Constant Disk Drive access-What is it?

[rvsharpe]

I have a Netware 5.1 server that is running SP6. This server has constant 20-40% processor utilization and constant drive access. The server is a Pentium III with 512 MB of RAM. This server never has more than 10 users connected to it...it functions as a departmental server, so it's never heavily loaded. It only functions as a stand alone file and print server, it is the only server in the tree although we plan to add two or more servers to the tree during an upgrade to Netware 6.5. I have disable or unloaded Java, all of the NPDS components I could find and all other NLM's that are not needed. I initially installed all of the volumes on the server with compression turned on, but I changed the setting so that it will very rarely compress any files. When I look via Monitor or the HTML based portal, the highest threads are named "server 01, server 03, etc., or server.nlm. No matter what I try the utilization stays at 40% with constant drive activity.

Does any one have any ideas regarding what i s causing this constant disk activity?

Thanks,

rvs

 

[marvhuffaker]

You might check the file compression settings to make sure you haven't erroneously set the system to compress files during business hours. That generally causes heavy disk activity and that type of utilization. This can be done in the settings in MONITOR.NLM.

Specifically, in MONITOR go to SERVER PARAMETERS => FILE SYSTEM. The COMPRESSION DAILY CHECK STARTING HOUR parameter should be set to a time that is after normal business hours when litle access is needed to the system. 0 is default which indicates Midnight. It works on a 24 hour clock..ie 10 = 10am, 20=8pm. Then you'll also want to make sure the COMPRESSION DAILY CHECK STOP HOUR is set to something so that it shuts down the compression checking before business hours. So for example, 6 or 8 would probably be a good number depending on when people start accessing the system.

You can also check the compression status live by turning on the compression screen. This is done by typing in "SET COMPRESS SCREEN = ON" at the console prompt.

Also make sure your system clock is indeed set to the right time, and the right am or pm. Otherwise the times you enter for start and stop check will be irrelevant.

If none of that helps, let me know and I'll throw some more stuff out for you to look at.

Marvin


Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[marvhuffaker]

Another thing, you could also just turn off file compression completely and see if that helps. it's on the same list of options as the other settings.

"ENABLE FILE COMPRESSION", set it to OFF. It should immediatly stop any file compression activity that is going on at the time.

Marv

Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[rvsharpe]

Marvhuffaker,

Thanks for the insight. I apologize for taking so long to reply. I double checked the compression settings per your instructions. and they indeed were disabled. I found out the the source of my problem was the NLS_LSP transaction DB size was set too small. Once I increased the size the constant disk access ceased. Once again thank.

Ramon Sharpe