Optimizing the NetWare® server requires staying up-to-date with Novell® Technical Support at http://support.novell.com. (If you have an internet connection, click on the Novell logo on the documentation browser to access http://support.novell.com.)
Make sure that you install the latest patches, updated modules and drivers for NetWare 5 and for third-party components. See Applying Patches for information on where and how to obtain the most recent operating system updates. Then patch your server before you optimize.
Optimizing the server also requires isolating and resolving bottlenecks. (Bottlenecks are never really eliminated---they just move from one component to another.) Because your system is constrained by its worst-performing components, be sure that your hardware components are well matched for power and potential performance. Upgrade poorly performing components as soon as possible. See Matching Performance Capabilities.
Although NetWare® is largely self-tuning and provides excellent performance off the shelf, some parameters can be tweaked to improve performance. When your server is patched, the modules and drivers updated, and your hardware components are matched and upgraded, see Setting Server Parameter Values for information on server defaults and settable parameters.
To identify where you can adjust the value of a server parameter and tune your server for its particular processing load, see Monitoring the NetWare Server.
Protocols can also create bottlenecks. See how the tips in Minimizing Replication Traffic and Service Advertising can help reduce network traffic.