TUNEX: A Knowledge-Based System for Performance Tuning of the UNIX Operating System

TUNEX, an expert system developed for performance tuning of the UNIX operating system, is described. TUNEX was developed on UNIX system V. It uses the properties, commands and utilities of this version. The tuning activities it is concerned with include: (1) adjusting operating system tunable parameters, such as number of disk buffers; (2) running maintenance routines, i.e. reorganizing file systems; (3) developing operation rules, such as off-peak hour runs of backups; and (4) modifying hardware, buying an additional disk drive. The structure of TUNEX is presented and performance analysis modules which provide quantitative information to this tool are briefly described. The overhead in the resource usage introduced by the performance monitoring and tuning tool itself is discussed; the author points to the areas in which additional resources are required by TUNEX. >