Appendix B

Configuring kernel parameters

buffers

Recently used data is cached in memory; buffers increase performance by reducing the need to read data from disk. Buffers also allow efficient transfer of data by moving it in large units.

table entries

Space in system tables that the kernel uses to keep track of current tasks, resources, and events.

policies

Governing such things as security, and conformance to various standards.

Each resource limit is represented by a separate kernel parameter. The limit imposed by a parameter can be decreased or extended, sometimes at the expense of other resources. Deciding how to optimize the use of these resources is one aspect of kernel performance tuning.

For a description of the autotuning facilities provided in SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.6 and later, see ``Autotuning''

For a description of the tools available for examining and changing parameters, see ``Configuration tools''.

For a description of the various kernel parameters that you can change using the configure(ADM) utility or via the Hardware/Kernel Manager, see ``Kernel parameters that you can change using configure''.

For a description of the various kernel parameters that you can only change from the command line using the idtune(ADM) utility, see ``Using idtune to reallocate kernel resources''.

See ``Using configure to change kernel resources'' for a description of how to run the configure(ADM) utility.

If you have TCP/IP installed on your system, see ``Configuring TCP/IP tunable parameters''.

If you are using the LAN Manager Client Filesystem (LMCFS), see ``LAN Manager Client Filesystem parameters''.