Solaris PC NetLink: Performance, Sizing and Deployment

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Description

The Solaris PC NetLink Blueprint is quickly becoming the bible by which system administrators and system planners are obtaining the vital information they need to plan and implement an enterprise-capable PC NetLink Software system.

Solaris PC NetLink Software is the latest offering from Sun to enable Sun servers to support PC Client services. Solaris servers, with PC NetLink Software installed, not only support both the file and print services that are common to all Microsoft PC operating systems, but also allow Sun Workgroup and Enterprise servers to be fully integrated into NT Domains as a Primary, or Backup Domain Controller (PDC, BDC). In addition, PC NetLink Software offers the benefit of allowing NT system administrators to manage PC NetLink Software systems using the same tools they already use to set up and maintain NT servers.

The purpose of this book is to supply system planners and system administrators the information that allows them to install, tune, and use their PC NetLink Software to its maximum functionality and performance. Server sizing information is supplied for system planners to scale their PC NetLink Software to their own PC Client environment.

Extras

Related Articles

Sizing Sun Ray™ Servers Running Windows Applications with SunPCi™ IIpro Coprocessor Cards

Windows NT Server Consolidation and Performance Improvements with Solaris PC NetLink 2.0 Software

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Click here for a sample chapter for this book: 0130266868.pdf

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the PC NetLink Software.

PC NetLink Versions Available. Features of the PC NetLink Software. Interoperability With Other Systems. Security. Network Services. Network Activity Tracking. Printing. Browsing. Network File Sharing. User Environment Management. Remote Administration. Solaris Software, PC NetLink Software, and Windows NT Functionality. PC NetLink Restrictions. Controller Restrictions. Transport Protocol Restrictions. PC NetLink Requirements. PC NetLink 1.0. PC NetLink 1.1. Hardware Platform Requirements. System Resource Requirements. PC Clients Supported by PC NetLink. Recommended Patches.

PC NetLink Server Manager Architecture. Runtime Architecture. Client-Server Architecture. PC NetLink Server Manager Security. Installing PC NetLink Server Manager on Microsoft Clients. Solaris PC NetLink Server Architecture. Supported Windows NT Network Services. Integrating Solaris and Microsoft Environments. User Account Mapping for Microsoft-Only Accounts. User Account Mapping for Solaris and Microsoft Accounts. NetBIOS Transport Support. NetBIOS Changes to the Solaris Operating Environment. NetBIOS Relationship With the Java Admin Tool. PC NetLink Server Printer Architecture. Printer Names. Printer Installation With the PC NetLink Software. Printing Queues and Communication. lpstat. Printing Registry Keys. Print Jobs. Printer Job Status. Supported Printer Types. PC NetLink Software Use of Solaris File Systems. PC NetLink Server Processes. SAM Database. The PC NetLink Server Directory Structure. How PC NetLink Software Supports Windows NT File Systems. How PC NetLink Software Supports MS-DOS Attributes. How PC NetLink Software Supports Windows NT ACLs.

Before Installing the PC NetLink Software. The Java Development Kit. The /opt/lanman Directory. Disk Space Requirements for /var/opt/lanman/datafiles. Planning for High Availability and Performance. Saving Disk Space. Moving PC NetLink Installation DirectoriesAfter the PC NetLink Software Is Installed. The PC NetLink Registry Changes. PC NetLink Database Directory Location and Performance. Solaris File Operations. Simple SCSI Drives. RAID Support. Hardware RAID. Software RAID. RAID Software. RAID 0. RAID 1. RAID 1+0. RAID 5. RAID 6 or (5+0). Reducing the Risk of a Secondary Disk Failure. MTBF for a Second Disk Failure. When Volumes Are Susceptible to a Second Failure. Assigning a Hot Spare Drive. Disk Technology. SCSI Drives. When It Is Best to Use SCSI. Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop. Comparing Disk Storage Performance. CPU. NetBIOS Layer and Multi-Processors Servers.

Reasons to Tune PC NetLink. Before You Start. PC NetLink Control Files. PC NetLink Memory Default Values. The PC NetLink Registry. Creating a Registry Change Script File. Determining Changes Made to the Registry. The lanman.ini File. Tuning Strategies. lmx.srv Process Spawning Algorithm. Parameters Used to Spawn lmx.srv Processes. Algorithm for Dynamically Determined Parameters. Defining a PC Connection. Algorithm That Spawns the lmx.srv Processes. Experimenting With lmx.srv Process Creation. Memory Required to Spawn lmx.srv Processes. Scaling Limits. Guidelines for Producing the Fastest Possible System. Other Registry Parameters. Tuning Parameters When Upgrading PC NetLink Software. Checking for Older Settings in the Registry File. Removing All Traces of Solaris PC NetLink From a System.

Sizing Methodology. Home Directory Server Sizing Example. Functional and Performance Goals. Functional Goals. Trends With Conservative Requirements. Performance Goals. Peak Loading Times. What Is Your Average User? Server Performance Characteristics. How Fast Will the PC NetLink Software Go? File Services Sizing. Throughput Benchmarks. Sizing for CPUs. CPU Cache Size. Speed of the CPU. Number of Processors. Network Connections. Memory Requirements. Solaris Memory Requirements. PC NetLink Process Memory Requirements. PC NetLink Shared Memory. PC NetLink Mapped Files. Read Cache. Storage Subsystem Requirements. Putting It All Together. Sizing Exercise Assumptions and Requirements. Determining the Throughput Requirements. Determining the CPU Requirements. Determining the Required Physical Memory. Determining the Storage Subsystems Requirements. Determining Network Connection Requirements. Prototyping Your Server. Sizing Spreadsheet Tool.

Installing a PC NetLink Server in a New Environment. PC NetLink's User Account Synchronization Solution. PC NetLink Default Accounts. The PC NetLink mapuname Service. Installing PC NetLink Software Into Existing Environments. What PC Clients Need in an Existing PC-centric Environment. User Accounts in a PC-centric Environment. Synchronizing Windows NT Accounts to Solaris Accounts. Installing PC NetLink Software in a Sun Environment. Solaris Services That Use NetBIOS Over TCP/IP. Supporting PC NetLink and SunLink PC on One Server. Supporting PC NetLink and Samba on One Server. Supporting PC NetLink, SunLink PC, and Samba. /etc/init.d Start-up Scripts. Determining Which SMB Service Is on a Server. User Accounts in a Solaris Environment. Setting up a Home Directory Server in a Sun Environment. Installing PC NetLink on all NFS Home Directory Servers. Installing the PC NetLink Software on One Server. User Profiles. Directory Synchronization. Trusted Relationships. passwd2sam Account Synchronization. sam2passwd Account Synchronization. Migration Procedures. Installing the PC NetLink Software. Requirements. Conflicts. Recommendations. Windows Requirements. Preparing for Installation. Migrating a Windows NT Server to a PC NetLink Server. Setting Up System Policies. Microsoft System Policies. Deleting a Share.

Single-Function Server Consolidation. Multifunction Server Consolidation. Sizing the Complete System. Resource Management. Service Level Agreements. Measurements. Resource Management Techniques and Tools. Managing Resources With the PC NetLink Software. Accounting and Charge Back. Base Solaris Software. Processor Sets. Dynamic System Domains. Dynamic Reconfiguration. Solaris Bandwidth Manager Software. Solaris Resource Manager Software. Solaris Resource Manager Overview. Solaris Resource Manager Policies. Hierarchical Structure. Hierarchical Limits. Controls Available With Solaris Resource Manager. CPU Resource Management. Processes. Example of Using Solaris Resource Manager Shares. Using PC NetLink With Solaris Resource Manager. Solaris Resource Management and PC NetLink Throughput. Other Possible Resource Management Techniques. Limiting Users Who Can Access PC NetLink Servers. Restricting PC Clients to Low Bandwidth Devices. Throttling the Network. Server Use Policies. Controlling Resources Used by One User. Network Switches and the IEEE 802.1p Standard.

Tools for Monitoring PC NetLink Resource Utilization. Tools for Monitoring Disk Subsystems. iostat Command. Identifying Users Causing Disk Saturation. Using a Script to Identify Users Causing Disk Saturation. Tools for Monitoring CPU Resources. mpstat Command. lmstat Command. Using a Script to Determine Users Serviced by lmx.srv Process. Monitoring Memory Resources. Swap Partition. Sun Enterprise SyMON. SyMON and PC NetLink. The SE Toolkit. Monitoring Traffic With External Methods.

Printing Overview. PC Windows Printing. Types of Printers. Typical PC Printing Spooling Configurations. How the PC NetLink Software Prints. Owner of Print Jobs. Configuring a Printer for Use With PC NetLink Software. Printing Configuration Issues. Setting Up Printers. Configuring Printer Pooling. Pooling One Logical Printer Attached to Multiple Physical PrintersSolving Banner Page Problems.

Backing Up Files. Using Solaris Accounts in Backups. Backup Conventions. Using Windows NT-Based Backup Programs. Backing Up the PC NetLink Databases. Backing Up the WINS Database. Maintaining the PC NetLink Databases. Upgrading PC NetLink 1.0 to 1.1. Managing the ACL Database. Deleting ACLs and Shrinking the Database. Setting Up Alerts and Security Auditing. Installing PC NetLink for Different Locales. Setting Up System Policies. Enforcing Solaris Disk Quotas in a PC NetLink Environment. Setting Up Directory Replication Between Different Domains. Combining UNIX and Windows NT Permissions on the Server. Joining a Domain as a BDC to PDC in Another Subnet. If a WINS Server Exists If a WINS Server Does Not Exist. Setting Up User Accounts. Copying User Accounts From Windows NT to UNIX. Copying User Accounts From UNIX to Windows NT. Upgrading the PC NetLink Software. Troubleshooting Browsing Procedures. Techniques for Troubleshooting Browsing.

NetBench 5.01 Benchmark. Key Points of NetBench. NetBench Configuration. NetBench Suites. Number of Disk Drives Used. Time Required to Run NetBench Benchmark.

Disk Capacity Needed.

Man Pages. Net Command Help Files.

Preface

Preface

This book describes many aspects of the Solaris PC NetLink product from Sun Microsystems. This book is intended to help you gain a basic knowledge of the most common areas of the Solaris PC NetLink software functionality and provide best practices for its use.

Sun BluePrints Program

The mission of the Sun BluePrints Program is to empower Sun customers with the technical knowledge required to implement reliable, available, extensible, and secure information systems within the data center using Sun products. The Sun BluePrints Program is managed by the Enterprise Engineering Group. This group provides a framework to identify, develop, and distribute best practices information that applies across the Sun product line. Technical subject matter experts in various areas contribute to the program and focus on the scope and usefulness of the information.

The Enterprise Engineering Group is the primary provider of the technical content of the Sun BluePrints Program that includes books, guides, and online articles. Through these vehicles, Sun can provide guidance, installation and implementation experiences, real-life scenarios, and late-breaking technical information.

The monthly electronic magazine, Sun BluePrints OnLine, is located on the Web at http://www.sun.com/blueprints

Who Should Use This Book

The book is aimed at two types of audiences:

• System Administrators—This book will help system administrators implement best practice procedures with regard to the PC NetLink software in the areas of performance tuning, resource management, backup, and deployment, in large enterprise environments.
• System Planners—This book provides in-depth knowledge of the PC NetLink product for planners to explore before deploying the product. The sizing information helps determine the correct configuration for meeting the requirements of the user community.

This book is primarily written for experienced system administrators and planners who are familiar with UNIX, the Solaris operating environment, and Microsoft Windows NT.

System Administrators new to Solaris and to the PC NetLink software will find this book useful after they have gained a basic understanding of Solaris administration procedures.

Scope of the Book

This book does not replace the documentation supplied with the Solaris PC NetLink product. Instead, it supplies additional information such as software architecture, server scaling information, performance tuning tips, and best practices that are not generally available in the standard documentation.

Solaris PC NetLink Update Information

This book was written during development and release of Solaris PC NetLink 1.0 and 1.1 software. For up-to-date information and announcements on new versions and capabilities of the PC NetLink software as it evolves, search the Sun web site at http://www.sun.com for the term "PC NetLink."

What's in a Name

After reading the description of the Solaris PC NetLink product in Chapter 1, you may recognize the description but associate it with a different product name. The Solaris PC NetLink product has been known by a variety of names during its development. First, the Solaris PC NetLink product is based on the AT&T Advanced Server for UNIX (AS/U) product. The AT&T product, in turn, was based on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 source code. The AT&T product ships in various forms for different UNIX environments by several OEMs. When Sun acquired the code to start development, the internal project name was Project Cascade. The product's official name used for the first release of the product was SunLink Server.

The product name was immediately changed to Solaris PC NetLink. Unfortunately, time-to-market issues forced the first versions of the product to ship with the older name, SunLink Server. If you have one of the first versions of Solaris PC NetLink, your product probably is labeled, documented, and implemented in code as SunLink Server. That name still appears in the code and the man pages. Thus, Cascade Project, Sunlink Server, and Solaris PC NetLink all refer to the same product.

Uses of the Term "PC NetLink"

Throughout the book the term "PC NetLink" is used in several contexts. The context of the term changes the meaning. Some of the most common uses of the term are:

• Solaris PC NetLink—This is the official name of the product. When the term "PC NetLink" is used in this context it implies the full product. This includes all forms of the software as well as the documentation, packaging, CDROM, and so on.
• PC NetLink Server—This refers to the concept of a Solaris server that is running the PC NetLink software. A "PC NetLink Server" supports all the Solaris functionality plus the additional functionality that the Solaris PC NetLink product offers. This includes PC client file and print access, Windows NT domain authentication, WINS services, and all other included client services.
• PC NetLink Software—This implies the server software of the Solaris PC NetLink product. This usually means the daemons supplied with the Solaris PC NetLink software. It does not include the PC NetLink Server Manager.
• PC NetLink Server Manager—This refers specifically to the Java-based GUI that manages the configuration of the PC NetLink software. In initial releases of the Solaris PC NetLink product this software was identified as the "SunLink Server Manager".

Chapter 1 "Introduction to the PC NetLink Software," provides an overview of the Solaris PC NetLink product and describes its server functionality.

Chapter 2 "The PC NetLink Software Architecture" describes the architecture of the PC NetLink software as well as how it implements its services.

Chapter 3, "Tuning a Solaris System for use with the PC NetLink software" focuses on tuning a Solaris server to best support the PC NetLink software. Benchmarks are used to study how each server subsystem influences PC NetLink software.

Chapter 4 "PC NetLink Tuning Parameters," looks at tuning the server from a PC NetLink software perspective. PC NetLink Registry parameters that control performance are reviewed and procedures for changing and managing these parameters are described.

Chapter 5 "Sizing a Solaris PC NetLink Server," explains how to size a PC NetLink server. Using a methodology applied to specific examples, it takes you step by step through the sizing exercise. A spreadsheet tool, available on the Sun web site, helps summarize and implement sizing.

Chapter 6 "Transitioning to a PC NetLink Server," investigates issues in transitioning from Windows NT servers and other Solaris-based products that offer functionality similar to that of Solaris PC NetLink. This chapter also discusses UNIX and Windows NT user account maintenance.

Chapter 7 "Server Consolidation and Resource Management," investigates how consolidating the services of several servers onto one larger, scalable system that supports multiple services solve system administration and server room requirements.

Chapter 8 "Monitoring the Resources Used by PC NetLink Software," reviews the Solaris commands to monitor system usage. This chapter focuses on tracking resources consumed by the PC NetLink software. The chapter includes scripts to help resolve resource consumption problems by specific users or clients.

Chapter 9 "Printing With PC NetLink," provides procedures for setting up and maintaining printer services with the Solaris PC NetLink product. It highlights issues to be aware of when printing using the PC NetLink software with the different Solaris releases.

Chapter 10 "PC NetLink Setup Maintenance and Troubleshooting Procedures," provides procedures for backing up user data and the databases used by the PC NetLink software. Procedures for setting up Directory Replication, Roaming Profiles, combining UNIX and Windows NT permissions, and other PC NetLink services are also provided.

Appendix A "File Service Benchmark Methodology," explains how the benchmarks are used to support sizing discussed in Chapter 5. It also defines the client, server, and network environment used to execute the Ziff-Davis NetBench benchmark.

Appendix B "A Profile of an Average End User," profiles the end user that the sizing example presented in Chapter 5 was based on.

Appendix C "Man Pages and Help Files," provides the text of all the UNIX man pages that were supplied by the Solaris PC NetLink product. Useful help files for the NET command are also listed.

Related Documentation

The Solaris PC NetLink product ships with several online manuals. The manuals are available in HTML, PDF, and AnswerBook2 formats:

• PC NetLink Administration Guide
• PC NetLink Installation Guide

When installation is completed, these sources of information are available to administrators:

• PC NetLink Server Administration Guide—Explains critical concepts and describes how to administer a PC NetLink server. To access this information, print the PDF version located in the doc folder on the product CD, or point your browser to one of the following URLs:
• From the Solaris machine where the PC NetLink software is installed:

  file:/opt/lanman/shares/admindoc/TOC.htm

• From a PC client machine: file://servername/admindoc/toc.htm where servername is the name of a PC NetLink server.
• PC NetLink Server Manager Online Help—The PC NetLink Server Manager administration tool includes on-line help to guide you through system administration and configuration tasks. To start PC NetLink Server Manager do the following:
• On a Solaris system, enter the following command while logged in as root:hostname% /opt/lanman/sbin/slsmgr &
• On a Microsoft Windows client machine, click Start and select PC NetLink Server Manager from the Programs submenu.

Once the PC NetLink Server Manager is running, you can access on-line help topics by clicking the Help Topics button at the lower right part of the window.

• UNIX style man pages for all the utilities and data files are included with the Solaris PC NetLink product. These man pages and the text of the PC NetLink net help command are printed in Appendix C.

The following BluePrint books also offer in-depth information on related subjects that may apply to your installation of PC NetLink.

• Solaris Guide for Windows NT Administrators
• Resource Management

Refer to the BluePrints web site http://www.sun.com/blueprints for details.

Ordering Sun Documentation

Fatbrain.com, an Internet professional bookstore, stocks selected product documentation from Sun Microsystems, Inc.

For a list of documents and how to order them, visit the Sun Documentation Center on Fatbrain.com at:

http://www1.fatbrain.com/documentation/sun

Accessing Sun Documentation Online

The docs.sun.com web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation on the web. You can browse the docs.sun.com archive or search for a specific book title or subject at:

http://docs.sun.com

Accessing BluePrints Updates and Tools Online

Every effort has been made to make this book as accurate as possible. If corrections are made after publication they will be posted on the BluePrints web site (http://www.sun.com/blueprints). In addition to updates, the sizing tool described in Chapter 5 is available via a link labeled "Scripts and Tools" on the BluePrints web site. The sizing tool may be updated as new information is acquired about the Solaris PC NetLink product. Check the site for the latest version of the tool before planning a new PC NetLink server.

As information is learned about the Solaris PC NetLink product, BluePrints articles will appear in the online magazine, which is available at http://www.sun.com/blueprints. In addition to the monthly publication, previous articles are listed by date.

The author can be reached via email address don.devitt@sun.com

Sun Server Performance Information

Many performance-related papers and tools referenced in several chapters of this book are available at the Sun performance web site

http://www.sun.com/sun-on-net/performance. The paper Solaris Memory Sizing White Paper by Richard McDougall, referred to in Chapter 4, explains Solaris memory management as well as the tools to monitor memory usage. You can download the tools from

http://www.sun.com/sun-on-net/performance/

SymbEL Toolkit

The SE Toolkit, referred to in Chapter 8, is available at http://www.sun.com/sun-on-net/performance/se3/. SymbEL (known as SE) is an interpreted language that provides an extensive toolkit for building performance tools and utilities. If you are frustrated with the limitations of vmstat, iostat and sar, then this is the tool for you. The scripts are improved versions of the basic utilities, with powerful rule-based performance monitors and viewers.

With this too, you can apply performance rules every 30 seconds or so against a running system to check for bottlenecks.

Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG)

The Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) is a tool to monitor the traffic load on network links via SNMP protocol. It is referenced in Chapter 8 as a method to monitor network activity. For more information, see

http://mrtg.hdl.com/mrtg.html

Common Internet File System (CIFS) Web Site

CIFS, or the Common Internet File System, is based on the existing Server Message Block (SMB) protocol that the PC NetLink software supports. The CIFS web site is good source of information. The URL is: http://www.cifs.com/

Ziff-Davis Benchmark Web Site

You can download the documentation and software for the NetBench benchmark used in several chapters of this book from the Ziff-Davis web site at

http://www.zdnet.com/zdbop/

Updates

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