Question

Can Pegasystems recommend specific settings and values for individual operating systems (such as Linux, AIX, or Windows) for best runtime performance and response?

Answer

While individual situations may vary, Pegasystems Global Customer Support recommends the following settings for the operating systems listed, for achieving best performance in a production setting.  For more information, see the system requirements listed in your Pega Platform™ installation guide.

All

Monitor CPU usage and address any systems whose CPU usage is greater than 70 percent, as this may indicate potential resource constraints.

CPU utilization should never be more than 70 percent busy due to Process Commander itself.

Linux and Unix

Use these commands to monitor percentage CPU use on Unix/Linux systems:

• Solaris Performance Monitoring & Tuning – iostat, vmstat, netstat
• System Activity Reporter (sar)

AIX

Commands to monitor percentage CPU use on AIX systems:

• Easy system monitoring with SAR

Heap size should be below 1.5GB  for the IBM JVM with AIX 32-bit Java on Z-series servers; add JVMs and reduce the heap size rather than increasing the heap size on the existing JVM(s).  However, for the P-series, 64-bit Java is recommended.  31-bit is not recommended.  

The following IBM article discusses heap size and OutOfMemory errors for the IBM JVM and WebSphere application server:

• Troubleshooting native memory issues

Red Hat Linux

Conform to File System and Storage limits for Maximum x86 per-process virtual address space (or Maximum x86_64 per-process virtual address space, as applicable). Note that the x86 "Hugemem" kernel is not provided in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or 6.

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Technology capabilities and limits (supported[/theoretical])

Solaris

On a 64-bit Solaris system running 32-bit JVMs, the heap size can be close to 4 Gb. To support more users per JVM, you can increase the heap size, however using 64-bit Java is recommended instead.

Microsoft Windows

Use of 64-bit Java, rather than 32-bit Java, is recommended for Windows systems which act as a server hosting Process Commander.

IBM z/OS

Adjust the DNS lookup setting specific to Ping Interval, to reduce the overhead cost of monitoring in a z/OS environment:

• WebSphere Application Server Version 5.1.x, Thread Pool Settings

The following IP address caching adjustment may also be necessary:

• High DNS traffic or slow performance on WebSphere Application Server for z/OS v5.1 and higher