Kernel parameters for HP-UX servers running

PeopleSoft Enterprise software applications

Executive summary............................................................................................................................... 2
Kernel recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 2
HP-UX process management parameters ............................................................................................. 3
HP-UX file system parameters ............................................................................................................. 4
HP-UX inter-process communication parameters ................................................................................... 6
Recommendations for Oracle database tier ......................................................................................... 7
Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 7
For more information ............................................................................................................................ 8
Executive summary
This document contains recommendations for kernel parameters on HP-UX systems running Oracle®
PeopleSoft Enterprise software. The software deployments are structured around PeopleSoft Pure
Internet Architecture, which divides the installation into web, application, batch and database tiers.
Unless otherwise specified, the recommendations apply to servers supporting any tier.
This paper is intended to give an overview of base kernel parameters that should be set for PeopleSoft
systems. A system tuning exercise is always recommended before going into live production. The
kernel settings offered in this paper are meant to give a starting point for future system tuning. HP also
offers system performance tuning services for PeopleSoft systems. For more information on this service
or other specific Oracle services, please contact HP at services.oracleapps@hp.com.
Target audience: The target audience for this paper is comprised of system administrators and
technical managers for PeopleSoft deployments running on HP-UX 11i.

Kernel recommendations
PeopleSoft supports all current versions of HP-UX – 11i v1, v2, and v3 (also known as 11.11, 11.23,
and 11.31 respectively). The recommended kernel parameter values are the same for all versions. In
the tables below, an “nc” annotation for a given kernel parameter implies “no changes necessary” for
the specified operating system version, typically because the default setting is adequate. A useful
feature of HP-UX 11i v2 and later is complete documentation for all kernel parameters via the man
(1M) interface. For example, the command “man maxuprc” will display the man page for the
maxuprc kernel parameter.
The order of the changes listed in this document is important; making the changes in the order given
will avoid frustrating “input value out of bounds” and “violates interdependency rule” messages from
the System Administration Manager (SAM) tool in HP-UX 11i v1 or kcweb in HP-UX 11i v2 and later.
Kernel parameters can also be changed from the command line with kmtune (HP-UX 11i v1) or kctune
(HP-UX 11i v2 or later). See the appropriate man pages for details: http://docs.hp.com/en/B2355-
60105/kmtune.1M.html and http://docs.hp.com/en/B2355-60105/kctune.1M.html.
HP-UX 11i supports some dynamic kernel parameters (indicated in the tables below with a “yes” in
the Dyn column). The error checking by the SAM process may prevent changing those parameters
until AFTER the reboot forcing the incorporation of the other changes. A second reboot is not
required; what is required is a second invocation of SAM.

Note
Using a formula for some kernel parameters is a useful method for reducing the
number of “knobs” to turn when tuning a server for a particular workload. The default
kernel parameters for HP-UX 11i v2 and v3 have virtually eliminated the use of
formulas to allow for greater customization of kernel services. This document restores
some formula values to simplify server management for well-characterized Enterprise
deployments.

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HP-UX process management parameters
The kernel parameters that control HP-UX process management features are shown in table 1. The
recommendations are appropriate for all tiers of a PeopleSoft deployment.

Table 1. Process management kernel parameters

Parameter Dyn Default value Recommended value

maxuprc 11i v1 : 75 (NPROC/8) -> 514

v2/v3 : 256

maxusers 32 128
(11i v1 only)

nproc 11i v1 : (20+8*MAXUSERS) 4096 or greater

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 4200

nkthread yes 11i v1 : (((NPROC*7)/4)+16) (2*NPROC) -> 8196

v2/v3 : 8416

max_thread_proc 11i v1 : 64 1024

v2/v3 : 256

maxdsiz 11i v1 : 0x10000000 -> 256 MB 0xC0000000 -> 3 GB

v2/v3 : 0x40000000 -> 1 GB

maxdsiz_64bit 11i v1 : 0x40000000 -> 1 GB 0x1000000000 -> 64 GB

v2/v3 : 0x100000000 -> 4 GB

maxssiz 0x00800000 -> 8 MB 0x04000000 -> 64 MB

maxssiz_64bit 11i v1 : 0x00800000 -> 8 MB 0x10000000 -> 256 MB

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 0x10000000 -> 256 MB

swapmem_on 1 (but may be 0 for some 1 (set to 0 only if device

configurations)
swap >= server memory)

swchunk 2048 16384

vps_ceiling 16 256

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Rationale for recommendations
The changes to the max* parameters above are necessary to allow sufficient kernel resources for a
typical production deployment. Servers that support multiple environments, such as a development
and a unit test environment, may need slightly higher values. Error messages in the PeopleSoft log
files should provide insight if the configured parameters are insufficient. For example, error messages
noting “process table full” or “fork of child process failed” are usually indications that nproc and/or
maxuprc need to be increased.
Increasing swchunk facilitates adding swap space, if it becomes necessary to do so. Configuring
additional storage as device swap does not require a reboot; modifying swchunk does.
A higher setting for vps_ceiling allows the HP-UX kernel to minimize in-memory fragmentation of
applications with large data footprints. This allowance is particularly useful for PeopleSoft server
processes and Oracle RDBMS processes, both of which allocate large, contiguous memory segments
at runtime.

Note
Beginning with the September 2008 release of 11i v3 Update 3 (11.31.0809), the
HP-UX kernel supports the base_pagesize parameter to modify the smallest block of
physical memory that can be allocated to running processes. Changing this
parameter from its default value of 4 kilobytes is not recommended for PeopleSoft
systems at this time.

HP-UX file system parameters

This next set of parameters controls how the kernel manages the server’s file system resources. Again,
the recommendations are appropriate for all tiers of a PeopleSoft deployment.

Table 2. File system resource management kernel parameters

Parameter Dyn Default value Recommended value

maxfiles_lim yes 11i v1 : 1024 4096

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 4096

maxfiles 11i v1 : 60 2048

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 2048

vx_ninode1 0 (8*NPROC)

dbc_min_pct2 yes 5 2
(filecache_min)

dbc_max_pct yes 50 20 (or lower)

(filecache_max)

1
a patch included with HP-UX 11i v3 Update 3 (11.31.0809) eliminates the need to modify vx_ninode
2
dbc_min_pct and dbc_max_pct have been replaced with filecache_min and filecache_max for HP-UX 11.31

4
Rationale for recommendations
The values for dbc_min_pct and dbc_max_pct (renamed filecache_min and filecache_max for HP-UX
11i v3) should be set so as to restrict the kernel’s buffer cache to several hundred megabytes, or
around 20% of a 4GB server, 10% of an 8GB server or 2-3% of a 32GB server. Database servers
may require larger file system buffer caches if the database instance is maintained on standard file
systems and those file systems are configured so as to enable buffered I/O, which is not a
configuration recommended by either Oracle or HP.
Setting a non-zero value for vx_ninode also has a positive impact on overall file system performance.
An explicit value ensures that the kernel’s Symantec Veritas file system code does not inadvertently
consume more resources than necessary for file-system intensive applications. Changes in HP-UX
11i v2 require that the formula for vx_ninode be tied to a parameter with a fixed value, as in
NPROC, not one that is itself another formula, such as NFILE. A patch to the Veritas code was added
to HP-UX 11i v3 Update 3 (11.31.0809) to address this issue; it is not necessary to modify vx_ninode
for systems using HP-UX 11.31.0809 or later.

5
HP-UX inter-process communication parameters
The table of multi-tier recommendations below specifies the inter-process communication (IPC) control
parameters. PeopleSoft Enterprise uses the BEA Tuxedo infrastructure, which relies heavily on the IPC
features of HP-UX. These settings are required on the application and batch deployment tiers. For
more details, refer to
http://e-docs.bea.com/tuxedo/tux80/install/insappd.htm#997149.

Table 3. Inter-process communication control kernel parameters

Parameter Dyn Default value Recommended value

msgssz 11i v1 : 8 512

(obsolete in v3) v2 : 96

msgmni 11i v1 : 50 256

v2/v3 : 512

msgseg 11i v1 : 2048 32767

(obsolete in v3) v2 : 8192

msgtql 11i v1 : 40 2046

v2/v3 : 1024

msgmnb yes 16384 1048576

msgmax yes 8192 64000

(obsolete in v3)

msgmap 11i v1 : (2+msgtql) (2+msgtql)

(obsolete in v3) v2 : 1026

semmns 11i v1 : 128 512

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 4096

semmni 11i v1 : 64 (SEMMNS/2)

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 2048

semmnu 11i v1 : 30 (SEMMNS/4)

v2/v3 : 256

shmmax yes 11i v1 : 0x04000000 0x40000000 (1GB)

v2/v3 : 0x40000000

Systems with large or multiple deployments should use the BEA utility tmloadcf to verify sufficient
allocation of IPC resources. In particular, semmnu will need to be increased for systems that will run
multiple PeopleSoft instances simultaneously (for example, a development environment alongside a
staging environment and a unit test environment).

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Recommendations for Oracle database tier
The Oracle RDBMS software places additional requirements on HP-UX, necessitating additional kernel
parameter changes. The last table below outlines values that have been used successfully for many of
HP’s benchmarking and sizing efforts with PeopleSoft software. Always check the latest Oracle
documentation for other recommendations.

Table 4. New values for inter-process communication control kernel parameters

Parameter Dyn Default value New value

max_async_ports 50 128
(>= #ora_procs + #ora_clients)

nfile varies (4*NPROC + 2048)

nflocks varies (2*NPROC)

maxuprc Yes 75 (NPROC/4)

semmns 11i v1 : 128 (2*NPROC)

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 4096

semmni 11i v1 : 64 NPROC

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 2048

semmnu 11i v1 : 30 (NPROC/2)

v2/v3 : 256

semume 11i v1 : 10 100

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 100

shmmax Yes 11i v1 : 0x04000000 0x400000000 -> 16 GB

v2/v3 : 0x40000000

shmmni 11i v1 : 200 400

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 400

shmseg Yes 11iv1 : 120 300

(nc for v2/v3) v2/v3 : 300

Beginning with RDBMS 9i, Oracle provides a validation utility to perform pre-installation checks on
the target server. This utility can be very helpful at identifying appropriate kernel settings. Refer to
MetaLink note: 334563.1 for the 10g version.

Summary
Implementing the recommended parameters as described in this paper will help to overcome many
performance pitfalls common in new PeopleSoft configurations. While it is always recommended to
engage in a complete system tuning exercise, the recommendations mentioned in this white paper
will, in most cases, provide a stable platform upon which to build a PeopleSoft environment.

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 For more information
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4AA1-6281ENW, Revision 5, November 2008