What is the Good configuration for HP-UX File server?

[Shashikiran_1]

Hi ,


What is the Good configuration for HP-UX File server?

Exported File system : 300Gb
No Of Users :600
Lan Speed : 100Mbps
NFS Version :3 or more ..


Can anybody suggest a giid server model?

Thanks & Regards
Shashi

[Stf]

I think an rp54xx or rp74xx is a good choice...

Stf ;-)

[Fred Ruffet]

Won't you prefer to go for CIFS/Samba rather than NFS ?

Don't know about an exact model, but I would go for multi-CPU (rather than a big single one) to better handle all those users. Maybe two (or more) NICs would be better too (Think about APA).

Regards,

Fred

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Without knowing your duty cycles and thus how much of your network bandwidth you will be using, it's not possible to offer much advice. The most likely bottleneck (especially if multiple clients are doing lots of i/o) is the 100MB/s connection between the host and the switch. You should use a 1000MB/s between the server and the switch; 100MB/s for the client to switch connections should be fine. You might also consider APA (Auto-Port Aggregation) to increase the server-to-switch bandwidth. You will want a fairly large number of nfsd's running (more than the default) and NFS servers benefit from larger than typical buffer caches.

[Alzhy]

In the 1st place, does it even have to be a HP-UX server if what you're after is simply reliable file-serving. I surmise by File-Serving.. you'd want your box to function like a NAS (Network Attached Storage) -- which basically is a server, with an OS plus storage plus multi-protocol fileserving tools enabled.

Nevertheless - this will apply to ANY UNIX/Linus that you'd want to do File-serving on:

1. With SAMBA .. calculate memory -- based on the maximum number of connectins and users. Each samba resource connection is anywhere from 2-3 MB of memory. You will also need to tweak your config.. many many resources on the web.

2. NFS - tune your kernel and make sure you've sufficient daemons running and you tune NFS tunables as well.

2.5 If you're serving IPX/SPX as well as Appletalk.. each will have each own set of configurables.


3. Buffer Cache --- If you've lots of memory .. then you'll probably better off allocating more memory to filesystem, network and NFS caches.

4. If you're running VxFS on your exported filesystems.. look at the vxfs inode tunables. This will help you if your shares will contain zillions of directory/file entries...

5. Network -- If you've trunking software or aggregation software.. use it. Get the biggest bandwidth that you can get between your server and the switch infra.


HTH.

[Bill Hassell]

Since the network is so slow compared to disk speeds, and assuming that there is only NFS (no separate programs running), the CPU requirements are fairly easy. The real question is the volume of file activity per (second, minute, hour..). If there will be extensive access (dozens to thousands of requests per second) for long periods of time, then the 100BaseT LAN will have to be revisited, perhaps splitting the network into additional subnets and adding more LAN cards to your server. Alternatively, you could add 3 additional LAN cards and add the auto-port aggregation software to improve LAN performance.

[Steven E. Protter]

Since this is going to be an NFS server:

I recommend Gigabit networking all around. That includes the LAN card on this file server, the network switch and desktops. If there is going to be a bottleneck, let it be disk on the server.'

NFS Version 4 is coming soon I hope and might improve NFS performance.

If Gigabit is not possible then perhaps multiple 100 Mbps cards teamed with APA, auto port aggregation.

SEP

[Bill Hassell]

And with so many users, NFS tuning will be a challenge. Save a lot of time by getting Dave Olker's book: "Optimizing NFS Performance: Tuning and Troubleshooting NFS on HP-UX Systems"
by Dave Olker