Before you begin to adjust the configuration of your database server, evaluate the performance of your current configuration. To alter certain database server characteristics, you must bring down the database server, which can affect your production system. Some configuration adjustments can unintentionally decrease performance or cause other negative side effects.
If your database applications perform well enough to satisfy user expectations, you should avoid frequent adjustments, even if those adjustments might theoretically improve performance. As long as your users are reasonably satisfied, take a measured approach to reconfiguring the database server. When possible, use a test instance of the database server to evaluate configuration changes before you reconfigure your production system.
To examine your current database server configuration, you can use the utilities described in this chapter.
When performance problems relate to backup operations, you might also examine the number or transfer rates for tape drives. You might need to alter the layout or fragmentation of your tables to reduce the impact of backup operations. For information about disk layout and table fragmentation, see Table Performance Considerations, and Index Performance Considerations.
For client/server configurations, consider network performance and availability. Evaluating network performance is beyond the scope of this manual. For information on monitoring network activity and improving network availability, see your network administrator or see the documentation for your networking package.
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