1. Managing Disk Performance with the DiskPerf Utility
The original purpose
of the DiskPerf utility was to help you control monitoring of disk
performance on your computer. However, systems later than Windows 2000
keep the counters used to monitor performance enabled permanently.
Consequently, the main purpose this utility serves on later systems is
to let you see which performance counters Windows provides, which is
still a useful function when you want to monitor these counters at the
command line.
The DiskPerf utility can
also temporarily disable the performance counters. You can use this
feature with older applications that rely on the Windows Application
Programming Interface (API) IOCTL_DISK_PERFORMANCE() function to retrieve raw counter information (see the description of this function at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365183.aspx).
Don't reboot the system when you disable the counters because the
effect is temporary; rebooting the machine simply removes the effect.
This utility uses the following syntax:
DISKPERF [-Y[D|V] | -N[D|V]] [\\computername]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
-Y
Sets the system to
start all performance counters when you start the system on older
systems. This command line switch restarts all of the disk performance
counters on Windows 2000 and above systems. The performance counters
always start automatically on these systems after a reboot.
-YD
Enables the disk performance counters for physical drives when you start the system.
-YV
Enables the disk performance counters for logical drives or storage volumes when you start the system.
-N
Sets the system
to disable all performance counters when you start the system on older
systems. This command temporarily disables all of the disk performance
counters on Windows 2000 and later systems.
-ND
Disables the performance counters for physical drives.
-NV
Disables the disk performance counters for logical drives.
\\computername
Specifies the
name of the computer. Using this argument alone lets you see the list of
disk performance counters. Adding a command line switch changes the
performance counter setting.
2. Managing RAID Setups Using the DiskRAID Utility
The DiskRAID utility
helps you work with any Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)
hardware on your system. However, there are some caveats for using this
utility. The biggest problem is that your system must have the
appropriate Virtual Disk Service (VDS) drivers installed—something not
all vendors support. In addition, except for the command line syntax,
the VDS software apparently has vendor-specific commands. Consequently,
you'll need to refer to the vendor documentation to use this utility
fully. This utility uses the following syntax:
DISKRAID [/? | [/s <file-path>] [/v]]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
/?
Displays the DiskRAID usage instructions.
/s
file-pathSpecifies the location
of a file containing commands that DiskRAID should execute. The
instructions found in this script file depend on the vendor
implementation.
/v
Executes all
DiskRAID commands in verbose mode. You'll see additional output. The
amount and type of information depends on the vendor implementation.
3. Managing the File System with the FltMC Utility
The Filter Manager
Control (FltMC) utility tracks minifilters attached to your hard drive
or other storage system (such as a DVD drive). You'll often see this
utility included as part of a Windows service pack. However, it usually
does its work and ends. A minifilter controls what a drive sees, which
means that a minifilter could help control viruses by rejecting virus
content. Here are the types of filters that Microsoft provides support
for in storage applications.
Generally, you won't need
to use this utility unless you want to see which minifilters are running
on your system or your storage vendor provides an update that you must
install manually. You can use the FltMC in several modes to load,
unload, attach, detach, and list filters. The following sections
describe the modes that FltMC supports.
3.1. Load
Use this mode to load a filter driver. Loading the driver doesn't activate it. This mode uses the following syntax:
FltMC Load [driverName]
The following describes the command line argument.
driverName
Specifies the name of the file that contains the driver that you want to load.
.2. Unload
Use this mode to
unload an inactive driver. The utility won't unload a driver that's in
use. This mode uses the following syntax:
FltMC Unload [driverName]
The following describes the command line argument.
driverName
Specifies the name of the file that contains the driver that you want to unload.
3.3. Filters
Use this mode to list the
filters installed on your machine. These filters are loaded, but not
necessarily active. Use the Instances mode to see which filters are
active. This mode uses the following syntax:
FltMC Filters
3.4. Instances
Use this mode to list the
active filters on your machine. These filters are loaded and have at
least one instance attached to a particular volume. A filter may have
multiple instances. This mode uses the following syntax:
FltMC Instances
3.5. Volumes
Use this mode to list the volumes that have a filter instance attached. This mode uses the following syntax:
FltMC Volumes
3.6. Attach
Use this mode to attach a
filter that you've loaded into memory to a particular volume. You can
assign the instance (the attachment of a filter to a volume) a specific
name. In addition, you can also specify an altitude when you obtain this
information from the minifilter vendor. The altitude determines the
minifilter's order in the minifilter attachment stack, which determines
when the minifilter sees data sent to the storage device. This mode uses
the following syntax:
FltMC Attach [filterName] [volumeName] [[-i instanceName ][-a altitude]]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
filterName
Specifies the name of the filter that's been loaded into memory using the Load mode.
volumeName
Specifies the name of the volume, such as C:, that will have the filter attached.
-i
instanceNameSpecifies the
name of the instance. When the utility is successful in attaching the
minifilter to the volume, it displays the resulting instance name.
-a
altitudeSpecifies the
altitude of the minifilter when compared to other minifilters in the
stack. Microsoft controls the altitude information and you'll receive
this information (when required) from the minifilter vendor. Normally,
this information appears as part of the registry entries for the
minifilter.
3.7. Detach
Use this mode to
detach a minifilter from a storage device that you previously attached
using the Attach mode. This mode uses the following syntax:
FltMC detach [filterName] [volumeName] [instanceName]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
filterName
Specifies the name of the filter that's been loaded into memory using the Load mode.
volumeName
Specifies the name of the volume, such as C:, that will have the filter detached.
instanceName
Specifies the name of the instance to remove. If you don't supply an instance, the utility removes the default instance.
