System Performance Tuning and Capacity Planning
PARSEC Group has specialized in performance analysis since its inception in 1986. Each of our performance consultants has 26+ years of experience with their respective operating systems. We have tuned hundreds of systems for some of HP's largest customers; including Colorado Department of Public Safety, Bank Austria, Ball Corporation, British Petroleum and many others.
PARSEC Group's expertise in performance tuning is recognized worldwide. HP has contracted with PARSEC Group to teach performance tuning to their operating system engineers. CA contracted PARSEC Group to port their performance data collection and analysis tools to OpenVMS/I64 and update the performance rules to work correctly with the current versions of OpenVMS.
Data Collection
This analysis can be performed using data collected by a variety of available tools depending on the operating system and licensed products. Some of these are freely available while others only come with specific configurations or at an additional cost. Whatever data collector you have available, PARSEC Group can provide the best analysis available for that data. Some of the tools commonly used to collect performance data include:
- T4 on OpenVMS
- CA's PolyCenter Data Collector on OpenVMS which is now part of TNG Unicenter
- Monitor data on VMS
- System Activity Reporter (SAR) on most UNIX systems
- GlancePlus on HP-UX
- Tivoli Suite on AIX
- Collect on Tru64 UNIX
- Other available tools which create a single snapshot of your system include: vmstat, mpstat, iostat, netstat and prstat
Performance Analysis
This service is performed to optimize the performance of your IT systems whether they are standalone or in a cluster. This service includes collecting performance data, analyzing it, and looking for bottlenecks in the existing system. This detailed system analysis may also be helpful in capacity planning and in identifying performance issues with layered software and applications. We focus on peak utilization periods in which system performance is critical.
Some of the areas we analyze include:
- CPU Utilization
- I/O and Disk Performance
- Network and Cluster Communication
- Memory Utilization and Process Working Sets
- Processes
- SYSGEN Parameter Settings
- Process Quota Settings
- File System Caches
In addition to the standard analysis, we can also be engaged to look at application and file system performance data.
Recommendations regarding the configuration of the operating system can be implemented by your staff or by PARSEC Group.
Performance Training
Due to our vast experience in performance analysis, HP requested that PARSEC Group rewrite the OpenVMS System Performance Management class. PARSEC Group and all other HP authorized worldwide training centers utilize this course material to deliver the OpenVMS System Performance Management class.
Would you benefit from some performance training for your operating systems? We offer the following operating system specific courses on performance analysis and tuning.
- OpenVMS System Performance Management (developed by PARSEC Group)
- HP-UX Performance and Tuning
- HP Tru64 UNIX Performance Management
- HP Tru64 UNIX Performance on GS Series Systems
- Power Systems for AIX - Virtualization II: Advanced PowerVM and Performance
For additional information, please contact us at 888-4PARSEC, send an e-mail to experts@parsec.com or use our inquiry form.