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 MP Site Tuning Recommendations
In an effort to assist MP sites in tuning their FirstClass Core Server (CS) for optimal performance the following recommendations are offered. All recommendations assume the MP site has upgraded to latest product versions. In some cases the MP site may be running beta versions of the CS and IS that are post-release to address specific issues found after shipping.
Operating System:
• Fast processor (CPU): Give the core server the fastest processor you can. On a server under load, this will directly translate to server response time and user-perceived performance.
• Fast hard drive (disk) subsystem: SCSI, or multi-disk striped RAID device, or NetApp or equivalent. NAS configuration recommended. SAN discouraged, as NAS is more efficient for FCNS folder trees.
• Memory: At least 512MB (preferably 2GB) of RAM for server machines.
• Avoid low-end video cards.
• Windows OS platform: Do not run an MP server on Windows XP. Do not even think about running an MP server under Windows 9x or ME. (And none of these OS products are supported as FirstClass Server platforms.)
• Windows Server required, if more than two processors are installed. (Microsoft restriction.)
• Make sure Windows machines are updated to the latest Service Pack.
• Minimize use of Windows shares and do not use the FirstClass server computer as file or print server.
• Services for Macintosh file sharing is very hard on Windows networking subsystem - uninstall or disable if not required.
• Disable the Windows Indexing Service (that is often installed by default during the OS installation).
• If modems are used at MP sites, they should be attached to the computer through an "intelligent" multi-port serial adapter, in order to offload serial requests to serial adapter processor rather than system CPU. Latest drivers for serial adapter should be installed.
• Modems that are consistently unable to be reset (initialize) should be removed and replaced.
• Is there a CD or DVD in the drawer? Remove, or use SkipVol FCS.INI option (see server section below). If the contents of the CD are required as external FCS volume, then copy the contents to a fixed disk drive.
• The NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate time Registry patch for NTFS (Microsoft KB article Q150355) is no longer required. The server automatically adds this if such a Registry setting is missing. It becomes active after the next machine restart.
Core Server / IS Priorities:
• If the FirstClass Server and Internet Services are running on the same single-processor machine, they should both be set to Medium Priority.
• If the FirstClass Server and Internet Services are running on the same multi-processor machine, the FirstClass Server should be set to Medium Priority and Internet Services should be set to High Priority.
• If Internet Services is running on a machine by itself, it's prioriy can be set to high.
• The FirstClass Server's priority should ALWAYS be set to medium, regardless of the number of CPU's on the machine it occupies.
FirstClass Server:
• Rename (or delete) the LogFiles folder to disable standard log file creation (instead, use Stats files for records).
• Console to file - Uncheck (disable) this option. Use only for periodic diagnostic collection, or to gather information concerning a reported issue.
• Login / Logout Logging - The Windows server's console menu item "Logging" -> "Login / Logout Log" should be unchecked (disabled) for MP sites. (This is the default for new servers.)
• Other Diagnostics logging options onsole to file - Uncheck (disable) this option. Use only for periodic diagnostic collection, or to gather information concerning a reported issue.
• "SkipVol" FCS.INI Option - On Windows, generally no unused CD, DVD or network volumes should be mapped as drive letters. It's okay for them to be mounted, so long as they either have no drive letter associated (e.g. just browsed in using Network Neighborhood). If they need to be mapped as a drive letter, or may be used occasionally, any drives mapped that are not needed by the core server should be listed in the FCS.INI SkipVol setting, e.g.:
[FCSetup]
SkipVol=F: G, H: xyZ
(Only letters are used, case-insensitive. Spaces, punctuation (like colons) and any other characters are ignored.)
• Do not use any FCS.INI options except SkipVol unless specifically requested to by FirstClass Support.
You may notice that the FirstClass Server uses 100% of one processor (or 50% of two processors) in process monitoring tools such as the Windows Task Manager. This is normal. In addition to the processor time it requires, the FirstClass Server is making use of all available unused processor time on one processor to optimize network response. If other applications are running (i.e. Internet Services), CPU usage will be released to those applications as they require additional processor time, unless the core server is actually using it (e.g. under heavy load).
FCS.INI can be found in C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT.
FirstClass Tools:
• Set the number of anticipated user network sessions, plus an additional 5 - 10%. In other words do not configure more sessions than required. (On Windows, modems are especially a concern as they tend to add additional load on the core server and OS.)
• You should Rebuild the user directory (for OrgDir rebalancing) if any of the following apply:
1. More than 5000 users have been added since previous rebuild.
2. After adding large numbers of users with names that have all numeric userids, or all userids start with the same letter.
3. When hosting large numbers of newsgroups, where the conferences begin with a common letter (e.g. alt.* newsgroups).
4. When the directory contains double-byte names. (e.g. Kanji characters)
• Check OrgDir integrity by running Diagnostics after rebuild.
• Gateway Message Body Size - Sometimes a malformed message containing an abnormally large message body can tie up a mail server. To combat this, it is recommended that you set the maximum body size of messages to 1024K for all your gateways (located in the Gateways folder on the admin FirstClass desktop). This does not affect attachment sizes, only the text within the body. Examples showing where this is configured are displayed below for the Internet gateway and a generic FirstClass gateway, outlined in green. Double-click to enlarge:
  Internet Services:
• If less than a 4-way (quad processor) system, then IS should be run on separate (dedicated) computer.
• IS connection to server should be TCP in all cases.
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