HP-UX 11i Tuning and Performance

1.4. Rules of Performance Tuning

Here is the first of several “Rules of Performance Tuning.”

RULE 1: When answering a question about computer system performance, the initial answer is always: “It depends.”

(These rules will often be referred to by just the number, or the short form. So, here we would say: “Rule #1” or “It depends.”) The following shows the application of the rule in a typical consulting situation.

From Bob's Consulting Log— On arriving at a customer site for a performance consultation, one of the first questions we were asked was, “What will happen if I add twenty users to my system?” The answer was, of course, “It depends!” Implicit in this question, though unspoken, was the fact that performance was actually satisfactory ...