gunverth

Q: Performance Mode fails on 10.11 Server/5.0.4 Server App

After having upgraded some servers to 10.11 El Capitan with Server.app 5.0.4, I realized performance mode was disabled on all of them. Trying to enable it again just returns:

 

bash-3.2# serverinfo --setperfmode 1

ERROR: Server performance mode could not be modified.

Failed to create write propery list to disk!

 

Any ideas why this doesn't work any longer? Why can't it write the plist when sudo:ed? This was also a bug in 9.0.0 Server with upgraded systems.

Posted on Oct 19, 2015 12:42 PM

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Q: Performance Mode fails on 10.11 Server/5.0.4 Server App

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  • by gunverth,

    gunverth gunverth Oct 19, 2015 1:17 PM in response to gunverth
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 19, 2015 1:17 PM in response to gunverth

    Well, "serverinfo--setperfmode" usually writes to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist, which is disallowed in El Capitan.

    Is the only way around this to run csrutil on Recovery HD?

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 19, 2015 6:15 PM in response to gunverth
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Oct 19, 2015 6:15 PM in response to gunverth

    I doubt that this has any effect except perhaps on an Xserve, but you can do it if you want.

     

    sudo nvram boot-args="srv=1"

  • by gunverth,

    gunverth gunverth Oct 20, 2015 2:41 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 2:41 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thank you! I'll try it and see what happens.

     

    So, "srv=1" actually tunes the OS for server work, not just tells the OS it's a server?

     

    Performance mode or not is like night and day, especially with File Sharing and Profile Manager under load. Running a Profile Manager with 1000+ devices is a pain without performance mode. Enable it and everything flows like water...except Finder on the server itself. All resources to background services. Like the check box "Dedicate system resources to server services" in Lion Server.

    You will see different server stats after it's enabled. Load and memory fluctuates much more and the server root volume loses some more storage. I'm quiet confident it does matter a lot.

  • by gunverth,

    gunverth gunverth Oct 20, 2015 10:27 AM in response to gunverth
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 10:27 AM in response to gunverth

    duplicate

  • by gunverth,Solvedanswer

    gunverth gunverth Oct 20, 2015 10:26 AM in response to gunverth
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 10:26 AM in response to gunverth

    OK. Got an official answer from our technical contact at Apple (we are Apple consultants):  Servers doesn´t need SIP. Turn it off.


    "sudo nvram boot-args="srv=1"" doesn't do "all the stuff" that "serverinfo--setperfmode 1" does, so use the latter.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 20, 2015 12:24 PM in response to gunverth
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Oct 20, 2015 12:24 PM in response to gunverth

    Servers doesn´t need SIP.

    That's very far indeed from the truth. I strongly suggest that you re-enable SIP after making the change you want.

  • by mordaskyt,

    mordaskyt mordaskyt Jan 22, 2016 7:11 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Jan 22, 2016 7:11 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I am still unable to activate performance mode even after disabling system integrity, I still receive the same error:

     

    ERROR: Server performance mode could not be modified.

  • by Doug Niven1,

    Doug Niven1 Doug Niven1 Jan 22, 2016 8:19 AM in response to mordaskyt
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jan 22, 2016 8:19 AM in response to mordaskyt

    In El Capitan you first need to disable SIP. Once that is done, after rebooting:

     

    sudo serverinfo --setperfmode TRUE

  • by mordaskyt,

    mordaskyt mordaskyt Jan 22, 2016 8:29 AM in response to Doug Niven1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Jan 22, 2016 8:29 AM in response to Doug Niven1

    Sudo did it, thanks so much. After disabling SIP adding sudo to the command:

     

    sudo serverinfo --setperfmode TRUE


    and of course entering password did the trick. Funny none of the documentation I found online mentioned needing sudo for the command to work.

  • by gunverth,Helpful

    gunverth gunverth Jul 29, 2016 1:31 AM in response to gunverth
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Jul 29, 2016 1:31 AM in response to gunverth

    In case somebody else finds this thread: Apple has now changed the way you activate performance mode in 10.11. It now works with SIP turned on, as it should do.

     

    Turn on performance mode for OS X Server - Apple Support

     

    Enable

    sudo nvram boot-args="serverperfmode=1 $(nvram boot-args 2>/dev/null | cut -f 2-)"

     

    Disable

    sudo nvram boot-args="$(nvram boot-args 2>/dev/null | sed -e $'s/boot-args\t//;s/serverperfmode=1//')"