Slowing down a server

[ISS Unix Admin]

This is probably a strange request !!

I have an L2000/2/440 which I need to slow down. The objective behind this is to provide a more realistic performance feel for the end users who are the first ones on this new server. As we will be adding additional applications to this server over time and so we want this first group to not get 'spoilt'.

Is there a way to reduce the CPU performance as well as the disk I/O. I would like to start by taking one CPU offline. (How do you do this?)

Any help or ideas appreciated.

Leon

[Steven Sim Kok Leong]

Hi,

Use PRM (Process Resource Management) to allocate bounded resources to this group of users or run an resource-intensive application in the background.

Hope this helps. Regards.

Steven Sim Kok Leong
Brainbench MVP for Unix Admin
http://www.brainbench.com

[Sam Nicholls]

Process Resource Manager addresses this need. You create PRM groups and specify the percent CPU allocated to each group. You can allow groups to "borrow" unused CPU from other groups, or you can "cap" all groups so that they are always limited to their CPU allocation. For more information, goto...

http://www.hp.com/go/prm

[Tim Malnati]

PRM will work fine but it will cost you some $. One method I often use to load a system's cpu's is running seti@home. Adjusting the nice level will usually keep it under control yet maintain an acceptable load level. Seti's version hppa2.0-hp-hpux10.20 was ported to 10.20, but should work fine under 11.x on your L box. For info look at http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu If you look down into some of the user stat areas you will notice that many of the unix vendors make use of it, including HP.

[Byron Myers]

This is a strange one - I say spoil them. Why waste money? If the end-users are more productive, that should equate into dollars. You can always add more CPU's to the L2000 if needed.

[Philip Chan_1]

That is really a strange request, followings are two (wild) thoughts I have,

1) lower the value of the timeslice kernel parameter, this should increase system overhead hence degrade your system performance.

2) write two small programs, one does straightly loopings and ones loop on read operations, run these two programs along side so that your user applications will never get full cpu cycle and i/o priorities.

Regards,
Philip

[Ajay Sishodia]

To disable a CPU in L class machine: Reboot the machine and interrupt the boot process. at the Main Menu: Enter command> co <-- to go in to configuration menu.
than type
cpu 1 off <-- to disable cpu# 1
cpu 1 on <-- to enable cpu# 1
you will not be ablet to disable all CPUs and try not to disable CPU# 0

happy disabling!!
Ajay