User Guide

4-17
Novell NetWare Installation
Optimizing Performance
The Adaptec 7800 Family SCSI Bus Master firmware increases the
SCSI performance of the Adaptec 7800 Family host adapters under
multitasking environments. The firmware uses a paging mechanism
to handle up to 255 simultaneous SCSI commands. The sequencer
can simultaneously manage up to 128 tagged, or 1 nontagged, SCSI
commands for each SCSI device, up to a limit of 255 SCSI
commands. The firmware can queue as many commands as the
operating system is able to send to the host adapter. To set this
feature, enter the following command:
max_tags=
n
In general, a low number of max_tags gives better sequential
performance, and a high number a better random performance.
Note:
A large number of max_tags can also cause starvation
problems leading to deactivations with some drives.