{Sun Studio, Solaris} { Blog Posts, White Papers} : A Retrospect

1. HOW-TOs

Sun Solaris

• Hijacking a function call (interposing)
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/05/solaris-hijacking-function-call.html
  
  
• Printing Stack Trace with printstack() on Solaris
  http://blogs.sun.com/mandalika/entry/c_c_printing_stack_trace
  
  
• How To Disable Out Of The Box (OOB) Large Page Support?
  http://blogs.sun.com/mandalika/entry/solaris_disabling_out_of_the
  
  
• Installing apps/packages with pkg-get
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/06/solaris-installing-appspackages-with.html
  
  
• Estimating process memory footprint
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/12/solaris-estimating-process-memory.html
  
  
• Zone creation for dummies
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/02/solaris-10-zone-creation-for-dummies.html
  
  
• Solaris Resource Controls - Physical Memory
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/03/solaris-resource-controls-physical.html
  
  
• Solaris Zones: Resource Controls - CPU
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/02/solaris-zones-resource-controls-cpu.html
  
  
• Solaris Tip: Retrieving the package name for a file
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2007/04/solaris-tip-retrieving-package-name-for.html
  
  
• Handling idle socket connections
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2007/12/solaris-handling-idle-socket.html
  
  
• Which process is associated with a socket connection?
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2007/11/solaris-who-which-process-is-on-other.html

Sun Studio Compiler Suite

• Sun C/C++ compilers: Inlining routines
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/04/sun-cc-compilers-inlining-routines.html
  
  
• Investigating memory leaks with Collector/Analyzer
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/03/sun-studio-investigating-memory-leaks.html
  
  
• Sun Studio C/C++: Annotated listing (compiler commentary) with er_src
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/08/sun-studio-cc-annotated-listing.html
  
  
• Building Enterprise Applications with Sun Studio Profile Feedback
  http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/building.html
  
  
• Reducing Symbol Scope with Sun Studio C/C++
  http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/symbol_scope.html
  
  
• Debugging a multi-threaded application w/ dbx
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/12/sun-studio-debugging-multi-threaded.html
  
  
• Sun Studio C/C++: Tuning iropt for inline control
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/11/sun-studio-cc-tuning-iropt-for-inline.html
  
  
• Gathering memory allocations/leaks data, from a running process
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/11/sun-studio-gathering-memory.html
  
  
• Investigating memory leaks with dbx
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/10/sun-studio-investigating-memory-leaks.html
  
  
• Code Coverage Analysis with tcov
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/09/code-coverage-analysis-with-tcov.html
  
  
• Solaris/SPARC: dbx style regs (registers) output
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/10/solarissparc-dbx-style-regs-registers.html

Miscellaneous

• Deploying TWiki 4.2.0 on Sun Java Web Server 7.0
  http://blogs.sun.com/mandalika/entry/deploying_twiki_on_sun_java
  
  
• Running Batch Workloads on Sun's CMT Servers
  http://blogs.sun.com/mandalika/entry/running_batch_workloads_on_sun

2. Performance

Sun Solaris

• Solaris 9 or later: More performance with Large Pages (MPSS)
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/02/solaris-9-or-later-more-performance.html
  
  
• Improve 64-bit link time w/ LD_NOEXEC_64
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/12/solaris-improve-64-bit-link-time-w.html
  
  
• Dynamic TSB support in Solaris 10
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/10/dynamic-tsb-support-in-solaris-10.html
  
  
• Better scalability with libumem
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/03/solaris-better-scalability-with.html
  
  
• OOB Large Page Selection Changes in Solaris 10 8/07
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2007/10/oob-large-page-selection-changes-in.html
  
  
• Memory fragmentation / Large Pages on Solaris x86
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2007/09/memory-fragmentation-large-pages-on.html

Miscellaneous

• Java performance on Niagara platform
  http://blogs.sun.com/mandalika/entry/java_performance_on_niagara_platform
  
  
• Siebel on Sun Solaris: More Performance with Less mprotect() Calls
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2007/04/siebel-on-sun-more-performance-with.html
  
  
• Speeding up Oracle Applications/Payroll processing on Niagara servers
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2007/02/speeding-up-oracle-applicationspayroll.html
  
  
• Solaris: Different page sizes for Oracle PGA
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/12/solaris-different-page-sizes-for.html

3. Troubleshooting

Sun Solaris / Sun Studio / Miscellaneous

• CPU hog with connections in CLOSE_WAIT
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/05/cpu-hog-with-connections-in-closewait.html
  
  
• Siebel on Sun Solaris: Know the process resource limits
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/02/siebel-on-sun-solaris-know-process.html
  
  
• Solaris: pthread_attr_getstack() broken?
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/10/solaris-pthreadattrgetstack-broken.html
  
  
• Handling SIGFPE
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/10/handling-sigfpe.html
  
  
• Solaris: NULL pointer bugs & /usr/lib/0@0.so.1 library
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/04/solaris-null-pointer-bugs-usrlib00so1.html
  
  
• Sun Studio: symbol collisions revisited
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/06/sun-studio-symbol-collisions-revisited.html
  
  
• Solaris 10/Oracle: Fixing ORA-27102: out of memory Error
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/09/solaris-10oracle-fixing-ora-27102-out.html
  
  
• PeopleSoft: Fixing "msgget: No space left on device" Error on Solaris 10
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2008/03/peoplesoft-fixing-msgget-no-space-left.html

4. Miscellaneous

• Solaris OS Solutions to 32-Bit stdio's 256 File-Descriptors Limitation
  http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/stdio_256.html
  
  
• Patches to get extended FILE solution on Solaris 10
  http://blogs.sun.com/mandalika/entry/patches_to_get_extendedfile_solution
  
  
• Solaris: (Undocumented) Thread Environment Variables
  http://blogs.sun.com/mandalika/entry/solaris_undocumented_thread_environment_variables
  
  
• Large page support for instructions (text) in Solaris 10 1/06
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2006/01/large-page-support-for-instructions.html
  
  
• Solaris Linker: -B {static | dynamic}
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2005/04/solaris-linker-b-static-dynamic.html
  
  
• Sun Studio C/C++: #pragma pack
  http://technopark02.blogspot.com/2004/10/sun-cc-pragma-pack.html

________________
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Solaris | OpenSolaris | Sun Studio

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QuickTest Pro Performance : VNC or Remote Desktop?

For the past few months I have been struggling with the mysteriously poor performing QuickTest Professional (QTP) on Windows. When tested similar transactions using the LoadRunner (LR) tool, the average response times were satisfactory -- mostly under 2 seconds. However when tested with QTP, the averages were unusually high - they are mostly between 2 and 4 seconds. LoadRunner data eliminated the web and application servers from the picture. Because the LR reported averages are in the expected range, the web and app servers might be performing well. Hence there is no apparent reason to suspect web/app servers for the slowness observed through the QTP tool. That leaves the QTP client as the primary suspect.

There is no improvement in the average transaction response times even after downgrading the version of QTP tool and the Internet Explorer web browser. Luckily one of my colleagues at work noticed slight improvement to the averages when we are not monitoring the QTP test running through our VNC viewers. The response times were better when we either close the VNC viewer window completely or minimize it. That was an interesting observation. VNC service appears to be interfering with the web browser's rendering performance; and due to that the recorded response times were poor. So I stopped the VNC server/service on the QTP client machine; and connected to the QTP client through the "Remote Desktop connection" from another PC. Finally I re-ran the same QTP test that I ran earlier when I was connecting through the VNC. Voila! the QTP response times are almost coinciding with the LoadRunner reported response times.

To make it more attractive, here is some sample data that shows the difference between the response times when connected through the VNC and the Remote Desktop connections:

----------------------------------------------------
                             VNC           Remote
                             Viewer        Desktop
----------------------------------------------------
Average Logon                2.59 sec      0.76 sec
Avg. Page Load               2.91 sec      0.77 sec
Avg. Page Save               3.82 sec      2.05 sec
----------------------------------------------------

Moral of the story:

When running performance tests with QuckTest Pro (QTP) tool on remote clients, consider connecting to the remote client using "Remote Desktop" connection. Web browser might perform suboptimally under the VNC, which might skew the overall performance data.

And of course, I do not have any evidence other than the above data that proves VNC guilty. It was just my observation.
________________
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QTP | QuickTest Pro | LoadRunner | VNC | Remote Desktop | RDP | Windows

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Installing MySQL 5.0.51b from the Source Code on Sun Solaris

Building and installing the MySQL server from the source code is relatively very easy when compared to many other OSS applications. At least that was my experience. The following simplified installation instructions were based on the MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual .

Steps for setting up the MySQL 5.x environment on Sun Solaris

1. Create 'mysql' group, then 'mysql' user.
   
   eg.,

   
   # mkdir /export/software/mysql
   # groupadd mysql
   # useradd -g mysql -d /export/software/mysql -s /bin/bash mysql
   # passwd mysql
   New Password: mysql
   Re-enter new Password: mysql
   # chown mysql:mysql /export/software/mysql
   
   

   
   
2. Login as 'mysql' user; and add the following directories to the PATH environment variable:
   
   eg.,

   
   % cat ~/.bashrc
   
   PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/openwin/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/sfw/bin:/opt/csw/bin:/usr/local/bin:.:$PATH
   export PATH
   
   

   
   
3. Download MySQL 5.0.51b source code from the location: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html#source. Download the compressed GNU TAR archive (tar.gz).
   
   
4. Run "configure" with the following options.
   
   eg.,

   
   % ./configure --prefix=~/MySQL5051b --enable-shared --enable-thread-safe-client --with-pic --with-debug=no
   
   

   
   
5. Run "make all" to build MySQL
   
   eg.,

   
   % make all
   
   

   
   
6. Run "make install" to install MySQL either in /usr/local directory or the directory specified in "--prefix" during the "configure" task.
   eg.,

   
   % make install
   
   

   
   
7. Initialize the grant tables. "mysql_install_db" program sets up the initial MySQL grant tables containing the privileges that determine how users are allowed to connect to the server. mysql_install_db needs to be run only the first time you install MySQL on Solaris from the source code.
   
   eg.,

   
   % pwd
   /export/software/mysql/MySQL5051b/bin
   
   % ./mysql_install_db --user=mysql
   
   Installing MySQL system tables...
   OK
   Filling help tables...
   OK
   
   To start mysqld at boot time you have to copy
   support-files/mysql.server to the right place for your system
   
   PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
   To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands:
   /export/software/mysql/MySQL5051b/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
   /export/software/mysql/MySQL5051b/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h unknown password 'new-password'
   
   Alternatively you can run:
   /export/software/mysql/MySQL5051b/bin/mysql_secure_installation
   
   which will also give you the option of removing the test
   databases and anonymous user created by default.  This is
   strongly recommended for production servers.
   
   See the manual for more instructions.
   
   ...
   ...
   
   

   
   
8. Start the MySQL server
   
   eg.,

   
   % ./mysqld_safe &
   Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /export/software/mysql/MySQL5051b/var
   
   

   
   
9. Verify that the server is running
   
   eg.,

   
   % ./mysqladmin version
   ./mysqladmin  Ver 8.41 Distrib 5.0.51b, for pc-solaris2.11 on i386
   Copyright (C) 2000-2006 MySQL AB
   This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software,
   and you are welcome to modify and redistribute it under the GPL license
   
   Server version          5.0.51b
   Protocol version        10
   Connection              Localhost via UNIX socket
   UNIX socket             /tmp/mysql.sock
   Uptime:                 4 min 28 sec
   
   Threads: 1  Questions: 1  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 12  Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 6  Queries per second avg: 0.004
   
   

   
   
10. Verify that you can retrieve information from the server.
    
    
    
    • List the existing databases
      
      eg.,

      
      % mysqlshow
      +--------------------+
      |     Databases      |
      +--------------------+
      | information_schema |
      | test               |
      +--------------------+
      
      

      
      
    • List the tables in one of the existing databases.
      
      eg.,

      
      % mysqlshow information_schema
      Database: information_schema
      +---------------------------------------+
      |                Tables                 |
      +---------------------------------------+
      | CHARACTER_SETS                        |
      | COLLATIONS                            |
      | COLLATION_CHARACTER_SET_APPLICABILITY |
      | COLUMNS                               |
      | COLUMN_PRIVILEGES                     |
      | KEY_COLUMN_USAGE                      |
      | PROFILING                             |
      | ROUTINES                              |
      | SCHEMATA                              |
      | SCHEMA_PRIVILEGES                     |
      | STATISTICS                            |
      | TABLES                                |
      | TABLE_CONSTRAINTS                     |
      | TABLE_PRIVILEGES                      |
      | TRIGGERS                              |
      | USER_PRIVILEGES                       |
      | VIEWS                                 |
      +---------------------------------------+
      
      

      
      
    • Retrieve the row count from one of the tables in the "information_schema" database.
      
      eg.,

      
      % mysql -e "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM TABLES" information_schema
      +----------+
      | COUNT(*) |
      +----------+
      |       17 |
      +----------+
      
      

      
      
    
    
11. Finally shutdown the MySQL server. Only privileged MySQL users can shutdown the MySQL server. The grant tables (step #7) step creates a superuser account with username 'root'. This account pertains to MySQL only. It is no way related to the OS username. The initial 'root' account password is empty, so anyone can connect to the MySQL server as 'root' without a password; and be granted all privileges.
    
    eg.,

    
    % id
    uid=65539(mysql) gid=104(mysql)
    
    % ./mysqladmin shutdown
    ./mysqladmin: shutdown failed; error: 'Access denied; you need the SHUTDOWN privilege for this operation'
    
    % ./mysqladmin -u root shutdown
    
    

    
    Check the other window for the shutdown confirmation where you started the MySQL server.
    

    
    % ./mysqld_safe
    Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /export/software/mysql/MySQL5051b/var
    
    STOPPING server from pid file /export/software/mysql/MySQL5051b/var/unknown.pid
    080612 13:59:09  mysqld ended
    
    

    
    At this point "mysqladmin version" should return an error.
    

    
    % ./mysqladmin version
    ./mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
    error: 'Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)'
    Check that mysqld is running and that the socket: '/tmp/mysql.sock' exists!
    
    

________________
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