Installation guide

344 Installation Guide for Clients
Tuning Microsoft TCP/IP
When you tune a computer, you make tradeoffs between the speed of its
operation and the amount of memory it uses. For example, making a
computer operate faster requires more and larger buffers, and more
processes working within the computer. These buffers and processes,
however, require more memory.
Most computers running Microsoft TCP/IP can be fine-tuned to run
more efficiently. You do this by changing entries and values in the
PROTOCOL.INI file in the LAN Manager root directory on your
computer (usually C:\LANMAN.DOS for MS-DOS computers and
C:\LANMAN for OS/2 computers).
For more information about entries and values in the PROTOCOL.INI
file, see Part 4, “
Network Device Drivers.
”
Before making changes to PROTOCOL.INI, run Microsoft TCP/IP
using the default PROTOCOL.INI values. If the default values do not
meet your networking needs (for example, a computer lacks
performance or runs out of memory), adjust the necessary entries.
There are two factors that cause more memory to be used:
• More connections
• Bigger window size
Consequently, tuning for minimum memory use is often the opposite of
tuning for speed. To conserve memory, keep window and segment sizes
relatively small. In addition, keep the maximum number of connections
small.
The two entries in the [TCP/IP] section of the PROTOCOL.INI file that
have the most impact on speed and memory allocations are
tcpsegmentsize and tcpwindowsize.
• LAN Manager chooses an appropriate value for tcpsegmentsize that
is near optimal, and in general it is best not to modify this setting.
• If you increase the tcpwindowsize setting, Microsoft TCP/IP will
generally run faster (although using more memory). You can use a
smaller tcpwindowsize setting for a greater number of sessions.
The other entry that affects the amount of buffer space allocated is
tcpconnections, which specifies the number of Microsoft TCP/IP-based
connections the workstation will accept.