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Oracle Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual Oracle Solaris 11 Information Library |
1. Overview of Oracle Solaris System Tuning
2. Oracle Solaris Kernel Tunable Parameters
4. Internet Protocol Suite Tunable Parameters
Where to Find Tunable Parameter Information
Overview of Tuning IP Suite Parameters
Internet Request for Comments (RFCs)
_icmp_err_interval and _icmp_err_burst
_respond_to_echo_broadcast and _respond_to_echo_multicast (ipv4 or ipv6)
_send_redirects (ipv4 or ipv6)
IP Tunable Parameters With Additional Cautions
_icmp_return_data_bytes (ipv4 or ipv6)
5. Network Cache and Accelerator Tunable Parameters
A. Tunable Parameters Change History
Specifies the time-out value for the TCP-delayed acknowledgment (ACK) timer for hosts that are not directly connected.
Refer to RFC 1122, 4.2.3.2.
100 milliseconds
1 millisecond to 1 minute
Yes
Do not increase this value to more than 500 milliseconds.
Increase the value under the following circumstances:
Slow network links (less than 57.6 Kbps) with greater than 512 bytes maximum segment size (MSS)
The interval for receiving more than one TCP segment is short
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the time-out value for TCP-delayed acknowledgment (ACK) timer for hosts that are directly connected.
Refer to RFC 1122, 4.2.3.2.
50 milliseconds
10 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds
Yes
Do not increase this value to more than 500 milliseconds.
Increase the value under the following circumstances:
Slow network links (less than 57.6 Kbps) with greater than 512 bytes maximum segment size (MSS)
The interval for receiving more than one TCP segment is short
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the maximum number of TCP segments received from remote destinations (not directly connected) before an acknowledgment (ACK) is generated. TCP segments are measured in units of maximum segment size (MSS) for individual connections. If set to 0 or 1, no ACKs are delayed, assuming all segments are 1 MSS long. The actual number is dynamically calculated for each connection. The value is the default maximum.
2
0 to 16
Yes
Do not change the value. In some circumstances, when the network traffic becomes very bursty because of the delayed ACK effect, decrease the value. Do not decrease this value below 2.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the maximum number of TCP segments received from directly connected destinations before an acknowledgment (ACK) is generated. TCP segments are measured in units of maximum segment size (MSS) for individual connections. If set to 0 or 1, it means no ACKs are delayed, assuming all segments are 1 MSS long. The actual number is dynamically calculated for each connection. The value is the default maximum.
8
0 to 16
Yes
Do not change the value. In some circumstances, when the network traffic becomes very bursty because of the delayed ACK effect, decrease the value. Do not decrease this value below 2.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
When this parameter is enabled, which is the default setting, TCP always sends a SYN segment with the window scale option, even if the window scale option value is 0. Note that if TCP receives a SYN segment with the window scale option, even if the parameter is disabled, TCP responds with a SYN segment with the window scale option. In addition, the option value is set according to the receive window size.
Refer to RFC 1323 for the window scale option.
1 (enabled)
0 (disabled) or 1 (enabled)
Yes
If there is an interoperability problem with an old TCP stack that does not support the window scale option, disable this parameter.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
If set to 1, TCP always sends a SYN segment with the timestamp option. Note that if TCP receives a SYN segment with the timestamp option, TCP responds with a SYN segment with the timestamp option even if the parameter is set to 0.
0 (disabled)
0 (disabled) or 1 (enabled)
Yes
If getting an accurate measurement of round-trip time (RTT) and TCP sequence number wraparound is a problem, enable this parameter.
Refer to RFC 1323 for more reasons to enable this option.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Defines the default send window size in bytes. Refer to Per-Route Metrics for a discussion of setting a different value on a per-route basis. See also max_buf.
49,152
4096 to the current value of max_buf
Yes
An application can use setsockopt(3XNET) SO_SNDBUF to change the individual connection's send buffer.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Defines the default receive window size in bytes. Refer to Per-Route Metrics for a discussion of setting a different value on a per-route basis. See also max_buf and _recv_hiwat_minmss.
128,000
2048 to the current value of max_buf
Yes
An application can use setsockopt(3XNET) SO_RCVBUF to change the individual connection's receive buffer.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Defines the maximum send and receive buffer size in bytes. This parameter controls how large the send and receive buffers are set to by an application that uses setsockopt(3XNET).
1,048,576
128,000 to 1,073,741,824
Yes
If TCP connections are being made in a high-speed network environment, increase the value to match the network link speed.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Defines the maximum value of the TCP congestion window (cwnd) in bytes.
For more information on the TCP congestion window, refer to RFC 1122 and RFC 2581.
1,048,576
128 to 1,073,741,824
Yes
Even if an application uses setsockopt(3XNET) to change the window size to a value higher than _cwnd_max, the actual window used can never grow beyond _cwnd_max. Thus, _max_buf should be greater than _cwnd_max.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Defines the maximum initial congestion window (cwnd) size in the maximum segment size (MSS) of a TCP connection.
Refer to RFC 2414 on how the initial congestion window size is calculated.
4
1 to 4
Yes
Do not change the value.
If the initial cwnd size causes network congestion under special circumstances, decrease the value.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
The congestion window size in the maximum segment size (MSS) of a TCP connection after it has been idled (no segment received) for a period of one retransmission timeout (RTO).
Refer to RFC 2414 on how the initial congestion window size is calculated.
4
1 to 16,384
Yes
For more information, see _slow_start_initial.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
If set to 2, TCP always sends a SYN segment with the selective acknowledgment (SACK) permitted option. If TCP receives a SYN segment with a SACK-permitted option and this parameter is set to 1, TCP responds with a SACK-permitted option. If the parameter is set to 0, TCP does not send a SACK-permitted option, regardless of whether the incoming segment contains the SACK permitted option.
Refer to RFC 2018 for information on the SACK option.
2 (active enabled)
0 (disabled), 1 (passive enabled), or 2 (active enabled)
Yes
SACK processing can improve TCP retransmission performance so it should be actively enabled. Sometimes, the other side can be confused with the SACK option actively enabled. If this confusion occurs, set the value to 1 so that SACK processing is enabled only when incoming connections allow SACK processing.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
If set to 0, TCP does not reverse the IP source routing option for incoming connections for security reasons. If set to 1, TCP does the normal reverse source routing.
0 (disabled)
0 (disabled) or 1 (enabled)
Yes
If IP source routing is needed for diagnostic purposes, enable it.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the time in milliseconds that a TCP connection stays in TIME-WAIT state.
For more information, refer to RFC 1122, 4.2.2.13.
60,000 (60 seconds)
1 second to 10 minutes
Yes
Do not set the value lower than 60 seconds.
For information on changing this parameter, refer to RFC 1122, 4.2.2.13.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Controls Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) support.
If this parameter is set to 0, TCP does not negotiate with a peer that supports the ECN mechanism.
If this parameter is set to 1 when initiating a connection, TCP does not tell a peer that it supports ECN mechanism.
However, TCP tells a peer that it supports ECN mechanism when accepting a new incoming connection request if the peer indicates that it supports ECN mechanism in the SYN segment.
If this parameter is set to 2, in addition to negotiating with a peer on the ECN mechanism when accepting connections, TCP indicates in the outgoing SYN segment that it supports the ECN mechanism when TCP makes active outgoing connections.
1 (passive enabled)
0 (disabled), 1 (passive enabled), or 2 (active enabled)
Yes
ECN can help TCP better handle congestion control. However, there are existing TCP implementations, firewalls, NATs, and other network devices that are confused by this mechanism. These devices do not comply to the IETF standard.
Because of these devices, the default value of this parameter is set to 1. In rare cases, passive enabling can still cause problems. Set the parameter to 0 only if absolutely necessary.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the default maximum number of pending TCP connections for a TCP listener waiting to be accepted by accept(3SOCKET). See also _conn_req_max_q0.
128
1 to 4,294,967,295
Yes
For applications such as web servers that might receive several connection requests, the default value might be increased to match the incoming rate.
Do not increase the parameter to a very large value. The pending TCP connections can consume excessive memory. Also, if an application cannot handle that many connection requests fast enough because the number of pending TCP connections is too large, new incoming requests might be denied.
Note that increasing _conn_req_max_q does not mean that applications can have that many pending TCP connections. Applications can use listen(3SOCKET) to change the maximum number of pending TCP connections for each socket. This parameter is the maximum an application can use listen() to set the number to. Thus, even if this parameter is set to a very large value, the actual maximum number for a socket might be much less than _conn_req_max_q, depending on the value used in listen().
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the default maximum number of incomplete (three-way handshake not yet finished) pending TCP connections for a TCP listener.
For more information on TCP three-way handshake, refer to RFC 793. See also _conn_req_max_q.
1024
0 to 4,294,967,295
Yes
For applications such as web servers that might receive excessive connection requests, you can increase the default value to match the incoming rate.
The following explains the relationship between _conn_req_max_q0 and the maximum number of pending connections for each socket.
When a connection request is received, TCP first checks if the number of pending TCP connections (three-way handshake is done) waiting to be accepted exceeds the maximum (N) for the listener. If the connections are excessive, the request is denied. If the number of connections is allowable, then TCP checks if the number of incomplete pending TCP connections exceeds the sum of N and _conn_req_max_q0. If it does not, the request is accepted. Otherwise, the oldest incomplete pending TCP request is dropped.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the default minimum value for the maximum number of pending TCP connection requests for a listener waiting to be accepted. This is the lowest maximum value of listen(3SOCKET) that an application can use.
1
1 to 1024
Yes
This parameter can be a solution for applications that use listen(3SOCKET) to set the maximum number of pending TCP connections to a value too low. Increase the value to match the incoming connection request rate.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
If this parameter is set to 1, the maximum rate of sending a RST segment is controlled by the ipmadm parameter, _rst_sent_rate. If this parameter is set to 0, no rate control when sending a RST segment is available.
1 (enabled)
0 (disabled) or 1 (enabled)
Yes
This tunable helps defend against denial of service attacks on TCP by limiting the rate by which a RST segment is sent out. The only time this rate control should be disabled is when strict conformance to RFC 793 is required.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Sets the maximum number of RST segments that TCP can send out per second.
40
0 to 4,294,967,295
Yes
In a TCP environment, there might be a legitimate reason to generate more RSTs than the default value allows. In this case, increase the default value of this parameter.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
This parameter controls the smallest port number TCP can select as an ephemeral port. An application can use an ephemeral port when it creates a connection with a specified protocol and it does not specify a port number. Ephemeral ports are not associated with a specific application. When the connection is closed, the port number can be reused by a different application.
Port number
32,768
1,024 to 65,535
Yes
When a larger ephemeral port range is required.
Unstable
For information, see [tcp,sctp,udp]_smallest_anon_port and [tcp,sctp,udp]_largest_anon_port (Oracle Solaris 11).
This parameter controls the largest port number TCP can select as an ephemeral port. An application can use an ephemeral port when it creates a connection with a specified protocol and it does not specify a port number. Ephemeral ports are not associated with a specific application. When the connection is closed, the port number can be reused by a different application.
Port number
65,535
32,768 to 65,535
Yes
When a larger ephemeral port range is required.
Unstable
For information, see [tcp,sctp,udp]_smallest_anon_port and [tcp,sctp,udp]_largest_anon_port (Oracle Solaris 11).
The following parameters can be set only in the /etc/system file. After the file is modified, reboot the system.
For example, the following entry sets the ipcl_conn_hash_size parameter:
set ip:ipcl_conn_hash_size=value
Controls the size of the connection hash table used by IP. The default value of 0 means that the system automatically sizes an appropriate value for this parameter at boot time, depending on the available memory.
Unsigned integer
0
0 to 82,500
No. The parameter can only be changed at boot time.
If the system consistently has tens of thousands of TCP connections, the value can be increased accordingly. Increasing the hash table size means that more memory is wired down, thereby reducing available memory to user applications.
Unstable
Governs the maximum delay in waking up a worker thread to process TCP/IP packets that are enqueued on an squeue. An squeue is a serialization queue that is used by the TCP/IP kernel code to process TCP/IP packets.
10 milliseconds
0 – 50 milliseconds
Yes
Consider tuning this parameter if latency is an issue, and network traffic is light. For example, if the machine serves mostly interactive network traffic.
The default value usually works best on a network file server, a web server, or any server that has substantial network traffic.
This parameter can only be set in the global zone.
Unstable
Changing the following parameters is not recommended.
This ipadm parameter sets a probe interval that is first sent out after a TCP connection is idle on a system-wide basis.
Solaris supports the TCP keep-alive mechanism as described in RFC 1122. This mechanism is enabled by setting the SO_KEEPALIVE socket option on a TCP socket.
If SO_KEEPALIVE is enabled for a socket, the first keep-alive probe is sent out after a TCP connection is idle for two hours, the default value of the tcp_keepalive_interval parameter. If the peer does not respond to the probe after eight minutes, the TCP connection is aborted. For more information, refer to _rexmit_interval_initial.
You can also use the TCP_KEEPALIVE_THRESHOLD socket option on individual applications to override the default interval so that each application can have its own interval on each socket. The option value is an unsigned integer in milliseconds. See also tcp(7P).
2 hours
10 seconds to 10 days
Unsigned integer (milliseconds)
Yes
Do not change the value. Lowering it may cause unnecessary network traffic and might also increase the chance of premature termination of the connection because of a transient network problem.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the default total retransmission timeout value for a TCP connection. For a given TCP connection, if TCP has been retransmitting for _ip_abort_interval period of time and it has not received any acknowledgment from the other endpoint during this period, TCP closes this connection.
For TCP retransmission timeout (RTO) calculation, refer to RFC 1122, 4.2.3. See also _rexmit_interval_max.
5 minutes
500 milliseconds to 1193 hours
Yes
Do not change this value. See _rexmit_interval_max for exceptions.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the default initial retransmission timeout (RTO) value for a TCP connection. Refer to Per-Route Metrics for a discussion of setting a different value on a per-route basis.
1000 milliseconds
1 millisecond to 20000 milliseconds
Yes
Do not change this value. Lowering the value can result in unnecessary retransmissions.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Defines the default maximum retransmission timeout value (RTO). The calculated RTO for all TCP connections cannot exceed this value. See also _ip_abort_interval.
6000 milliseconds
1 millisecond to 7200000 milliseconds
Yes
Do not change the value in a normal network environment.
If, in some special circumstances, the round-trip time (RTT) for a connection is about 10 seconds, you can increase this value. If you change this value, you should also change the _ip_abort_interval parameter. Change the value of _ip_abort_interval to at least four times the value of _rexmit_interval_max.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies the default minimum retransmission time out (RTO) value. The calculated RTO for all TCP connections cannot be lower than this value. See also _rexmit_interval_max.
200 milliseconds
1 millisecond to 7200000 milliseconds
Yes
Do not change the value in a normal network environment.
TCP's RTO calculation should cope with most RTT fluctuations. If, in some very special circumstances, the round-trip time (RTT) for a connection is about 10 seconds, increase this value. If you change this value, you should change the _rexmit_interval_max parameter. Change the value of _rexmit_interval_max to at least eight times the value of _rexmit_interval_min.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Specifies a constant added to the calculated retransmission time out value (RTO).
0 milliseconds
0 to 7200000 milliseconds
Yes
Do not change the value.
When the RTO calculation fails to obtain a good value for a connection, you can change this value to avoid unnecessary retransmissions.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
If this parameter is set to 1, and the window scale option is enabled for a connection, TCP also enables the timestamp option for that connection.
1 (enabled)
0 (disabled) or 1 (enabled)
Yes
Do not change this value. In general, when TCP is used in high-speed network, protection against sequence number wraparound is essential. Thus, you need the timestamp option.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).
Controls the default minimum receive window size. The minimum is _recv_hiwat_minmss times the size of maximum segment size (MSS) of a connection.
8
1 to 65,536
Yes
Do not change the value. If changing it is necessary, do not change the value lower than 4.
Unstable
For information, see TCP Parameter Name Changes (Oracle Solaris 11).