Types of reported performance problems

When a performance problem is reported, it is helpful to determine the kind of performance problem by narrowing the list of possibilities.

A particular program runs slowly
A program may start to run slowly for any one of several reasons.
Everything runs slowly at a particular time of day
There are several reasons why the system may slow down at certain times of the day.
Everything runs slowly at unpredictable times
The best tool for this situation is an overload detector, such as the filtd daemon, a component of PTX.
Everything that an individual user runs is slow
Sometimes a system seems to affect a particular individual.
A number of LAN-connected systems slow down simultaneously
There are some common problems that arise in the transition from independent systems to distributed systems.
Everything on a particular service or device slows down at times
There are a variety of reasons why everything on a particular service or device slows down at times.
Everything runs slowly when connected remotely
Local and remote authentication to a system can behave very differently. By default, the local authentication files are consulted first when a user logs in with their user id. This has a faster response time than network-based authentication mechanisms.

Parent topic: Initial performance diagnosis