Novell NETWARE 6-DOCUMENTATION Manual page 2674

236 Utilities Reference
Allocation of Directory Cache Buffers
When the server boots, the system allocates a minimum number of directory
cache buffers (default=20). It creates these buffers immediately when it
receives a request for a new buffer.
The server obtains directory cache buffers by removing a minimal set of file
cache buffers from the file cache during server startup. Additional directory
cache buffers are obtained from the file cache later on if they are needed.
When the minimum number of buffers is allocated and another is needed, the
system must wait a specified amount of time before allocating another buffer.
If necessary, the system allocates buffers until it reaches the maximum. If
enough directory cache buffers are allocated and enough memory is available
for directory caching, all directory tables can be cached in memory.
How Directory Caching and File Caching Work Together
As directory cache buffers increase, file cache buffers decrease. Thus, a
tradeoff exists between directory caching and file caching, and .directory
caching and file caching must be balanced for maximum performance.
If you adjust the system to use too much memory for directory caching, you
can leave too little memory for file caching, and vice versa.
For a description of file caching parameters, see
description of directory caching parameters, see
Table 16 on page 233. For a
Table 17 on page 237.