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Windows Server 2008 R2 : View Server Performance Data (part 2) - Understand Performance Monitor

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6/20/2011 5:42:49 PM

2. Understand Performance Monitor

When you look at all the tools on your Windows Server 2008 R2 server providing you with performance data, you'll see they are all derived in some fashion from the same data you can generate in the Performance Monitor. As your server's operating systems become more sophisticated, you have many new and useful tools like the system health report allowing you to make sense out of the performance data on your server. This section will give you a brief look at how to leverage the data in the Performance Monitor.

When you look at the reports you can generate, you may want a more detailed picture of what is going on under the hood of your server. This is where the Performance Monitor can help you get into the details of all the data. You can use it to see how many of the different performance data points relate to each other and get the bigger picture. Learning to use the Performance Monitor is a combination of knowing what you are looking for, knowing how to use the tool, and knowing what counters can help you find the areas for improvement.

For example, if you want to monitor memory usage on your system, it is not enough to just look at the counters on the Memory object in the Performance Monitor. You may also want to look at disk I/O. You may be wondering why disk I/O is important. Remember, part of the memory usage on your system is done by the paging file on your system. For example, if you notice memory is not performing optimally, you may decide to add more RAM to your server but then see some of the same issues. Your problem really could have been because of slow reads and writes for the page file because of a slow or faulty hard drive. In other words, you had a false positive test, but you only looked at one portion of the story to determine your issue. The moral is simply that there are many factors to help you determine the performance of your server, and you need to try to do your best to look at as many factors as you can.

You also need to have some historical perspective when you are using the Performance Monitor. What does this mean to you? It offers you a baseline. Sure, you can turn on the Performance Monitor any time you want to peek at the system data. However, factors such as the time of day, the current workload on the server, the number of users logged on, and many other factors could skew your results. Normally, when you run the Performance Monitor, you want to run the counters before, during, and after the workload you are testing on the server. This will give you the most accurate and thorough results. This will also allow you to put your results in context. More important, the Performance Monitor will also allow you to save your results and compare them to a report run several months after you ran the original report.

2.1. Work with the Resource Monitor

To begin using the Performance Monitor, you can load the tool via Server Manager and use the Performance Monitor located under the Diagnostics node. You can also load the Performance Monitor in the administrative tools (by selecting Start => Administrative Tools and clicking Performance Monitor), as shown in Figure 6.

Before you start to add your own Performance Monitor counters and build your own data collector sets, you need to look closely at the summary screen when you first load the tool. You have a nice collection of summary information provided for you initially. From the base summary screen, you can gain some nice summary information about the four main resources on your server: memory, CPU, hard drive, and network.

You will also find a tool new to Windows Server 2008 R2 called the Resource Monitor. In the top section of the summary screen you will see a link called Open Resource Monitor. When you click the link, you will see a screen similar to Figure 7.

Figure 6. The Performance Monitor

Figure 7. The Resource Monitor

You can also load the Resource Monitor directly. The Resource Monitor is part of your system tools. Select Start => All Programs => Accessories => System Tools, and click Resource Monitor.

The Resource Monitor is similar to Task Manager; however, the Resource Monitor has been greatly enhanced. Just like Task Manager, you get real-time information about what processes, disk resources, network performance, and memory access are currently being used by your server. The Resource Monitor offers much greater detail and access for you to see what is happening under the hood on your server. You will also have the ability to stop processes and start and stop services. You can also get even more valuable information to help the developers in your organization help debug applications. In the Resource Monitor, you get debuggers to diagnose application hangs and deadlocks. One option for working with application problems is by looking at a wait chain. Essentially, a wait chain is the order in which your threads of process execution occur. Each thread in a chain will wait for the additional threads following the initial thread; by analyzing the wait chain, you can potentially discover what is causing your application to have delays or not function.

2.2. Run Windows Memory Diagnostics

One of the more frustrating issues you may run into is memory issues. There can be many issues with memory, including poorly written applications, insufficient memory, or even a possible faulty memory chip. How do you know what could be the cause? You generally want to rule out a faulty chip. In Windows Server 2008 R2, you have the ability to run the Windows Memory Diagnostics tool; select Start => Administrative Tools, and click Windows Memory Diagnostics. You will be presented with a choice to restart your server and check your memory or schedule a memory check for the next time you reboot your system. Whichever choice you make, when your server is rebooted, your physical memory will go through several checks to ensure the integrity of your memory chips.

When your system reboots, you will see a screen similar to Figure 8.

Figure 8. Windows Memory Diagnostics tool

When you press F1, you will be given a choice to perform a basic, standard, or extended test. Each test will perform a series of tests on your server's memory. The more memory you have, the longer the test can take. When the tests are complete, your server will be rebooted automatically. To view the report, you need to open the Event Viewer:

  1. Open the Event View by selecting Start => Administrative Tools and clicking Event Viewer.

  2. In the Event Viewer, expand the following tree location applications, and select Services Logs => Microsoft => Windows => MemoryDiagnostics-Results.

  3. Click the event to see any errors that may have been reported.

2.3. Work with the Performance Monitor

Utilizing the Performance Monitor will allow you to see a variety of system aspects of your server, and when you load the Performance Monitor, your first task will be to load counters to begin measuring and testing your server.

When you add counters to measure, you have a variety of choices to add. First you will be able to choose which systems you want to measure; by default, your local computer is selected. You can also add counters from several main categories. In addition to each counter, there may be several instances you can monitor. For example, when you measure the processor, you will be able to monitor your processor cores, or if you measure physical disk, you will be able to measure the physical drives on your system.

As you look into the sheer volume of counters and instances in the Performance Monitor, this may be a little overwhelming. Try not to get overwhelmed by the data by trying to understand each and every counter. More important, inside the Add Counters dialog box, there is an option to show a description that will explain the counter and, in most cases, explain what values the counter should be if it is running healthy.

  1. Open the Performance Monitor by selecting Start => Administrative Tools and clicking Performance Monitor.

  2. Click the + sign next to Monitoring Tools.

  3. Click Performance Monitor; by default you will have one counter being measured, your %processor time.

  4. Click the green + sign in the Performance Monitor toolbar to add counters you want to measure. You will see a screen similar to Figure 9.

  5. To add a counter, click the category, click the counter, select the instance you want to monitor, and then click the Add button. Your counter will show in the list to the right, called Added Counters. Likewise, you can also remove a counter by selecting the counter and clicking Remove.

  6. When you are done adding your counters, click OK to begin monitoring the selected data. You will see your monitor begin, and your screen may look like Figure 10.

Figure 9. Performance Monitor's Add Counters dialog box

Figure 10. Counters in Performance Monitor

Now you will sit back and wait for the data to populate. You may want to also start your applications you are monitoring here as well to see how certain applications impact your system. You can also save your Performance Monitor counters for future logging use.

  1. Inside the Performance Monitor, right-click Performance Monitor in the tree on the left.

  2. Select New => Data Collector Set.

  3. Provide a name for your data collector set, and click Next.

  4. Select a storage location, and click Next.

  5. Verify the creation of the set, and click Finish.

2.4. Use Data Collector Sets

Using the Performance Monitor to measure data by adding counters one at a time is a very reactionary way to measure your server's performance. In the Performance Monitor, you can save your existing counters into a data collector set. Data collector sets are another built-in feature allowing you some proactive measurement for your server.

Data collector sets allow you to organize multiple performance counters and data collection counters into one logical object. This allows you to easily access and work with frequently used object counters. With data collector sets, you can create log files to track up to three areas for your performance:

Performance Monitor Allows you to log data about your selected performance counters.

Event Trace Data Allows you to log data about various service providers on your server. For example, you can track the performance of built-in services.

System configuration information Allows you to log data to reflect changes to your configuration. For example, you can modify specific registry keys.

Additionally, you can also use data collector sets to proactively measure data by creating Performance Monitor alerts. An alert will fire a set of actions you determine when a counter meets a certain threshold.

  1. Inside Performance Monitor, click the + sign to expand data collector sets, and right-click User Defined in the tree on the left.

  2. Select New => Data Collector Set.

  3. You can use predetermined templates from previous collector sets. Select Create Manually (Advanced), and then click Next. You will see a screen similar to Figure 11.

    Figure 11. New data collector set
  4. Select Performance Counter Alert, and click Next.

  5. Add the performance counters you want to set the alert on, set your threshold (either above or below) for the alert, and then click Next.

  6. Verify the creation of the set, select Start this Data Collector Set (to start the set), and click Finish.

To view the logs or reports created by the data collector set, you need to look for the name of your data collector set in the Reports section of the Performance Monitor tree.

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