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Debian GNU/Linux

Bach Install

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Bach Install

Hostname bach
Address 155.229.8.158
Netmask 255.255.255.192
Broadcast optional
Gateway 155.229.8.190
DNS 183.44.72.1
Domain ktware.com

Passwords using MD5 was turned off (DES instead used) as I think this is the same as the server of the network into which this host will connect.

The second IDE disk was formatted:

  # cfdisk /dev/hdb ; mkfs.ext2 /dev/hdb1

Then /etc/fstab was updated:

  /dev/hdb1 /ktnet/bach ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 0

After installing Debian a serious performance hit was noticed every time the disks were busy. In the X Window System, for example, the mouse would be extremely sluggish (for several seconds or more) and there was no hope of typing. It turned out that the parameters for the hard disk required tuning. Installing hdparm allowed the tuning to happen. Running hdparm with /dev/hda showed the current parameters:

  # hdparm /dev/hda

  /dev/hda:
   multcount    =  0 (off)
   I/O support  =  0 (default 16-bit)
   unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
   using_dma    =  0 (off)
   keepsettings =  0 (off)
   nowerr       =  0 (off)
   readonly     =  0 (off)
   readahead    =  8 (on)
   geometry     = 7297/255/63, sectors = 117231408, start = 0
   busstate     =  1 (on)

It turns out that the following fixes the problem. It turns on DMA (-d1), 16 multiple sectors (-m16), and 32 bit I/O support (-c1):

  # hdparm -d1 -m16 -c1 /dev/hda
  # hdparm -d1 -m16 -c1 /dev/hdb

To ensure these new settings are saved for each reboot install the package hwtools and edit /etc/init.d/hwtools:

  if command -v hdparm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     hdparm -q -d1 -m16 -c1 /dev/hda
     hdparm -q -d1 -m16 -c1 /dev/hdb
  fi

For further information see Section 25.3.

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