Tune Your Network the Compulsive Way


You can tune your network in one of two ways. The first is to think about it a bit, take a guess at an approach that may improve performance, try that approach, and see whether the network seems to run faster. This strategy is the way most people go about tuning the network.

You can also try the compulsive way, which is suitable for people who organize their sock drawers by color and their food cupboards alphabetically by food group. The compulsive approach to tuning a network goes something like this:

  1. Establish a method for objectively testing the performance of some aspect of the network.

    In this method, you create a benchmark. The result of your benchmark is a baseline.

  2. Change one variable of your network configuration and rerun the test.

    For example, you may think that increasing the size of the disk cache can improve performance. Change the cache size, restart the server, and run the benchmark test. Note whether performance improves, stays the same, or becomes worse.

  3. Repeat Step 2 for each variable that you want to test.

Here are some salient points to keep in mind if you decide to tune your network the compulsive way:

  • If possible, test each variable separately. In other words, before proceeding, reverse the changes you made to other network variables.

  • Write down the results of each test so that you have an accurate record of the effect that each change makes on your network's performance.

  • Be sure to change only one aspect of the network each time you run the benchmark. If you make several changes, you don't know which one caused the change. One change may improve performance, but the other change may worsen performance so that the changes cancel each other out-kind of like offsetting penalties in a football game.

  • If possible, conduct the baseline test during normal working hours, when the network is undergoing its normal workload.

  • To establish the network's baseline performance, run the benchmark test two or three times to make sure that the results are repeatable.




Networking For Dummies
Networking For Dummies
ISBN: 0470534052
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 254
Authors: Doug Lowe

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