Question about "streampipes" kernel parameter

[Douglas D. Denney]

I've just performed my first SAS install on an Integrity server (rx2600) and ran into an issue. The install refused to continue unless the "streampipes" kernel paremeter was set to "1". I did this, rebooted and all is well. However, I am now wondering the following:

1. What is the impact of setting streampipes to 1?
2. Will system performance be impacted (ie, degraded)?

Any help that anyone can give me would be appreciated. Thanks,
Douglas Denney

[Kent Ostby]

Take a look here:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B3921-90010/streampipes.5.html

[Kent Ostby · Accepted solution]

What operating system are you using?

There were some issues in 11.00 where the performance of shell scripts dropped due to the use of streampipes.

[Douglas D. Denney]

The OS is HPUX 11.23 on itanium

[Douglas D. Denney]

I have looked at this doc:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B3921-90010/streampipes.5.html

and didn't feel that it answered the questions posed above. This document is an overview and tells you that by enabling it to a "1" you change to stream-based pipes. Okay, what does that mean? How will it affect the system? If stream-based pipes are such a good thing, then why is the recommendation from HP to turn it off unless you need it?

Thanks,
Doug

[Kent Ostby]

The reason is that ksh scripts can take a performance hit.

There is a fix for it on 11.23 in PHNE_32277 and following.

[Douglas D. Denney]

resolved problem. closing thread.