CentOS - Sep 2017 - Notice: Check your tuned settings for a performance boost.

Last week we noticed that the default scheduler isn't being set properly
in CentOS 7. I haven't checked this for CentOS 6, but it might be worth
exploring.

The TL;DR is unless you're running CentOS 7 on a laptop or as a virtual
guest, you should probably run 'tuned-adm profile
throughput-performance'

I wrote up the full details here ->
http://jperrin.org/centos/boosting-centos-server-performance/



-- 
Jim Perrin
The CentOS Project | http://www.centos.org
twitter: @BitIntegrity | GPG Key: FA09AD77

On Thu, Sep 21, 2017 at 11:45:12AM -0700, Jim Perrin
wrote:
> Last week we noticed that the default scheduler isn't being set
properly
> in CentOS 7. I haven't checked this for CentOS 6, but it might be worth
> exploring.
> 
> The TL;DR is unless you're running CentOS 7 on a laptop or as a virtual
> guest, you should probably run 'tuned-adm profile
throughput-performance'
> 
> I wrote up the full details here ->
> http://jperrin.org/centos/boosting-centos-server-performance/
Cool. thanks!

I have noticed (without being quite sure what to do about it) that
my Centos 7 desktop (six core AMD Vishera) seems sluggish at times,
when there doesn't seem to be much running that should be a system
hog. I'll see if this change  helps resolve that.

Does running the command shown there make a permanent change, i.e.,
one that survives reboot?


-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us
-----------------------------
                         God made him who had no sin
                      to be sin for us, so that in him
                 we might become the righteousness of God."
--------------------------- Corinthians 5:21 ---------------------------------

On 09/21/2017 07:02 PM, Fred Smith wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 21, 2017 at 11:45:12AM -0700, Jim Perrin wrote:
>> Last week we noticed that the default scheduler isn't being set
properly
>> in CentOS 7. I haven't checked this for CentOS 6, but it might be
worth
>> exploring.
>>
>> The TL;DR is unless you're running CentOS 7 on a laptop or as a
virtual
>> guest, you should probably run 'tuned-adm profile
throughput-performance'
>>
>> I wrote up the full details here ->
>> http://jperrin.org/centos/boosting-centos-server-performance/
> 
> Cool. thanks!
> 
> I have noticed (without being quite sure what to do about it) that
> my Centos 7 desktop (six core AMD Vishera) seems sluggish at times,
> when there doesn't seem to be much running that should be a system
> hog. I'll see if this change  helps resolve that.
> 
> Does running the command shown there make a permanent change, i.e.,
> one that survives reboot?
> 
> 
Yes. This command will drop an 'active-profile' file in /etc/tuned that
will be used and survive reboots, kernel updates, etc.


-- 
Jim Perrin
The CentOS Project | http://www.centos.org
twitter: @BitIntegrity | GPG Key: FA09AD77

On Thursday 21 September 2017, Jim Perrin <jperrin at centos.org> wrote:
> Last week we noticed that the default scheduler isn't being set
> properly in CentOS 7. I haven't checked this for CentOS 6, but it
> might be worth exploring.
On my CentOS 6 system, tuned wasn't installed by default, but when I 
installed it and followed your instructions, that did seem to improve 
some programs' performance considerably.

-- 
Yves Bellefeuille <yan at storm.ca>
GPG key 837A6134 at http://members.storm.ca/~yan/pgp.asc

Jim Perrin wrote:
> Last week we noticed that the default scheduler isn't being set
properly
> in CentOS 7. I haven't checked this for CentOS 6, but it might be worth
> exploring.
>
> The TL;DR is unless you're running CentOS 7 on a laptop or as a virtual
> guest, you should probably run 'tuned-adm profile
throughput-performance'
>
> I wrote up the full details here ->
> http://jperrin.org/centos/boosting-centos-server-performance/
Thank you very much for the notice!  Looking at a couple machines, I found
that the automatic choice of profile isn?t what I would want.

Now I wonder how everyone deals with this, i. e. do you set a profile once
and never change it, or do you keep changing the profile according to
circumstances?  Is changing it even advisable, i. e. do all the settings
applied through a profile always take effect immediately, or may a reboot
be required for some of them?

For example, 'virtual-host' is a good choice during the day when the
server
is being used while 'balanced' --- or even 'powersave' --- could
be used at
night when the server is idle.

I made entries in the crontab for this to change the profile at the
appropriate times.  But is that a good idea?

On 09/22/2017 07:46 PM, Yves Bellefeuille wrote:
> On Thursday 21 September 2017, Jim Perrin <jperrin at centos.org>
wrote:
> 
>> Last week we noticed that the default scheduler isn't being set
>> properly in CentOS 7. I haven't checked this for CentOS 6, but it
>> might be worth exploring.
> 
> On my CentOS 6 system, tuned wasn't installed by default, but when I 
> installed it and followed your instructions, that did seem to improve 
> some programs' performance considerably.
> 

Glad it helped.


-- 
Jim Perrin
The CentOS Project | http://www.centos.org
twitter: @BitIntegrity | GPG Key: FA09AD77

On 09/23/2017 03:52 AM, hw wrote:
> Thank you very much for the notice!? Looking at a couple machines, I found
> that the automatic choice of profile isn?t what I would want.
> 
> Now I wonder how everyone deals with this, i. e. do you set a profile once
> and never change it, or do you keep changing the profile according to
> circumstances?? Is changing it even advisable, i. e. do all the settings
> applied through a profile always take effect immediately, or may a reboot
> be required for some of them?
> 
The change is immediate, however some processes may need to be restarted.
> For example, 'virtual-host' is a good choice during the day when
the server
> is being used while 'balanced' --- or even 'powersave' ---
could be used at
> night when the server is idle.
> > I made entries in the crontab for this to change the profile at the
> appropriate times.? But is that a good idea?

Not really. Ultimately this is what the scheduler itself is meant to be
doing. What you've described is what the 'balanced' profile actually
does.

For server users, I'd say it's a set it and forget it thing.

Laptop users who want performance when plugged in on AC, and powersave
when on battery... Those are the people who should be using something
like tlp or powertop (both in EPEL I think) to change this automatically.



-- 
Jim Perrin
The CentOS Project | http://www.centos.org
twitter: @BitIntegrity | GPG Key: FA09AD77