Tarantella Administration Guide > Before you begin > What operating system changes do I need to make?

What operating system changes do I need to make?

This page lists all the required and recommended operating system modifications for the following supported platforms:

• Caldera OpenLinux eServer 2.3+
• HP-UX 11.00+
• IBM AIX 4.3.3+
• Linux kernel 2.2+ (all distributions)
• SPARC Solaris™ 2.6+
• SuSE Linux 6.3+
• TurboLinux 6.0+
• UnixWare 7.1.1, Open UNIX 8+

It also contains information on additional kernel tuning for the Tarantella Mainframe Connectivity Pack.

You must make these modifications before you install Tarantella.

Caldera OpenLinux eServer 2.3+

Due to a known problem in Sun's JDK(TM) version 1.3.1 for Linux, updated glibc libraries are required for this platform. Refer to the Java(TM) SDK v1.3.1 Installation Notes for information on which version of glibc to use.

HP-UX 11.00+

Tarantella Enterprise 3 version 3.2 and later uses version JRE 1.3.1_02 of the Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE).

You should install the appropriate patches for your HP-UX version. See the HP-UX patch information page for details.

Kernel tuning

If you are seeing "OutOfMemoryException" in the JServer log files (around thread start() or run() methods) you may need to increase the thread tunables.

On HP-UX 11.0 the default thread mechanism is kernel threads. Set the kernel tunables (max_thread_proc, nkthread, for example) so that the application can be run with the kernel-threaded virtual machine for the Java™ platform ('Java Virtual Machine' or 'JVM').

The tunables of interest are:

max_thread_proc

The maximum number of threads in a single process. This needs to be large enough to accommodate all of the threads in the Java application plus the handful of additional threads in the virtual machine itself.

nkthreads

The maximum total number of kernel threads on the system. This needs to be large enough to accommodate all of the applications that will be run simultaneously on the system plus all of the kernel threads needed by the kernel. Typically this parameter is a function of nproc and an expected average number of threads per process.

For more information, see the hp frequently asked questions page.

IBM AIX 4.3.3+

Tarantella Enterprise 3 version 3.2 and later uses version 1.3.1 of the Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE). This means maintenance packages are required for the AIX 4.3.3 and 5.1 environments. Additional filesets are also required if you are using Chinese, Korean and Japanese (CKJ) locales. These files are available from the IBM Support site.

For AIX 4.3.3 the JRE requires the AIX 4330-09 Recommended Maintenance Level.

For AIX 5.1 the JRE requires the AIX 5100-01 Recommended Maintenance Level.

Note Before updating your AIX 5.1.0 system to the AIX 5100-01 maintenance level, you must first apply and commit APAR IY19375.

CKJ locales

If you are using one of the supported non-UTF8 CKJ locales, one of the following filesets (available on both AIX 4.3.3 and AIX 5.1 base CDs) is required:

X11.fnt.ucs.ttf (for ja_JP or Ja_JP)
X11.fnt.ucs.ttf_CN (for zh_CN or Zh_CN)
X11.fnt.ucs.ttf_KR (for ko_KR)
X11.fnt.ucs.ttf_TW (for zh_TW or Zh_TW)

For Japanese users, if you are using Japanese Input Method, you may apply the following PTFs to avoid some Input Method related problems:

jkit.Wnn6.base 2.2.0.2 (PTF U479697 or APAR IY22917) (Wnn6 user only)
X11.motif.lib 5.1.0.15 (PTF U479604 or APAR IY22933) (AIX 5.1 user only)

Linux kernel 2.2+ (all distributions)

On Linux systems, each thread is mapped to a separate process (unlike on UNIX systems). As Tarantella is a multi-threaded server, you'll see a large number of processes in process listings and you may need to increase the number of processes supported by the kernel.

The Red Hat Linux 6.2 kernel and kernels compiled with the kernel-source-2.2.14-5.0 RPM support 2560 processes by default. This process limit should support approximately 1000 users per server, if each user runs one application.

To increase the number of processes your kernel supports, see your Linux vendor's web site for details.

File descriptors and inodes

You should increase the maximum number of file descriptors and inodes. The inode limit should be three times the file descriptor limit.

On some Linux systems, for example Red Hat Linux 6.2, you would add the following lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

echo "16384" > /proc/sys/fs/file-max
echo "49152" > /proc/sys/fs/inode-max

On Caldera OpenLinux eServer 2.3+, edit the /etc/system.cnf file and change the CONF_INIT_MAX_FILES and CONF_INIT_MAX_INODES parameters to 16384 and 49152 respectively.

Using Linux as an application server

If you use Linux as an application server, each emulator session requires one pseudo-tty. For example, 50 users running 10 applications each on one application server requires 500 pseudo-ttys.

See the Linux Performance Tuning page for tips on performance tuning.

SPARC Solaris™ 2.6+

You should install the appropriate patches for your Solaris version (available from the SunSolve Online Patches page).

Note: The patches recommended by Sun for Solaris may not apply to Siemens Solaris-based systems.
For information about which patches to install on these systems, refer to your Siemens contact or the Siemens web site.

Supporting a large number of users per Tarantella server

Solaris 7+ only: To support a large number of users on a Tarantella server, increase the hard limit on the number of file descriptors. We recommend you do this to support more than 100 users.

Add this line to your /etc/system file (make a backup first):

set rlim_fd_max=4096

You need to reboot for the change to take effect.

See man -s 4 system, and http://sunsolve.sun.com for advice on tunables. This document recommends that you don't increase the hard limit beyond 1024 (the default) on Solaris 2.6 systems.

Using Solaris as an application server

Each emulator session requires one pseudo-tty. For example, 50 users running 10 applications each on one application server requires 500 pseudo-ttys.

To set the number of pseudo-ttys, edit your /etc/system file (make a backup first) and add the following line:

set pt_cnt=limit

Where limit is the number of pseudo-ttys you require.

To create the new devices, reboot with the -r option.

See http://sunsolve.sun.com for advice on increasing pseudo-ttys.

SuSE Linux 6.3+

To increase the number of files that may be open simultaneously, you can make changes to the file descriptors and inodes, and also to the kernel.

File descriptors and inodes

See the Linux Performance Tuning page for details.

Kernel changes

Make the following changes to the kernel and re-compile:

Changes to include/linux/fs.h:

• increase NR_FILE from 4096 to 65536
• increase NR_RESERVED_FILES from 10 to 128

Changes to fs/inode.c:

• increase MAX_INODE from 16384 to 262144

Note: MAX_INODE must be at least three times larger than NR_FILE.

See http://www.linuxraid.org for details.

TurboLinux 6.0+

Tarantella requires that your system is configured to use shadow passwords, storing username and password information in /etc/shadow. Setup warns if your system doesn't use shadow passwords.

IMPORTANT: On systems that don't use shadow passwords, users are unable to log in to Tarantella.

To convert your system to use shadow passwords, use pwconv. See the pwconv(8) man page and the Linux Shadow Password HOWTO, which gives a good overview of the issues you may encounter.

UnixWare 7.1.1, Open UNIX 8+

Patches for UnixWare 7.1.1

You should install the following patches (available from your support provider or from Caldera Support Services):

Newer patches may become available over time, see the Overview of UnixWare 7 Patches and Supplements.

UnixWare 7.1.1 also needs new/updated UDK FS runtime library packages (libc.so.1, libC.so.1 and libm.so.1) in order to use Java™ 2 version 1.3.0. Download the packages from the Caldera download site. On this site select UnixWare and OpenServer Development Kit Feature Supplement 7.1.1b and then select the udkrtfs package.

Patches for Open UNIX 8+

You should be up to date with your Open UNIX 8 Maintenance Packs, see the Overview of Open UNIX 8 Patches and Supplements.

Kernel tuning for UnixWare 7.1.1 and Open UNIX 8+

We recommend you use scoadmin to tune the kernel for optimal performance of Tarantella servers. Raise the following parameters to the specified values if they are currently less than the values shown:

Tuning TCP/IP parameters for UnixWare 7.1.1 and Open UNIX 8+

You should also tune TCP/IP parameters. Run the following command as root:

inconfig tcp_2msl 30

Set the following parameters in the relevant files in the /etc/conf/sdevice.d directory:

Additional kernel tuning for the Tarantella Mainframe Connectivity Pack

The Mainframe Connectivity Pack uses the third-party TN3270E product, which may require additional kernel tuning on your system.

The information provided lists the resources that TN3270E requires. To determine the actual values required for your system, you need to know the resource requirements of other applications running on the system.

Kernel parameters required for supported operating systems

Some operating systems only require some of the parameters to be tuned:

Definitions

TN3270E invocations is the maximum number of TN3270E programs which will be running concurrently on the system.

HLLAPI sessions is the total number of TN3270E sessions, for all of the TN3270E programs running with an HLLAPI session ID assigned. HLLAPI session IDs are assigned through the style file or with the -h option.

Command line options

-h allows a hexadecimal HLLAPI session ID to be specified for a TN3270E session.

-b starts the TN3270E program as a background process.

-e disables the menu interface.

Formulas for TN3270E with neither the -b or -e command line options:

• SHMMNI = 1 + (TN3270E invocations) + (HLLAPI sessions)
• SEMMNI = (2 x TN3270E invocations) + (HLLAPI sessions)
• SEMMNS = (2 x TN3270E invocations) + (2 x HLLAPI sessions)
• SEMMAP = half the value of SEMMNS
• SEMMNU = (2 x TN3270E invocations) + (HLLAPI sessions)

Formulas for TN3270E with the -b or -e command line option specified:

• SHMMNI = same as above
• SEMMNI = HLLAPI sessions
• SEMMNS = 2 x HLLAPI sessions
• SEMMAP = half the value of SEMMNS
• SEMMNU = HLLAPI sessions

Additional kernel tuning for HLLAPI applications

• SHMSEG must be set on all operating systems except AIX when a single HLLAPI application must access multiple TN3270E sessions.
• SHMSEG = 1 + the maximum number of HLLAPI sessions to be accessed by a single HLLAPI application process.

Shared memory sizes

In most cases the shared memory sizes configured by default will be sufficient. For the few cases where this is not true, formulas are provided to calculate the approximate shared memory size required by TN3270E:

• Without the -b option = (90K * TN3270E invocations) + (14K * HLLAPI sessions)
• With the -b option = (19K * TN3270E invocations) + (14K * HLLAPI sessions)

Process and socket requirements

• TN3270E uses two processes per invocation when run without either the -b or the -e options. Only one process is used with either the -b or -e option specified. This is true for both the Motif and character TN3270E versions.
• TN3270E uses one TCP socket per host session.