9. The Linux Virtual Memory Performance Implications.     Introduction       Memory and Address Space       High-Memory Support       Paging and Swapping       The Linux Page Tables       New Features in Linux 2.6       Summary       References   10. I/O Subsystems Performance Implications.     Introduction       I/O Scheduling and the Block I/O (BIO) Layer       Read and Write Request Batches       Read Anticipation Heuristic       I/O Components that Affect Performance       Addressing an I/O Device       Summary       References   11. File System Tuning.     Introduction       File System Fundamentals       Journaled File Systems       Disks Factor into File System Performance       Fragmenting a File System       File Synchronization       bdflush Parameters       Asynchronous Input and Output       Raw Disk I/O       Ext2 and Ext3       ReiserFS       Journaled File System (JFS)       Next-Generation File System (XFS)       Summary       References   12. Network Tuning.     Introduction       The Network Protocol Stack        Kernel Parameter Tuning Mechanisms        Kernel Auto Tuning       Core Kernel Parameter Descriptions       TCP/IPv4 Protocol Kernel Parameters       Summary       References   13. Interprocess Communication.     Introduction       What Is Interprocess Communication?       Linux SysV IPC Resources and the ipcs Command       Semaphore Parameters       Message Queue Parameters       Shared Memory Segment Parameters       Dynamically Modifying the Configurable IPC Parameters       Configuring IPC Parameters Statically       Pipes       Summary   14. Code Tuning.     Introduction      General Principles      Profiling to Understand the Application      Compiler Options as Tuning Tools      Code Tuning      Algorithm: Achieving Performance Through Design Choices      File I/O      Summary   IV. PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF LINUX SERVER APPLICATIONS. 15. Web Servers.     Introduction       HTTP Requests and Responses       Network Behavior of a Web Server       Anatomy of a Web Server Transaction       Different Models of Web Servers       Tuning Web Servers       Summary       References   16. File and Print Servers.     Introduction      Types of Dedicated Network Storage Servers       Optimizing the Performance of Network Storage       References   17. Database Servers.     Introduction       Overview of Database Architectures       Database Tuning Areas to Consider       Process Management       Memory Management       I/O Management       Summary   18. Application Servers.     Introduction       The Application Server Defined       Java, J2EE, and Application Servers       Performance Characterization of Application Servers        Improving Performance and High Availability        Summary       References   V. TUNING CASE STUDIES. 19. Case Study: Tuning the i/o Schedulers in Linux 2.6.     Introduction       Benchmark Environment and Workload Profiles       I/O Schedulers and Performance        Single-CPU Single-Disk Setup       8-Way RAID-5 Setup       16-Way RAID-0 Setup       AS Sequential Read Performance       AS Versus Deadline Performance       CFQ Performance       Summary       References   20. Case Study: File System Tuning.     Introduction       Analyzing File Layout       Tuning File Systems       Measuring I/O       Summary       References   21. Case Study: Network Performance on Linux.     Introduction       Benchmarks Used in the Case Study       Enhancements in the Linux 2.4 and 2.6 Kernels       Case Study       Summary       References   22. Case Study: Commercial Workload Tuning.     Introduction       Overview of Commercial Workload Tuning       Standard Commercial Workload Model for J2EE       Our Commercial Workload Model: Stock Trading       The Performance Analysis Exercise       Summary       References   Appendix A: Tuning Kernel Parameters.     Introduction        The sysctl Interface       The procfs Interface       sysfs (Linux Kernel 2.6 Only)       General Kernel Parameters       Virtual Memory       File System        Network    Index.