Tuning the Linux kernel with sysctl

The Linux kernel has about 1,000 tunable parameters. These default to reasonable values for common usage, which means they are not perfect for anyone.

Getting started

The sysctl command is available on all Linux systems. You must be root to modify kernel parameters.

The sysctl command will change the parameter value immediately, but the value will revert to the original value upon reboot unless you add a line to define the parameter to /etc/sysctl.conf.

It's a good policy to change a value manually and test it before modifying sysctl.conf. You can make a system unbootable by applying bad values to /etc/sysctl.conf.

How to do it...

The sysctl command supports several options:

• -a: This reports all available parameters
• -p FILENAME: This reads values from FILENAME. By default from /etc/sysctl.conf
• PARAM: This reports the current value of PARAM
• PARAM=NEWVAL: This sets the value of PARAM

Tuning the task scheduler

The task scheduler is optimized for a desktop environment...