Setting the Number of NFS Threads in /etc/init.d/nfs.server

For improved performance, NFS server configurations should set the number of NFS threads. Each thread is capable of processing one NFS request. A larger pool of threads enables the server to handle more NFS requests in parallel. The default setting of 16 in Solaris 2.4 through Solaris 7 software environments results in slower NFS response times. Scale the setting with the number of processors and networks and increase the number of NFS server threads by editing the invocation of nfsd in /etc/init.d/nfs.server:

/usr/lib/nfs/nfsd -a 64

The previous code box specifies that the maximum allocation of demand-based NFS threads is 64.

There are three ways to size the number of NFS threads. Each method results in about the same number of threads if you followed the configuration guidelines in this manual. Extra NFS threads do not cause a problem.

To set the number of NFS threads, take the maximum of the following three suggestions:

• Use 2 NFS threads for each active client process.

A client workstation usually only has one active process. However, a time-shared system that is an NFS client may have many active processes.

• Use 16 to 32 NFS threads for each CPU.

Use roughly 16 for a SPARCclassic or a SPARCstation 5 system. Use 32 NFS threads for a system with a 60 MHz SuperSPARC processor.

• Use 16 NFS threads for each 10 Mbits of network capacity.

For example, if you have one SunFDDITM interface, set the number of threads to 160. With two SunFDDI interfaces, set the thread count to 320, and so on.