Introduction

With a focus on platform-independent issues, this chapter presents a strategy and methodology for measuring, analyzing, and improving the performance and scalability of the Linux operating system. In the Linux open-source community, where changes to the code occur at a rapid pace, it is important to obtain accurate information to evaluate the performance of applications or workloads executing on Linux in a timely manner. Let's begin with an overview of the various performance evaluation methodologies used to quantify software performance, with some specifically focusing on Linux-related issues. Included is a detailed case study on quantifying and addressing Linux performance issues using the benchmarking methodology. This case study includes benchmarking analysis methodology, Symmetrical Multiprocessing (SMP) scalability, and specific benchmarks used to evaluate performance, including examples of performance results. We'll begin with the performance evaluation methodologies.