From owner-freebsd-isp Tue Jan 29 4:44:25 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Received: from psknet.com (voyager.psknet.com [63.171.251.15]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 4AF7E37B402 for ; Tue, 29 Jan 2002 04:44:11 -0800 (PST) Received: (qmail 89597 invoked by uid 85); 29 Jan 2002 12:34:47 -0000 Received: from troy@psknet.com by voyager.psknet.com with qmail-scanner-1.02 (uvscan: v4.1.20/v4143. . Clean. Processed in 0.379767 secs); 29 Jan 2002 12:34:47 -0000 X-Qmail-Scanner-Mail-From: troy@psknet.com via voyager.psknet.com X-Qmail-Scanner-Rcpt-To: forrestc@imach.com,freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG X-Qmail-Scanner: 1.02 (Clean. Processed in 0.379767 secs) Received: from abyss.dashit.net (HELO abyss) (63.171.251.250) by voyager.psknet.com with SMTP; 29 Jan 2002 12:34:46 -0000 From: "Troy Settle" To: "'Forrest W. Christian'" Cc: Subject: RE: Tuning a system... Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 07:44:01 -0500 Message-ID: <000201c1a8c2$a0c60ba0$fafbab3f@psknet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.2616 In-Reply-To: Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Sender: owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG] On Behalf Of Forrest > W. Christian > Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 7:11 PM > To: Troy Settle > Cc: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Re: Tuning a system... > > > On Mon, 28 Jan 2002, Troy Settle wrote: > > > So... my question is, how can I tune my FreeBSD 4-STABLE > boxes to run a > > little more stable? I intend to update soon, I've just been > putting it off > > in favor of running my business. > > First of all, what do you have MAXUSERS set to in the config file? It > sounds like you have it set to a rediculously low (like the > default) value. Not quite... I set it to 64, which was in response to a post I saw on -STABLE that indicated that higher values didn't have much meaning in 4.x. Guess that's what I get from listening to the learned folks on the -stable list. Honestly, I've not had a problem with maxfiles at 4k, just once in a while, something runs away with all my file descriptors. Quite annoying. Especially now that it's happened on a box at a remote location, forcing me to drive 70 miles to hit the reset button (need to look into some remote power management solutions. :) > > I generally set it to 256 and forget it. Others might argue > that a lower > value is better as you don't want to "waste" too much memory > and that 256 > increases a lot of kernel parameters. I'd rather just set it > and forget > it. I can't say I've needed more than the quantity set by 256. > > Beyond this, I highly recommend you look at man tuning. This has > everything you need to know in it about tuning, as a general rule. > > I would highly recommend you increase NMBCLUSTERS on any > internet-serving > box. I have mine set to 32768 on a heavy-use (5k users) > qmail mail server > box, but if you have a heavier use box, or if you tweak on > the TCP window > parameters you might need to increase it. > > Again I highly recommend you looking at the tuning(7) man page. Hmm.. tuning(7) is new since 4.3, I'll have to take a look at it. Also, wasting memory has never been an issue for me. The first server I built had $2000 worth of memory in it (64mb in early '95). I'm a whore for memory, having 512mb in my box at home, which I use to read email and play Counter-Strike. > > > FYI, I don't consider myself an amature admin... my > previous employer has 2 > > 3.2-STABLE boxes that have been running for 2+ years > without issue (one is a > > mail server w/5000+ accounts, the other is a web server > serving with an > > entire class-c bound to it, serving >280k hits per day). > > Yep, I recognize you from somewhere else (nanog or > inet-access perhaps) > and associate your name as an "Old Timer" (meaning pre-1999 > internet guy). > Eww! How can you say that? Sure, I've been around FreeBSD since '94 (on this list and inet-access since '96), but I'd hardly consider myself an 'Old Timer.' What sucks most about the last 8 years, is that I've never had time to master any one part of this ISP thing, which sucks for me, but speaks well for FreeBSD, as I've never had any major issues with it (unlike the 6 months I spent working for an NT-based ISP). -- Troy Settle Pulaski Networks 540.994.4254 - 866.477.5638 http://www.psknet.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message