Very Computer

We have a F50 running an Order Entry system on AIX 4.2.1 -
Most of the users are using Telnet to access the system.

Reports are generated as needed by running "report writers"
against the O.E. info files.
When these report writers are fired off,
the system had no idle time ?

How can we insure that the Telnet users are getting quick responses,
and the report writers are given the lowest user priority ?

What about the "load" numbers ?

A sample "monitor" report is copied below -

Phil -
---------

AIX System monitor v2.1.5 13aug1998: dsprs6000         Wed Oct  6 10:56:25
1999

Uptime:  12 days, 16:57   Users:   4 of 106 active 103 remote 145:00 sleep
time
CPU: User 70.2% Sys 29.8% Wait  0.0% Idle  0.0%   Refresh: 10.00 s

Runnable (Swap-in) processes  6.10 (1.50)  load average:  6.07,  5.45,  5.00

Memory    Real     Virtual    Paging (4kB)    Process events     File/TTY-IO
free        0 MB    568 MB     161.4 pgfaults    1635 pswitch       0 iget
procs     141 MB    135 MB      28.0 pgin       13998 syscall     128 namei
files     498 MB                37.8 pgout       3798 read          7 dirblk
total     640 MB    704 MB       0.2 pgsin        788 write   1239910 readch
IO (kB/s) read  write busy%      0.8 pgsout         1 fork      30288
writech
hdisk0     0.8   85.1   15                          1 exec         11
ttyrawch
hdisk1     0.0   85.1   15                          0 rcvint        0
ttycanch
hdisk2   111.2   63.6   36                         36 xmtint       31
ttyoutch
cd0        0.0    0.0    0                          0 mdmint

                                                      Netw   read  write
kB/s
                                                       lo0     0.0     0.0
                                                       en0     1.7    14.0

Hi,

usualy the base prioraty of a process is 60.
With th 'nice'-command you can change the priority of a process (would
be better to take a lokk at the man-page now).

Does this CPU look overloaded  - load avgs vs the CPU states ?
These are all Telnet sessions into an Order Entry system.

Should I see some idle time during the day ?
Comments on how to track what is happening with CPU & memory usage
on this system during the day, week, month ?

The output from the "monitor" command is copied below -

Phil-
--

Load averages: 11.41,  9.30,  6.73           dsprs6000 Thu Oct  7 08:00

Cpu states: 85.8% user 14.2% system  0.0% wait  0.0% idle

Logged on:  84 users   2 active 80 remote 163:00 sleep time
Real memory:  142.0M procs  497.4M files    0.6M free  640.0M total
Virtual memory:             111.9M used   592.1M free  704.0M total

You should have at least 15-20 % idle time a day. A memory upgrade
wouldn't be bad too

On Thu, 7 Oct 1999 08:10:05 -0500, Phil Schuman-OLexp

        It'd help but it ain't a killer.

Quote:>Comments on how to track what is happening with CPU & memory usage
>on this system during the day, week, month ?

        well, periodic vmstats can be captured, but, more useful,
        try to get sar/sadc running.  Yes, it sucks up some space
        but you can play things back.

Quote:>The output from the "monitor" command is copied below -

>Load averages: 11.41,  9.30,  6.73           dsprs6000 Thu Oct  7 08:00

        The load average seems excessive.  How many CPUs does this
        puppy have?

        In terms of I/O (I saw the previous post) how many six packs
        are you using?  You seemed to have one drive that appeared
        busier than the others-  there are things you can do there.

Quote:>Cpu states: 85.8% user 14.2% system  0.0% wait  0.0% idle

>Logged on:  84 users   2 active 80 remote 163:00 sleep time
>Real memory:  142.0M procs  497.4M files    0.6M free  640.0M total
>Virtual memory:             111.9M used   592.1M free  704.0M total

        There is a book named "Accelerating AIX" that's useful.  IBM
        also has a class (Q1116, I think) named "AIX Version 4
        Performance Management" (I attended it 6 months ago) which has
        been useful to me in dealing with the museum pieces I'm working
        with (it doesn't hurt to have _some_ knowledge of _any_ Unix
        internals).

        What it the order entry program?  Is it using "Poll" commands?
        If it's full-screen and using a raw keyboard, there is a good
        chance that it's looping hard waiting for keystrokes.  I've
        written some stuff like that but I've since tried to avoid
        such;  There are mechanisms in AIX's API that allow the
        implementation of a "nap()" call (sleep w/ millisecond
        granularity).

        Remember, in performance management, one must look at how well
        the application tries to be cooperative...

--

 - As a SysAdmin, yes, I CAN read your e-mail, but I DON'T get that bored!
   Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed are those of John Campbell alone and
                do not reflect the opinions of his employer(s) or lackeys
                thereof.  Anyone who says differently is itching for a fight!