There is no detailed document describing our kernel tunables that I know of (and no man pages, at least created by Isilon). There are probably several KB articles and other documents that mention specific sysctls that apply to specific releases, but I don't even have a concise list of those documents.

In theory, sysctls aren't meant to be touched by customers which is the reason for the lack of customer facing documentation. When kernel parameters need to be tuned in a supported way, we try to wrap that functionality within some set of safe commands. A good example of this would be the OneFS access settings, stored under 'isi.access' in the sysctl tree. Those parameters are meant to be tuned, but are done so either through our WebUI or through the CLI using "isi set".

So that's the theory. In practice it is sometimes necessary to change a sysctl directly, for various reasons. I would always check with Isilon Support before doing so. This is true even in the case where you see a sysctl mentioned in a KB, unless your OneFS release matches the KB's OneFS release exactly (or the KB explicitly tells you it's ok to do on x.y.z release).

Now, if you're just curious about what the sysctls do, then here are my suggestions:

- # sysctl -d

Sometimes the sysctl definitions are descriptive enough to give you a basic idea.

- Ask here.

- Ask your Isilon SE or whomever your EMC/Isilon technical contact is.

--kip