System Tuning (Linux)

We recommend that you tune the Linux system for better performance.

Linux

Open a terminal as root. Then add the following two lines to the file /etc/sysctl.conf

net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65535

net.ipv4.tcp_fin_timeout = 30

Note: Do not set the parameters net.ipv4.tcp_tw_recycle and/or net.ipv4.tcp_tw_reuse to a value of 1. These tuning options are not suitable for load generators.

Enter also from a terminal the following command:

ulimit -n

You should see a value greater or equal than 32768 (65536 is recommended). If this value is too low you have also to tune the Linux system.

Almost all of the Linux systems do not have enough entropy to generate a large number of random numbers in a short time. But such random numbers are needed to execute tests with encrypted network connections (https). Therefore we strongly recommend increasing the entropy by installing the haveged daemon on all Linux systems. Further Information.

Note: A load test may block/freeze for several minutes if you don't install the haveged daemon.