Linux Performance Tuning

2h 37mAdvanced2018-02-15

Authors

Kevin Dankwardt

Linux Leader, Embedded Linux Authority

Course details

DevOps pros, system admins, and software developers all benefit from knowing how to determine bottlenecks, find resource usage information, and improve the performance of Linux systems. Linux performance tuning makes sure you're getting the most from your machines. This training course demonstrates a variety of tools and techniques to help you diagnose and repair problems related to resource usage and allocation. Learn how to identify bottlenecks in memory, CPU, and disk, by using tools such as perf, sar, top, htop, atop, Performance Co-Pilot, and many more. Explore the proc filesystem, and concepts such as swapping, paging, and page faults. Instructor Kevin Dankwardt also discusses Linux process scheduling, and relates topics to objectives covered by the Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Performance Tuning exam (EX442).

Learning objectives
Timing techniques
Packages for performance
Identifying and optimizing CPU bottlenecks
Finding memory bottlenecks
Diagnosing disk bottlenecks

Skills covered

LinuxNetwork AdministrationLearningNetwork and System AdministrationOpen Source

Concepts

Introduction

Welcome
What you should know

Performance Overview

What do we mean by performance
Timing techniques
Timing techniques solution
The proc filesystem
Packages for performance
Performance Co-Pilot and Tuna
SystemTap and Berkeley Packet Filter

CPU Bottlenecks

top for CPU usage
sar for CPU
proc cpuinfo
Scheduling - nice, priorities, and process classes
Throughput vs. response time
The Linux kernel and responsiveness

Memory Bottlenecks

What is a memory leak
proc meminfo, free, and swap space
top and htop for memory usage
CPU caches and page caches
Page sizes and page faults
Challenge - Finding memory bottlenecks
Solution - Finding memory bottlenecks

Disk Bottlenecks

Hard disks and SSD behavior
sar and atop tools and disk utilization
Filesystem types and performance
Challenge - Disk bottlenecks
Solution - Disk bottlenecks

Conclusion

Next steps