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The first step in tuning a system is to define a set of performance goals. This can range from discovering and removing system bottlenecks in order to improve overall performance, to tuning the system specifically to run a single application, set of applications, or benchmark as efficiently as possible.
The performance goals should be listed in order of priority. Often goals can conflict; for example, a system running a database that uses a large cache might also require a large portion of memory to compile programs during software development. Assigning priority to these goals might involve deciding whether the database performance or the speed of the compilations is more important.
You should attempt to understand all goals as well as possible. If possible, you should note which resources will be affected by each goal. If you specify several goals, it is important that you understand where they might conflict.
Although this guide assumes that you are a system administrator, the goals identified for the tuning of the various subsystems also reflect the perspectives and needs of users and application developers.