Systems Performance
Systems performance studies the performance of an entire computer system, including all major software and hardware components. Anything in the data path, from storage devices to application software, is included, because it can affect performance. For distributed systems this means multiple servers and applications. If you don’t have a diagram of your environment showing the data path, find one or draw it yourself; this will help you understand the relationships between components and ensure that you don’t overlook entire areas.
The typical goals of systems performance are to improve the end-user experience by reducing latency and to reduce computing cost. Reducing cost can be achieved by eliminating inefficiencies, improving system throughput, and general tuning.