HP COMPAQ TASKSMART C SERVER User Manual

White Paper

October 1999
117G-1099-A-WWEN

Prepared by Industry Standard
Server Division

Compaq Computer Corporation

Contents

Overview.....................................3

Equipment Requirements...........3

System under Test....................3

Creation of Polygraph

Client/Server Pairs......................4

Polygraph Simulation................4

Installation of FreeBSD 3.2........4

Installing Needed FreeBSD

Packages .................................9

Getting a copy of Web

Polygraph...............................10

Running the Polygraph

Bake-off Test............................15

Appendix A - How to

interpret the results ..................22

Appendix B – Useful UNIX

Hints and Commands ...............25

Appendix C - Running the

netperf change .........................26

About the Author.....................26

Deploying Web Polygraph to
Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache
Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe how to create a
minimal Web Polygraph™ test bed to do performance &
qualification testing using the Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers
in Client Acceleration mode. This technical paper is intended for
Customers evaluating TaskSmart C-Series Servers and Field Service
Engineers supporting their efforts.

Proxy caching is a new area for performance measurement and
qualification testing. Currently, there are more than a handful of
tools for testing client accelerators. Many of the tools available
today were created by the Proxy caching vendors including
Inktomi’s Large Scale Benchmark, CacheFlow’s Performance Tool,
and Network Appliance’s NetCache Load generator. Other tools
available are from independent sources such as University of
Wisconsin’s Proxy Benchmark and IRCache Web Polygraph. The
most promising of the independent sources is IRCache’s Web
Polygraph.

The purpose of this paper is to help those who wish to, deploy Web
Polygraph to benchmark and qualify Proxy Cache Compaq
TaskSmart C-Series Servers. The sample deployment in this paper
will be for testing TaskSmart C1200R Proxy Caching server in
Client acceleration mode.

1

2

1

Web Polygraph was created by Alex Rousskov. For questions, e-mail him at

[e-mail] or [e-mail]

2

Note: This manual is not an official Polyteam manual; the manual assists with the procedure,

but does not guarantee correct results. The manual concentrates on reproducing first IRCache
bake-off tests; there are other tests available to run. There are also other ways of
benchmarking TaskSmart C-Series Server proxy. Following this manual is not required to
achieve correct results.

Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers 2

Notice

The information in this publication is subject to change without notice and is provided “AS IS” WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
INFORMATION REMAINS WITH RECIPIENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPAQ BE LIABLE FOR
ANY DIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR OTHER DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS
PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION), EVEN IF
COMPAQ HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

The limited warranties for Compaq products are exclusively set forth in the documentation accompanying
such products. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting a further or additional warranty.

This publication does not constitute an endorsement of the product or products that were tested. The
configuration or configurations tested or described may or may not be the only available solution. This test
is not a determination or product quality or correctness, nor does it ensure compliance with any federal
state or local requirements.

Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective
companies.

Compaq, Contura, Deskpro, Fastart, Compaq Insight Manager, LTE, PageMarq, Systempro, Systempro/LT,
ProLiant, TwinTray, ROMPaq, LicensePaq, QVision, SLT, ProLinea, SmartStart, NetFlex, DirectPlus,
QuickFind, RemotePaq, BackPaq, TechPaq, SpeedPaq, QuickBack, PaqFax, Presario, SilentCool,
CompaqCare (design), Aero, SmartStation, MiniStation, and PaqRap, registered United States Patent and
Trademark Office.

Netelligent, Armada, Cruiser, Concerto, QuickChoice, ProSignia, Systempro/XL, Net1, LTE Elite,
Vocalyst, PageMate, SoftPaq, FirstPaq, SolutionPaq, EasyPoint, EZ Help, MaxLight, MultiLock,
QuickBlank, QuickLock, UltraView, Innovate logo, Wonder Tools logo in black/white and color, and
Compaq PC Card Solution logo are trademarks and/or service marks of Compaq Computer Corporation.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, Windows NT Server and Workstation, Microsoft SQL Server for
Windows NT are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

NetWare and Novell are registered trademarks and intraNetWare, NDS, and Novell Directory Services are
trademarks of Novell, Inc.

Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
Copyright ©1998 Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers

White Paper prepared by Industry Standard Server Division
First Edition (October 1999)

Document Number 117G-1099-A-WWEN

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Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers 3

Overview

Proxy caching is a new area for performance measurement and qualification testing. Proxy cache
servers are devices installed between web client browsers and web servers to store and serve web
objects. They can function as web server or client browser accelerators. For TaskSmart C-Series
Servers that will be deployed in client acceleration configurations, traditional web benchmarking
tools are not adequate for customer qualification testing and benchmarking. The workload
characteristics of traditional tools like WebBench and SpecWeb96 use a small finite data set that
is repeated throughout the test. Testing Proxy Caches with these tools will only test one
dimension of caching and represent a 100% hit rate. Therefore, other tools are necessary to test
the performance of proxy caching severs.

Currently, there are more than a handful of tools for testing client accelerators. Many of the tools
available today were created by the Proxy caching vendors including Inktomi’s Large Scale
Benchmark, CacheFlow’s Performance Tool, and Network Appliance’s NetCache Load
generator. Other tools available are from independent sources such as University of Wisconsin’s
Proxy Benchmark and IRCache Web Polygraph. The most promising of the independent sources
is IRCache’s Web Polygraph.

Equipment Requirements

The following is recommended for Polygraph:

• FreeBSD 3.2 (Walnut Creek 4 CD Set).

• Pentium II 400MHZ/128MB RAM/3.2GB Hard Disk with CD-ROM & 100TX NIC

(Compaq Deskpro EN SFF with embedded Compaq 10/100 Intel PCI NIC or equivalent)

• Compaq 5708TX Fast Ethernet Switch or equivalent with network cables

System under Test

1 - Compaq TaskSmart C1200R
1 - Windows 95/98 workstation with a Web browser and NIC
1 – Null Ethernet cable
Follow the instructions provided with your Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Server to connect a

Windows NT/95/98 workstation (configured with 10.1.1.2 IP address) via NULL modem cable to
the 10.1.1.1 management interface. The Windows workstation is necessary to for monitoring
when the cache is filled and configuring the proxy cache to the example 200.100.50.253 proxy
address using port 8080. If the ICS software complains about no DNS server, enter the 10.1.1.1
address for a DNS server address.

3

3

Other UNIX operating systems such as Linux, True64, IRIX, and Solaris x86 also support Web Polygraph. Also, another alternative
to the Walnut Creek CD Set is Cheapbytes. A two CD Set of FreeBSD 3.2 may be purchased online at http://www.cheapbytes.com
for $7.99 (Catalog No. 0070010381).

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Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers 4

FreeBSD 3.2

(Polygraph Server)

FreeBSD 3.2

(Polygraph Client)

TaskSmart C1200R

Windows NT/95/98

Creation of Polygraph Client/Server Pairs

Polygraph Simulation

Web Polygraph 1.x uses a simulated real world environment. The simulated environment
consists of a Web server simulator and client browser simulator software programs. These
simulations are run in client/server pairs. In other words, each client only talks to the server it is
paired up with. If two pairs are used, one client will talk to one server, and the other client will
talk to the other server. This one-to-one relationship is maintained regardless of the quantity of
Polygraph pairs. In simplest terms, the Polygraph simulators are software programs called
“polysrv” for the server simulator and “polyclt” for the client simulator.

Installation of FreeBSD 3.2

Null Ethernet Cable to TaskSmart

Embedded Controller

4

Computer with Browser

and Ethernet Adapter

poly 1

200.100.50.10

poly 2

200.100.50.10

200.100.50.253
(Proxy Cache)

In order to run the simulation, the client and server machine should have the FreeBSD UNIX
operating system installed and patched for Web Polygraph. Both the client and server simulation
computers will be configured identically. To install FreeBSD on the Deskpro EN simply follow
the following step by step instructions:

4 Step 1. Save your data

Compaq Deskpro EN is factory configured with a Windows product. In order to install FreeBSD
you must overwrite your configuration. Backup any programs or data on the hard disk, because
following these instructions will install FreeBSD on your hard disk.

4

The heart of the simulation is called the workload. For the first Bake-off, the simulation workload was called PolyMix-1. See

http://polygraph/ircache.net for more information on simulated workloads.

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Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers 5

4 Step 2. Remove conflicting device drivers (Configure the kernel)

Boot the Compaq Deskpro with the FreeBSD Intel Installation Boot CD (Disk 1) in the
CD–ROM drive. A “Kernel Configuration Menu” will be presented. Choose “Start Kernel
Configuration in full-screen visual mode” and press <enter>. Note that each system will vary, but
Deskpro EN shows “13 conflicts” at the top of screen. Also, note that all “Active Drivers” are
“(Collapsed)”. To clear the conflicts, use the arrow keys to highlight each item and press <enter>
to reveal all the items in the collapsed menu. For example, highlight “Storage (Collapsed)” and
press <enter>. Use the arrow keys to highlight and delete those devices that are not installed in
your system. For the Compaq Deskpro EN SFF all devices are deleted except the following:

Table 1. Devices not deleted for the Compaq Deskpro EN SFF
Storage Drivers Dev IRQ Port

Floppy Disk Controller fdc0 6 0x3f0
IDE/ESDI/MFM Disk Controller wdc0 14 0x1F0
IDE/ESDI/MFM Disk Controller wdc1 15 0x170

Table 2. All ISA/EISA Network drivers removed:
Network Drivers Dev IRQ Port

None for Deskpro EN N/A N/A N/A

Table 3. Standard printer & serial port drivers:
Communications Drivers Dev IRQ Port

Parallel Port chipset ppc0 7 N/A
8250/16450/16550 Serial Port sio0 4 0x3f8
8250/16450/16550 Serial Port sio1 3 0x2f8

Table 4. Standard keyboard & mouse device drives:
Input Drivers Dev IRQ Port

Keyboard Atkbd0 1 N/A
PS/2 Mouse Psm0 12 N/A
Syscons console driver sc0 N/A N/A

Multimedia, PCI, and miscellaneous devices should not be changed unless the system has a sound
board, which should be removed. The FreeBSD Kernel configuration program will NOT allow
PCI devices to be deleted.

Once configuring the kernel is complete, type the letter <Q> to quit and <Y> to save the changes.
This should start the FreeBSD boot process. The screen will fill with lines containing
information about the hardware in the system and start the System Installation Menu
(/stand/sysinstall) Utility.

4 Step 3. Choose Novice Install

Use the arrow keys to highlight selection number 2 Novice for beginners and press <enter>. The
program should display a message describing the “fdisk” process. Read the instructions and press
<enter> to continue.

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Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers 6

4 Step 4. Delete existing partitions and create a BSD SLICE on the disk

If you have a unit previously containing Windows partitions, highlight each one using the arrow
keys and press the <D> key to delete them. Once all partitions are removed, press the <C> key
and create a slice that uses most of or the entire disk. When creating the slice, accept the defaults
provided by pressing <enter>. Once the slice is created, press the <Q> key to finish.

4 Step 5. Install default Boot Manager

Next, the Boot Manager Menu will be displayed. Press <enter> to select the default FreeBSD
BootMgr on the hard disk. A message will be displayed discussing creating partitions on the
disk. Press <enter> to continue.

4 Step 6. Create the ‘root’ or ‘/’ partition on the BSD SLICE

Type the <C> key to create the first partition. A dialog box with a long number will be displayed.
Use the <backspace> key to delete the number and type in 42M (42 Megabytes). Choose the
partition type of “FS A file system” by highlighting it and pressing <enter>. Type in the “/”
character and press <enter>. The dialogs should clear and the new partition information should
be displayed.

4 Step 7. Create the SWAP partition on the BSD SLICE

Type the <C> key to create the next partition. A dialog box with a long number will be
displayed. Use the <backspace> key to delete the number and type in 256M (256 Megabytes).
Choose the partition type of “Swap A swap partition” by highlighting it and pressing <enter>.
The dialogs should clear and the new partition information should be displayed.

4 Step 8. Create the ‘/var’ partition on the BSD SLICE (“/var” is all lowercase)

Type the <C> key to create the first partition. A dialog box with a long number will be displayed.
Use the <backspace> key to delete the number and type in 42M (42 Megabytes). Choose the
partition type of “FS A file system” by highlighting it and pressing <enter>. Type in the “/var”
characters and press <enter>. The dialogs should clear and the new partition information should
be displayed.

4 Step 9. Create the ‘/usr’ partition on the BSD SLICE (“/usr” is all lowercase)

Type the <C> key to create the first partition. A dialog box with a long number will be displayed.
Accept the default by pressing <enter> Choose the partition type of “FS A file system” by
highlighting it and pressing <enter>. Type in the “/usr” characters and press <enter>. The
dialogs should clear and the new partition information should be displayed.

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Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers 7

If all of the partition information looks reasonable, press <Q> to finish. This will display the
Partition Table.

Table 5. Partition Table
Mount Point Size of partition Type Purpose

/ 42MB UFS UNIX Root

256MB SWAP Virtual Memory/SWAP File (2 x RAM)
/var 42MB UFS Area for log & message files
/usr 5809MB UFS Area User Programs/Data (depends on actual disk size)

4 Step 10. Load full kernel sources for use later

Use the arrow keys to highlight choice number “1 Developer Full Sources, binaries, and doc but
no games”. The Cryptography information screen will be presented. Choose “YES” by pressing
<enter> key.

4 Step 11. Skip adding cryptography

Use arrow keys to move to highlight Exit and press <enter>. No cryptography is needed.

4 Step 12. Load Ports collection

Press <enter> to load the ports collection on the CD. It creates a standard installation hierarchy on
your hard drive. The Distributions menu will reappear again. Press <enter> to continue and
choose installation media.

4 Step 13. Choose CD-ROM installation media

Use arrow keys to highlight selection “1 CROM Install from a FreeBSD CD-ROM” and press
<enter>. Read the warning, and press <enter> to continue.

This should start the installation process. The System Installation will create file systems, mount
them, and load the operating system with the ports collection. The loading process takes about an
hour depending on the CD-ROM speed. When complete, a message will be displayed with
congratulations. Press <enter> to move to final configuration questions.

4 Step 14. Configure Ethernet Devices

Press highlight “YES” and press <enter> to configure Ethernet or SLIP/PPP network devices. A
menu of network devices will be presented. Choose the network device by highlighting it and
pressing <enter>. In the case of the Deskpro EN, choose the “fxp0 Intel EtherExpress Pro/100B
PCI Fast Ethernet card” because it is the closest equivalent.

4 Step 15. Configure host information and IP addresses

Choose any host and domain name or use “poly1.acme.com”, and type in the domain of your
choice or “acme.com”. The Gateway option should be “NO”. If a DNS or name server is
available type in its IP address; otherwise, just leave it blank. Choose the IP address for the
network interface or enter “200.100.50.10” with a Netmask of “255.255.255.0” and leave Extra
options for ifconfig blank. Highlight the “OK” and press <enter> when done. If not, use the
<tab> key to move to information needing changes. Finally, the next message box will ask to
start or “bring up” the interface. Highlight “YES” and press <enter> to continue. For those
customers using FreeBSD3.1 per web polygraph website on Deskpro SFF, highlight “NO” and
consult http://www.freebsd.org mailing list archive for patch information for the Compaq Intel
10/100 embedded Network Controller (dev fxp0) or send an e-mail to [e-mail].

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Deploying Web Polygraph to Benchmark and Qualify Proxy Cache Compaq TaskSmart C-Series Servers 8

4 Step 16. Disable routing, Anonymous FTP, NFS server, and NFS client

When asked if the machine will be an IP gateway , choose “NO” by highlighting it and pressing
<enter>. Also, when asked about anonymous FTP connections, NFS server, and NFS client
choose “NO”, and press <enter> to continue. None of these services are necessary for Web
Polygraph.

4 Step 17. Customize your console settings

To setup a screen saver, choose “YES” and highlight “Saver Configure the screen saver” option
in the menu and press <enter>. Choose a favorite or select “Warp” by highlighting it and
pressing the <space> key. To change the screen saver Timeout, highlight it, press <space> key,
and change it to “1200” or the desired number of seconds and press <enter> to continue. When
complete, highlight “OK” and press <enter> to continue. Finally, highlight “Exit Exit this
menu” and press <enter> to continue.

4 Step 18. Select your Time Zone

To select Time Zone, highlight “YES” and press <enter> to continue. The next dialog will ask
about your clock. Choose what applies in your area or highlight “NO” and press <enter> to
continue. Select your region or choose “2 America – North & South” by highlighting it and
pressing the <enter> key. Select your country or choose “45 United States” by scrolling down
with the arrow keys, highlighting, and pressing <enter> to continue. Next, select a time zone or
choose “8 Central Time”, and press <enter> to continue. Confirm the Time Zone of your choice
by pressing <enter> to continue.

4 Step 19. Disable Mouse

When asked about a mouse, choose “NO” and press <enter> to continue.

4 Step 20. Installation of packages

When asked about installing additional packages, choose “NO” because the Walnut Creek
FreeBSD 3.2 distribution CD number 1 does not have any useful packages. Later steps will
outline how to load packages from CD number 3.

5

4 Step 21. Adding initial accounts and ‘root’ password

When asked to add users, select “NO” and press <enter> to continue. Read the message about the
user manager called “root” and press <enter> to continue. Choose a password for the root user
and press <enter> to continue. Pressing the <enter> key at the password prompt will disable
login password.

4 Step 22. Revisit the general configuration menu

When requested to visit the general configuration menu, highlight the “NO” option and press
<enter> to continue. The System Installation utility will be displayed. Use the arrow keys to
highlight the “Exit Install” option and press <enter> to continue. Remove any CD-ROMs and
diskette and confirm by pressing the enter <key> to continue.

5

Cheapbytes CDs may be arranged differently; however, the same principle applies. Cheapbytes will be CDs 1 and 2.

117G-1099-A-WWEN