Enhancing performance on Server

[James Marcinek]

For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list at redhat.com> wrote: 
> On Wed, 2005-01-26 at 05:59 +0000, James Marcinek wrote:
> > I am trying to enhance the performance of a linux server, running FC3, for a
> > small office of about 14 users. The system is provding several of the
following
> > services:
> > 
> >  Samba running as a Domain Controller
> >  Samba File server
> >  HylaFAX server
> >  vsftp server (to support HylaFAX)
> >  Postfix (to support email notices)
> >  Amanda Server (running after hours backups)
> > 
> > The server is running a pentium IV (not sure on the speed at the moment, and
has
> > 1.5 Gigs of RAM, hardware based SCSI raid (PCI SCSI card) and external
modem.
> > 
> > >From the system monitoring that I've been periodically checking, the CPU is
in
> > good shape as well as the RAM. However, the loggin in and off of user's is
felt
> > on the network. The Samba environment was just converted from a Workgroup to
a
> > domain. The local user profiles were copied and converted to roaming, in
> > addition to changing the local home directory from the default C: location
to
> > their $HOME drives on the Samba Domain controller. Each domain user id was
> > logged in to their respective PC, which will download a copy to the local PC
to
> > expedite the logon/logoff process. However it still takes time to logoff and
> > save settings, etc. Some of the problems may be due to the fact the user's
were
> > previously saving large files (like music, etc) in their home folder. I'm
sure
> > this will alleviate some items.
> > 
> > When I use the tops command during the logon/logoff periods, I do see samba
> > spiking the CPU to higher limits, though still acceptable. A lot of physical
RAM
> > is also used, which is one area I think could be addressed; however the
paging
> > space doesn't look to active...
> > 
> > I'm wondering if the bottleneck is in the network card. The whole network is
> > 100BaseT. I haven't used a lot of network tools (mainly netstat) so I'd be
> > interested to hear of some good ones. Also if there are any suggestions
based
> > off of past experiences.
> > 
> > I do have one thing that I am considering but don't know if it's practical
(or
> > feasible) and that is putting another network card onto the network. Now
I've
> > never done this but heard that the cards could be bound, or one card
accepting
> > packets and one would be for sending. I'd be extremely interested in hearing
if
> > it's possible and how it can be done. I'd also like to hear of any pros and
cons
> > to this or any other suggestions.
> ---
> Indeed - makes total sense - buy 2 server grade intel cards and yank out
> (or turn off in bios if motherboard) and do bonding to 1 ip address.
> Make sure you use high quality cables and hopefully this is a switch you
> are using to get full duplex and it would have to really help.
> 
> You might find that some redirects in roaming profiles are helpful -
> i.e. - have user mailstore on server that never moves (i.e. in their
> home directories) for things like Outlook PST's - Outlook is roaming
> profile monster. It stuffs everything into one .pst file and if you
> merely logon, start outlook, check mail and get no mail and then log
> off, you will have to sync profile back. Get users to ditch Outlook and
> your life will be much happier.
> 
> Craig
> 
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Do you know of any How-To's for bonding network cards?

Thanks,

James