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Oracle Performance Tuning and Optimization
(Publisher: Macmillan Computer Publishing)
Author(s): Edward Whalen
ISBN: 067230886x
Publication Date: 04/01/96

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Chapter 38
Tuning the Network Components

The last chapter reviewed the basics of how the various network components operate; this chapter looks at how to tune these components. The chapter considers both the hardware and software and how to optimally design a computer network. Once you have quantified the limitations of the network, you can design a network that will function within those limits.

As you saw in the last chapter, the primary cause of network performance problems is because the bandwidth of the network itself has been exceeded. The network itself can support only a certain amount of traffic. When that amount has been reached, the network experiences delays. In turn, these delays can cause noticeable increases in response times.

There are few optimizations you can do to the OS to tune performance, but these fall into the category of fine tuning. There is really not very much you can do to the OS to overcome the limitations of the network itself.


NOTE:  When I talk about the limitations of the network, I refer to the actual limitations of the medium you are using. If you use traditional Ethernet, this limitation is 10 megabits/second. If you use 100Base-T, the limitation is 100 megabits/second.

The network limits are fixed by software and hardware standards and the limitations of the hardware. There is nothing you can do to increase the limits of these mediums. By knowing your limitations, you can design your network to fit within the bounds. When the application and database need data faster than the medium can supply it, the network becomes a bottleneck.

The next section starts by looking at some of the tuning you can do to the network software. The following sections provide some design hints that can help you put together a high-performance network. By properly designing the network segments to handle the requested load, you can enhance the performance of the system.

Software Tuning

Several things can be done within the operating system to improve performance. The most important of these are to reduce system overhead caused by networking and to use a sufficiently large packet size to increase throughput. Depending on your operating system, you may or may not be able to change anything to increase performance. The following sections review a few of the network parameters that can be modified on a per-operating system basis.

NetWare

There are a few networking parameters you can modify to increase NetWare’s efficiency. By making sure that you have a sufficient amount of packet receive buffers, you can avoid dynamically allocating them at run time. The packet receive buffers are used to buffer the incoming network requests while the processor is busy. Do this by making the NetWare parameter MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS sufficiently high. This parameter is set in STARTUP.NCF. A good starting point is 200 for 40 users or fewer.

Monitor this change on the NetWare monitor screen to see whether the buffers are being dynamically allocated. If the number of packet receive buffers frequently exceeds the value you have set for MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS, think about increasing this value.

If you never achieve more than the minimum, you may be wasting space. If the value is too high, you waste memory. Try setting the value down until you begin to see dynamic allocation at run time. At this point, add 2 to 5 percent and monitor the change on a regular basis. If dynamic allocation starts up again, increase MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS until dynamic allocation stops.

Windows NT

Although there is little network tuning you can do with Windows NT, there are a few things you can do to streamline the network. By prioritizing the network bindings, you can increase performance. Do this with the Control Panel Network Configuration utility. Put the network protocol you use most frequently first in the list to give it the highest priority; follow it with the next protocol you use, and so on.

Remove any protocols from the list that you do not use; this benefits performance by reducing both memory consumption and CPU overhead. Also be sure that the system is configured as a server on the Network Configuration screen.

OS/2

There is very little you can do with OS/2 to tune the network. By installing only the network protocols you will be using, you can streamline the network subsystem. By removing any unneeded components, you also benefit. By removing any unneeded protocols, you save both memory and CPU utilization.

UNIX

With UNIX, there is also very little you can tune to improve network efficiency. The only parameters you may have to adjust relate to increasing the available number of connections and user resources. These parameters are covered in Chapter 12, “Operating System-Specific Tuning.”

As with the other operating systems, you can streamline the system by removing any protocols or network applications that are not necessary for the function of the system. By removing any unnecessary protocols, you save memory and CPU usage.

Oracle Tuning

The best way to improve network performance in software is to design your application to eliminate the transmission of unwanted and unnecessary data. By using stored procedures, you not only reduce the amount of data transmitted but also improve performance by taking better advantage of the shared SQL areas.

Only retrieve useful data from your stored procedures and queries. Any unnecessary data transmitted from the server to the client wastes valuable network bandwidth.

Another way to reduce network traffic within Oracle is to take advantage of local tables. If part of your data is never updated and is heavily used locally, you may see a benefit from replicating the data to your client machine. The replicated data not only reduces network traffic, it speeds access to the data as well.

Optimize the amount of data transmitted across the network as much as possible. The network subsystem in the OS should also be streamlined to provide optimal performance. If you still have a network bottleneck, you have no alternative other than increasing the bandwidth of the network.


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