Performance Tuning for Linux® Servers

Chapter Eight. Scheduler Tuning

By Chandra Seetharaman

Introduction

If computers had a single program and a single processor, there would be no need for a scheduler to implement resource management policies. The program would run until completion, and then the machine would halt. Computers today, however, seldom run a single program and a single processor. More often, the “single program” is an operating system that provides a variety of system services, implements a number of resource management policies, and generally never runs to completion.

Linux is such an operating system. Although it can be used for some very specific purposes, a more typical situation is where Linux is managing multiple tasks, with each utilizing one or more processors. ...