Operating System Tuning Steps

Operating System Tuning Steps

To tune a system, you first monitor its performance with various system utilities as described in "Monitoring the Operating System". This section describes the steps to take when you are tuning a system.

Determine the general area that needs tuning (for example, disk I/O or the CPU) and monitor system performance using utilities like sar(1) and osview(1M). If you have not already done so, see "Monitoring the Operating System".
Pinpoint a specific area and monitor performance over a period of time. Look for numbers that show large fluctuation or change over a sustained period; don't be too concerned if numbers occasionally go beyond the maximum.
Modify one value/characteristic at a time (for example, change a parameter, add a controller) to determine its effect. It's good practice to document any changes in a system notebook.
Use the systune(1M) command to change parameter values or make the change in the master.d directory structure if the variable is not tunable through systune. Remake the kernel and reboot if necessary.
Remeasure performance and compare the before and after results. Then evaluate the results (is system performance better?) and determine if further change is needed.

Keep in mind that the tuning procedure is more an art than a science; you may need to repeat the above steps as necessary to fine tune your system. You may find that you'll need to do more extensive monitoring and testing to thoroughly fine tune your system.