13. Performance Tuning of a CVS Server

For optimum performance a CVS server must be running on a stand alone Linux/Unix box.

To get more bang for a given CPU processing power, do the following:

• Recompile the Linux kernel to make it small and lean. Remove items which are not used. See the kernel howto at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html

• Turn off unneccessary Unix processes - on Linux/Unix systems run chkconfig.

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  bash$ su - root
  bash# man chkconfig
  bash# chkconfig --help
  bash# chkconfig --list | grep on | less
  From the above list, turn off the processes you do not want to start automatically -
  bash# chkconfig --level 0123456 <service name> off
  Next time when the machine is booted these services will not be started.
  Now, shutdown the services manually which you just turned off.
  bash# cd /etc/rc.d/init.d
  bash# ./<service name> stop
  

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• Do not run any other application processes which are unnecessary.

• Do not leave X Window running unattended because its processes consume memory and contribute to CPU load. It can also be a serious security hole from outside attacks. The X Window managers generally used are KDE, GNOME, CDE, XDM and others. You must exit the X Window immediately after using and most of the time you should see a command line console login prompt on the CVS server machine.