---------- X-Sun-Data-Type: text X-Sun-Data-Description: text X-Sun-Data-Name: text X-Sun-Charset: us-ascii X-Sun-Content-Lines: 96 My original question: -- Hi all, We have an old Sparc 1+ as our NFS server and it is pretty slow when big files are written onto its disks. For example, if a core dump is remotely created to one of its NFS mounted disk the load easily rises above 8. Using top one sees that it is the nfs daemons (nfsd) that use up most of the time. Still the cpu or network utilization doesn't rise very high. iostat -D 1 shows the following during high load: (this is an actual example of generating a core file to sd3) sd0 sd1 sd2 sd3 rps wps util rps wps util rps wps util rps wps util 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 50 73.1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 52 89.3 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 4 7.9 0 50 86.5 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 52 90.5 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 52 88.9 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 49 92.4 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 51 91.2 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 48 90.1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 52 91.1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 51 93.1 5 2 9.8 0 0 0.0 0 2 4.9 0 51 86.3 3 27 31.4 0 0 0.0 1 5 16.7 2 54 80.4 0 2 1.0 0 0 0.0 0 2 5.9 0 58 82.9 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 57 89.6 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 57 88.3 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 58 87.2 1 1 2.9 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 54 91.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 55 93.4 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 1 0 2.0 0 52 92.0 The disk itself is a fast disk. So, is the problem in the cpu (utilization ~ 25%), network adapter or the scsi controller. Are there any faster disk or network controllers available for Sparc 1+'s, or does it event make any sense to try to boost this old beast. -- Thank you for: Kevin.Sheehan@uniq.com.au (Kevin Sheehan {Consulting Poster Child}) ninechars@houston.wireline.SLB.COM ( Bob Reardon ) bismark@alta.jpl.nasa.gov (Bismark Espinoza) dav@litronic.com (David L. Markowitz) gdonl@gv.ssi1.com (Don Lewis) Glenn.Satchell@uniq.com.au (Glenn Satchell - Uniq Professional Services) mcguire@world.std.com (Monte P McGuire) Ray Brownrigg gdonl@gv.ssi1.com (Don Lewis) (Sorry if I missed someone) I got a lot of good answers and it seems that this issue has been debated already in 1992. gdonl@gv.ssi1.com kindly sent me the summary of the previous discussion along with a patch for setting NFS in asynchronous mode. According to the messages I received, the reasons for poor NFS performance can be: - network problems - inadequate server CPU power - insufficient server memory - disk drive spinning speed - disk drive transfer speed - NFS synchronous writes The recommendations were to - get a better CPU - use PrestoServe (battery-backed RAM that caches the writes for later flushing to the disk) - use eNFS (a caching NFS implementation) - use Solaris 2.3's CacheNFS - use a faster spinning disk - patch NFS to write anynchronously (potentially dangerous) The main reason for the poor performance in my case is that NFS does synchronous writes. My temporary solution was to increase the number of nfsd's and put NFS in asynchronous mode. This increased NFS writing performance ~800%. Later I'll upgrade the server to a Sparc 2 (or 4,5) and run Solaris 2.x with CacheNFS. For the benefit of all those who asked me to summarize I'll attach all the answers I got and the previous summary in this message. //jpv ---------- X-Sun-Data-Type: mail-file X-Sun-Data-Description: mail-file X-Sun-Data-Name: SlowNFS X-Sun-Encoding-Info: uuencode X-Sun-Content-Lines: 1198 begin 600 Slow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