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Order System Performance Tuning

Item Description: Get the most out of your system and code before you upgrade

Review Synopsis: A worthy addition to your library, especially for those involved with system performance


Table of contents
Preface

  1. An Introduction to Performance Tuning
    • An Introduction to Computer Architecture
    • Principles of Performance Tuning
    • Static Performance Tuning
    • Concluding Thoughts
  2. Workflow Management
    • Workflow Characterization
    • Workload Control
    • Benchmarking
    • Concluding Thoughts
  3. Processors
    • Microprocessor Architecture
    • Caching
    • Process Scheduling
    • Multiprocessing
    • Peripheral Interconnects
    • Processor Performance Tools
    • Concluding Thoughts
  4. Memory
    • Implementations of Physical Memory
    • Virtual Memory Architecture
    • Paging and Swapping
    • Consumers of Memory
    • Tools for Memory Performance Analysis
    • Concluding Thoughts
  5. Disks
    • Disk Architecture
    • Interfaces
    • Common Performance Problems
    • Filesystems
    • Tools for Analysis
    • Concluding Thoughts
  6. Disk Arrays
    • Terminology
    • RAID Levels
    • Software Versus Hardware
    • A Summary of Disk Array Design
    • Software RAID Implementations
    • RAID Recipes
    • Concluding Thoughts
  7. Networks
    • Network Principles
    • Physical Media
    • Network Interfaces
    • Network Protocols
    • NFS
    • CFS via Unix
    • Concluding Thoughts
  8. Code Tuning
    • The Two Critical Approaches
    • Techniques for Code Analysis
    • Optimization Patterns
    • Interacting with Compilers
    • Concluding Thoughts
  9. Instant Tuning
    • Top Five Tuning Tips
    • Instant Tuning Recipes
Index

The newest version of this book is targeted primarily at the Solaris and Linux operating environments, but its principles are general enough that they can be easily applied to any other type of Unix operating environment.

The book is well organized, with each chapter dealing with the optimization of a specific subsystem of the typical server, and each chapter introduces various tools for getting the specific information that is needed to base a decision upon.

Of special interest to us is the chapter dealing with code tuning, which is often overlooked when trying to tune a system for better performance. Another area that is covered is the tuning of the network, which at times may seem to be an exercise in frustration, but can be extremely beneficial in the long run.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has to deal with system performance issues, and is trying to get the most out of their system.