Help required on kernel configuration on HPUX 11.0

[Jerome D'silva]

I am installing informix on HPUX11.0/HP L class/ 400Mhz * 2 processor/512MB RAM and it has some minimum kernel parameters to be set prior to installation.

SHMMAX 268435456
SHMMIN 512
SHMSEG 256
SEMMNI 4096
SEMMNS 4096
NFILES 114548
SEMMNU 1461

I have a problem in here .Some of the parameters can be set whereas some of them require manipulation with the other parameters ( apart from the above )in order to meet the requirements ( For ex:- I may need to increase the value of nptys , to set one of the above parameters.) .Moreover, I couldnot find SHMMIN in the kernel parameter list . Is there any parameter by that name ?.
Please suggest me how to go about configuring the kernel to meet the requirement .If we observe , the default values listed in my kernel is very small compared to the requirement .

Thanks
Jerome

[Stefan Farrelly · Accepted solution]

The kmtune command gives you a list of all configurable parameters and there is NO SHMMIN parameter - not on HP-UX anyway.

The best thing to do is hardcode the values you want in the /stand/system file. Thats what we do on all our servers. Leave the defaults and only change those you need to - like all the shared memory parameters you have above. Others we usuall increase are;
nflocks
maxusers
maxuprc
nproc
maxdsiz_64bit
maxdsiz
maxssiz_64bit
maxssiz
maxtsiz_64bit
maxtsiz

and set dbc_max_pct to 2 as you only have 512Mb of RAM.

[harry d brown jr]

Can I ask what application you are configuring the kernel for, because I find that setting

nfiles 114548

very excessive, and with 512 MB of ram doesn't cut it!!!!

You need to purchase more memory for that server, especially if you wish to use it for something other than a door stop!!!

live free or die
harry

[Jerome D'silva]

It is for installing version control tool called Continuus version 6.2

[Michael Tully]

Did these recommendations come from the software vendor? I agree with Harry, the 'nfiles' setting is extremely excessive.

[Jerome D'silva]

yes, The install guide tells these are the recommended values for informix .Entering these values in /stand/system file and rebooting the machine ,is that all I have to do or is there anything else like rebuilding the kernel ?.Also, can I know where will I get the information ( description )on the semaphores parameters, values on HPUX

[Evert Ladrak]

I would suggest to use sam to modify/create a new kernel. It gives a pretty good help. The parameter shmmin doesn't exist but I believe shmmni is what you want.

For the rest I'm with Harry

-ETL

[Michael Tully]

We run a number of 'large' informix instance and multiple instances per system, with 100's of GB of data. We do not run anything like those kernel parameters. I've attached a text file with one of these. We run peoplesoft as our application.

You can get a copy of the kernel explations from here.

http://www.docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/otsearch/getfile?id=/hpux/onlinedocs/939/KCParms/KCparams.OverviewAll.html&searchterms=kernel%7cparameters&queryid=20021021-220703