Skip to main content

By clicking Submit, you agree to the developerWorks terms of use.

The first time you sign into developerWorks, a profile is created for you. Select information in your developerWorks profile is displayed to the public, but you may edit the information at any time. Your first name, last name (unless you choose to hide them), and display name will accompany the content that you post.

All information submitted is secure.

  • Close [x]

The first time you sign in to developerWorks, a profile is created for you, so you need to choose a display name. Your display name accompanies the content you post on developerworks.

Please choose a display name between 3-31 characters. Your display name must be unique in the developerWorks community and should not be your email address for privacy reasons.

By clicking Submit, you agree to the developerWorks terms of use.

All information submitted is secure.

  • Close [x]

Select a language:

  • Close [x]
  • Close [x]

Tuning Red Hat for maximum performance

Why and how to tune a stock installation

Tom Syroid (dwcomments@syroidmanor.com), Freelance author, Studio B Productions
Tom Syroid is a contract writer for Studio B Productions, a literary agency based in Indianapolis, IN, specializing in computer-oriented publications. His specialties include *NIX system security, Samba, Apache, and Web database applications based on PHP and MySQL. He has experience administering and maintaining a diverse range of operating systems including Linux (Red Hat, OpenLinux, Mandrake, Slackware, Gentoo), Windows (95, 98, NT, 2000, and XP), and AIX (4.3.3 and 5.1). He is also the co-author of Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell (O'Reilly & Associates) and OpenLinux Secrets (Hungry Minds). Tom lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with his wife and two children. Hobbies include breaking perfectly good computer installations and then figuring out how to fix them, along with gardening, reading, and building complex structures out of Legos with his kids. Contact Tom at dwcomments@syroidmanor.com.

Summary:  This tutorial details the ins and outs of transforming a stock, "out-of-the-box" Red Hat installation into a finely tuned, stable system customized to individual needs and tastes. The material presented here is based on Red Hat 7.3, although many of the techniques and procedures discussed are equally applicable to other mainstream Linux® distributions. And while the title says tuning for performance, you'll soon discover that performance and security often go hand in hand.

Date:  21 Aug 2002
Level:  Intermediate
PDF:  A4 and Letter (77 KB | 20 pages)Get Adobe® Reader®

Activity:  13018 views
Comments:  

Before you start

About this tutorial

This tutorial shows you how to transform a stock, "out of the box" Red Hat installation into a finely tuned, stable system customized to your needs and tastes. Topics addressed include:

  • Installation issues
  • Culling, updating, and maintaining installed packages
  • System services administration, hard-drive tuning, and increasing network performance
  • Compiling a custom kernel

This tutorial is written for Linux server administrators who want to customize Linux to increase the performance and reliability of an installation.

Back to top

Prerequisites

You should have a basic understanding of common UNIX® administrative concepts and tasks, such as file system layout, daemons and services, editing configuration files, the Linux initialization process, and networking.

To follow along with the examples, you should have a pre-existing Linux installation, or a system with enough available free drive space to install a rudimentary Linux distribution. As noted, while this tutorial is based on Red Hat 7.3, the concepts discussed are applicable to a wide range of other Linux products.

1 of 7 | Next

Comments

Back to top

Close [x]

Help: Update or add to My dW interests

What's this?

This little timesaver lets you update your My developerWorks profile with just one click! The general subject of this content (AIX and UNIX, Information Management, Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, WebSphere, Java, Linux, Open source, SOA and Web services, Web development, or XML) will be added to the interests section of your profile, if it's not there already. You only need to be logged in to My developerWorks.

And what's the point of adding your interests to your profile? That's how you find other users with the same interests as yours, and see what they're reading and contributing to the community. Your interests also help us recommend relevant developerWorks content to you.

View your My developerWorks profile

Return from help

Close [x]

Help: Remove from My dW interests

What's this?

Removing this interest does not alter your profile, but rather removes this piece of content from a list of all content for which you've indicated interest. In a future enhancement to My developerWorks, you'll be able to see a record of that content.

View your My developerWorks profile

Return from help

static.content.url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/js/artrating/
SITE_ID=1
Zone=Linux, Open source
ArticleID=133071
TutorialTitle=Tuning Red Hat for maximum performance
publish-date=08212002
author1-email=dwcomments@syroidmanor.com
author1-email-cc=

Table of contents

1 of 7 | Next

Local resources

Tags

Help
Use the search field to find all types of content in My developerWorks with that tag.

Use the slider bar to see more or fewer tags.

Popular tags shows the top tags for this particular content zone (for example, Java technology, Linux, WebSphere).

My tags shows your tags for this particular content zone (for example, Java technology, Linux, WebSphere).

Use the search field to find all types of content in My developerWorks with that tag. Popular tags shows the top tags for this particular content zone (for example, Java technology, Linux, WebSphere). My tags shows your tags for this particular content zone (for example, Java technology, Linux, WebSphere).

 

Dig deeper into Linux on developerWorks

Try IBM PureSystems. No charge.

IBM PureSystems on a kaleideoscope background

Experience today!

Get started with the cloud-based trial and pattern development kit.

Share this page:

  • Close [x]

Follow developerWorks:

  • Close [x]