Lesson 2
Using the Performance Console 19-13
Lesson 2: Using the Performance Console
Windows XP Professional provides two tools for monitoring resource usage: the System Monitor snap-in and the Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in. Both of these
snap-ins are contained in the Performance console. You use the System Monitor snapin to track resource use and network throughput. You use the Performance Logs And
Alerts snap-in to collect performance data over time from the local or a remote computer or to have Windows XP alert you when a particular performance threshold is
crossed.
After this lesson, you will be able to
■ Use System Monitor to monitor resource usage
■ Add counters to System Monitor
■ Use Performance Logs And Alerts to track a computer’s performance
■ Establish a baseline for performance data
■ Identify and resolve bottlenecks
Estimated lesson time: 30 minutes
How to Use System Monitor
To access the Performance console, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance
And Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click the Performance
shortcut. The Performance console contains the System Monitor snap-in and the Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in (see Figure 19-5).
F19us05
Figure 19-5
The System Monitor snap-in displays counter values in a graph by default.
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You use System Monitor to collect and view real-time data about memory, disk, processor, network, and other activity on your computer or on remote computers. You can
view this data in a graph, a histogram, or a report. To change the display, you can click
the appropriate icon, as shown in Figure 19-5, or use the following key combinations:
Ctrl+G for the graph, Ctrl+B for the histogram, and Ctrl+R for the report.
Note A histogram is a chart that consists of horizontal or vertical bars. The widths or
heights of these bars represent the values of certain data.
Monitoring resources on your computer and overall system performance can help you
to do the following:
■
Evaluate how well your computer is currently performing
■
Detect and eliminate bottlenecks to improve performance
■
Look for trends to plan for future growth and upgrades
■
Evaluate the effects of tuning and configuration changes on your computer
The Performance tool classifies information in the following areas:
Object An object represents a major system component (hardware or software) of
the computer or operating system. Examples of objects include physical disks, processor, and memory.
Instance Each occurrence of an object is considered an instance. For example, if
there are two processors on a computer, there are two processor instances. If there are
three hard disks on a computer, each disk is represented by a separate instance. Not all
objects have multiple instances. If there is only one instance, the Performance snap-in
shows a dash for the Instance value.
Counter A counter is a particular aspect of an object that System Monitor can measure. For example, the physical disk object contains the following counters:
❑
Percentage Disk Read Time
❑
Average Disk Bytes Per Read
❑
Disk Reads Per Second
System Monitor helps you gauge a computer’s efficiency and locate and resolve current
or potential problems. You monitor resources on your computer by selecting objects in
System Monitor. A set of counters exists for each object; Table 19-3 describes some of
the available objects.
Lesson 2
Table 19-3
Using the Performance Console 19-15
Partial List of Available Objects in System Monitor
Object
Description
Cache
Used to monitor the file system cache used to buffer physical device data
Memory
Used to monitor the physical and virtual memory on the computer
PhysicalDisk
Used to monitor a hard disk as a whole
Processor
Used to monitor CPUs
When you first start the Performance tool, the graph displays three counters by default:
Pages/sec Represents the rate at which pages are read from or written to disk during
virtual memory operations. Consistently high values can indicate that not enough
memory is present on a computer.
Avg. Disk Queue Length Represents the average number of read and write requests
queued for the selected disk. Consistent values above 0 means that requests are backing up, which might indicate not enough memory or a slow disk system.
%Processor Time Represents the percentage of elapsed time that the processor
spends executing nonidle tasks. Consistently high values (exceeding approximately 80
percent) might indicate that the processor is slowing down your computer.
How to Add Counters
Adding counters to an object (such as those described in Table 19-3) allows you to
track certain aspects of the object. The three default counters loaded with System Monitor actually do a very good job of representing the basic aspects of a computer’s performance. Of course, they are only three of the hundreds of counters that are available.
The counters that you monitor depend on whether you are trying to collect general
baseline information, troubleshoot a performance problem, diagnose an issue with an
application, and so on. The following steps allow you to add counters to an object in
System Monitor:
1. At the bottom of the Performance console, right-click Counter and click Add
Counters.
The Add Counters dialog box appears.
2. In the Performance Object list box, select the object for which you want to add
counters.
3. Ensure that Select Counters From List is selected.
You can add all counters, but that usually provides more information than you
need or can interpret.
4. Select a counter from the list, and click Add.
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For an explanation of a counter, select it and then click Explain.
Tip
If you want to add several counters at the same time, you can hold down Ctrl to select
individual counters from the list. You can hold down Shift if you want to select several
counters in a row, and click the first in the list you want and then click the last in the list that
you want to select. All counters listed between the first and last you clicked are automatically
selected.
5. When you have completed your selection of objects and counters, click Close to
return to the Performance console.
Table 19-4 explains a few of the counters that you might find useful for evaluating your
computer’s performance.
Table 19-4
Partial List of Counters That Are Available in System Monitor
Counter
Description
Under Processor,
choose %Processor Time
Indicates the percentage of time that the processor spends executing a nonidle thread, which is the percentage of time that the processor is active. During some operations this might reach 100
percent. Periods of 100 percent activity should occur only occasionally. This counter is the primary indicator of processor activity. Sustained values over 80 percent indicate a potential processor
bottleneck.
Under Processor,
choose %Interrupt Time
Indicates the time that the processor spends receiving and servicing
hardware interrupts during sample intervals. This value is an indicator of the activity of devices that generate interrupts (such as the
system clock, mouse, and disk drivers). Devices like these typically
interrupt the processor when they complete a task or require the
processor’s attention. If the %Processor Time value is greater than
90 percent, and the %Interrupt Time value is greater than 15 percent, this processor is probably in need of assistance to handle the
interrupt load.
Under Processor,
choose % DPC Time
Indicates how much time the processor is spending processing
DPCs. DPCs are software interrupts or tasks that require immediate
processing, causing other tasks to be handled at a lower priority.
DPCs represent further processing of client requests.
Under System, choose
Processor Queue Length
Indicates the number of threads in the processor queue. There is a
single queue for processor time, even on computers with multiple
processors. A sustained processor queue of greater than two
threads usually indicates that the processor is slowing down the
overall system performance.
Lesson 2
Table 19-4
!
Using the Performance Console 19-17
Partial List of Counters That Are Available in System Monitor
Counter
Description
Under Memory, choose
Pages/sec
Indicates the number of pages that were either read from disk or
written to disk to make room in physical memory for other pages.
This counter is the primary indicator of whether the computer has
sufficient memory. An average value in excess of 20 can indicate
insufficient memory in the computer.
Under Memory, choose
Available Bytes
Indicates the amount of physical memory that is unallocated in the
computer. Does not include any memory that is allocated to working sets or file system cache.
Under Paging File,
choose %Usage
Indicates the percentage of the paging file that is currently in use.
Under Paging File,
choose %Usage Peak
Indicates the peak percentage of the paging file in use.
Under Cache, choose
Copy Read Hits %
Indicates the percentage of time that information was found in the
file system cache and did not have to be read from disk during a
file read operation (typically used by file systems and during small
network transfers). A low value (lower than 70 percent) indicates
that Windows might not have enough physical memory to keep up
with the demands.
Under Logical Disk,
choose %Free Space
Indicates the ratio of free disk space that is available to total usable
disk space on a particular logical disk.
Under Physical Disk,
choose %Disk Time
Indicates the percentage of time that the selected physical disk is
busy servicing read or write requests. If this value is consistently
over 50 percent, the hard disk is having trouble keeping up with
the load that is being placed on it.
Under Physical Disk,
choose Avg. Disk Queue
Length
Indicates the average number of both read and write requests that
are queued for the selected disk. If this value averages 2 or more,
the disk is a bottleneck.
Exam Tip Memorize the counters mentioned in this chapter, and understand the values of
each counter that indicate a potential problem. In particular, you should remember the three
default counters used in System Monitor: Pages/sec, Avg. Disk Queue Length, and %Processor Time.
How to Use Performance Logs And Alerts
Performance Logs And Alerts allows you to log counter information to a file and to trigger alerts that are based on configured events. You can automatically collect performance data from the local computer or from remote computers. You can view the
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logged data from System Monitor, or you can export it to a spreadsheet program or a
database, such as Structured Query Language (SQL).
The Performance Logs And Alerts node in the Performance console (see Figure 19-6)
contains three subsections:
Counter Logs
Trace Logs
Log activity for selected counters at regular intervals
Log activity for selected counters when a particular event occurs
Alerts Log activity and can notify a user when a particular counter exceeds a certain
threshold
F19us06
Figure 19-6 Use the Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in to track performance over time or alert
you to performance problems.
How to Enable Performance Logging
To enable performance logging, use these steps:
1. In the Performance window, expand Performance Logs And Alerts.
2. Right-click Counter Logs, and select New Log Settings.
3. In the New Log Setting dialog box, enter the name for the log and click OK.
4. On the General tab, add the counters that you want to log. Modify the sampling
interval if necessary.
5. On the Log Files tab, you can modify the name and location of the log file, as well
as the type of file if desired.
6. On the Schedule tab, configure the start and stop times for logging. You can manually stop and start logging, or you can configure logging to start and stop at specified times.
7. Click OK to save the log configuration.
Lesson 2
Using the Performance Console 19-19
Real World Capture Performance Data from a Remote Computer
To get a real picture of the performance of a computer, it is best if you use a different computer to monitor performance than the computer that is being monitored. The reason for this is that the Performance console itself uses some system
resources. To use System Monitor or Performance Logs And Alerts to monitor a
remote computer, all you have to do is select the remote computer when you add
counters. In the Add Counters dialog box, click Select Counters From Computer,
and then select the computer from the drop-down list (or type the UNC path for
the computer).
How to View Performance Data from a Log
After you create a log, you can load the log into the Performance console and view it
the same way that you would view real-time performance data. To view a performance
log, follow these steps:
1. In the Performance console, click System Monitor, right-click the data display, and
then select Properties.
2. In the System Monitor Properties dialog box, on the Source tab, select Log Files.
Click Add, and enter the name of the log file that you want to view. Click OK to
continue.
3. Right-click the data display, and then select Add Counters.
4. Add the counters that you want to view, and then click OK. The available counters
are limited to those that are present in the log.
How to Configure an Alert
In addition to using other monitoring techniques, you can use alerts to notify users or
administrators when conditions exceed preset criteria. For example, you can configure
an alert to send a message to the administrator when processor utilization exceeds 80
percent.
When an alert is triggered, you can perform the following actions:
■
Log an entry in the application event log. This option is enabled by default.
■
Send a network message to a particular user.
■
Start a performance log that can further monitor the alert condition.
■
Run a program that can be used to launch any application program. You can use
this option to launch a script that would send e-mail to the administrator.
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To configure an alert, follow these steps:
1. In the Performance console, expand Performance Logs And Alerts.
2. Right-click the Alerts folder, and select New Alert Settings.
3. Enter a name for the alert, and click OK.
4. On the General tab, add the counter or counters and the alert value.
5. On the Action tab, configure the action or actions to be performed when an alert
is triggered.
6. On the Schedule tab, configure the start and stop times for when the alert should
be scanned. You can turn scanning on and off manually or configure scanning to
occur on a schedule.
7. Click OK to create the alert.
How to Establish a Baseline for Performance Data
When you are ready to begin monitoring the resources on your computer, the first
thing you need to do is establish a baseline. A baseline is a measurement derived from
collecting data over an extended period of time. The data should reflect typical types
of workloads and user connections but should also include any unusual activity that
might occur. The baseline represents resource usage under normal conditions.
After you collect data on performance over an extended period of time, with data
reflecting periods of low, average, and high usage, you can determine what is acceptable performance for your computer, and that determination becomes your baseline.
You use the baseline to determine when bottlenecks are developing or to watch for
changes in usage patterns. Determining bottlenecks will help you in troubleshooting
problems that might arise. Watching for changes in usage patterns will help you plan
for the future.
On the CD
At this point, you should watch the multimedia presentation “Creating a Performance Baseline” included in the Multimedia folder on the CD accompanying this book.
How to Identify and Resolve Bottlenecks
Deviations from your baseline are good indicators of performance problems. A bottleneck exists if a particular component’s limitation is slowing the entire system performance. Even if one component in your computer is heavily used, if the other
components or the system as a whole are not slowed down, there is no bottleneck.
Lesson 2
Using the Performance Console 19-21
If you discover a bottleneck on your computer, here are some basic suggestions to help
you solve the problem:
■
If paging values are high (meaning that Windows is transferring pages of information from physical memory to disk more than you would expect), identify processes that are using the most memory. To do this, use the Processes tab of Task
Manager and sort by the Mem Usage column. Stop any unnecessary applications
or processes, and consider disabling the underlying service. For example, if a program running in the background uses a lot of memory and it is a program you do
not really need, disable the program from starting with Windows.
■
If you see high processor utilization, see if you can determine which applications
are consuming the most processor time. To do this, use the Processes tab of Task
Manager and sort by the CPU column. If you do not need an application that is
consuming processor time, close the application. If an application seems to be
consuming too much processor time for a long period (in other words, not just
when the program is starting up or performing an intensive process), there might
be a problem with the application. Stop the application and start it again, or restart
the computer and then restart the application. If the application continues to consume excessive amounts of processor time, there might be a problem with the
application.
■
If you continue to see high processor utilization, and the programs consuming the
most processor time are programs you use regularly, you should consider upgrading to a faster processor.
■
If you have programs consuming processor time that are multithreaded programs,
consider installing a second processor. You can often gain more effective speed
with a dual processor configuration than with a faster single processor.
■
If you see high processor utilization, but do not discover that programs are consuming too much processor time, you should use System Monitor to check the %
Interrupts value. It is possible that a malfunctioning piece of hardware is trying too
often to interrupt the processor.
■
If you see a high disk queue value, but do not see high paging file use, the bottleneck is more likely a slow hard disk than low memory. Consider adding a faster
disk.
■
Never make more than one change at a time when trying to resolve a bottleneck,
and always repeat monitoring to verify that the change you made actually
improved the situation.
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Practice: Using System Monitor
In this practice, you use System Monitor to monitor system resources. You add objects
and counters to control what is being monitored, and you then view the three views—
graph, histogram, and report—for output.
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Performance And Maintenance.
2. Click Administrative Tools, and then double-click the Performance shortcut.
Windows XP Professional starts the Performance console with the System Monitor
selected.
3. What objects and counters are monitored by default?
4. Under the graph, right-click Counter, and then click Add Counters.
Windows XP Professional displays the Add Counters dialog box.
5. Which performance object and counter are selected by default?
6. In the Select Counters From list, select Interrupts/Sec, and then click Explain.
Windows XP Professional displays an Explain Text dialog box indicating that
Interrupts/Sec is the average number of hardware interrupts that the processor
receives and services each second.
7. Close the Explain Text window.
8. Click Add to add the Interrupts/Sec counter to the Processor object.
9. In the Performance Object list box, select Paging File.
10. Under Select Counters From List, ensure that %Usage is selected, and then click
Add to add the Paging File object with the %Usage counter.
11. Close the Add Counters dialog box.
12. Press Ctrl+B to view a histogram.
13. Press Ctrl+R to view a report.
14. Press Ctrl+G to return to a graph.
15. Close the Performance console.
Lesson 2
Using the Performance Console 19-23
Lesson Review
Use the following questions to help determine whether you have learned enough to
move on to the next lesson. If you have difficulty answering these questions, review
the material in this lesson before beginning the next lesson. You can find answers to
these questions in the “Questions and Answers” section at the end of this chapter.
1. Which of the following monitoring tools are included in the Performance console?
(Choose all answers that are correct.)
a. System Monitor snap-in
b. Task Manager snap-in
c. Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in
d. Task Scheduler
2. Why should you monitor resources and overall system performance?
3. What is a baseline, and what is a bottleneck?
4. Why do you need to determine a baseline when you monitor system resources
and system performance?
Lesson Summary
■
The Performance console contains the System Monitor snap-in and the Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in. The System Monitor snap-in allows you to monitor the performance of your computer or other computers on the network.
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■
The System Monitor snap-in provides performance objects that consist of counters
for collecting data. You can add any of hundreds of counters, each of which measures a particular aspect of system performance.
■
The Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in records performance data and system
alerts on your local computer or from remote computers.
■
A baseline is a measurement derived from collecting data over an extended period
of time that represents resource usage under normal conditions.
■
A bottleneck is any component that slows down the entire system’s performance.
Case Scenario Exercise
In this exercise, you will read a scenario about using System Monitor to measure system performance, and then answer the question that follows. If you have difficulty
completing this work, review the material in this chapter before beginning the next
chapter. You can find answers to these questions in the “Questions and Answers” section at the end of this chapter.
Scenario
You are an administrator working for a company named Fabrikam, Inc., a regional
public relations firm with its headquarters in Dallas, Texas, and several branch locations throughout the country. You are working with Pat, a user in the company’s
accounting department (which is located in the main office). Pat recently noticed that
her computer’s performance has decreased, and it is functioning at unacceptably slow
levels when running resource-intensive applications. The computer is configured as
follows:
■
Processor: Pentium 4 2.8 GHz
■
RAM: 256 MB
■
Hard disk: 12 GB
Questions
1. You want to monitor memory, processor, and disk usage over the course of a normal day’s activity on Pat’s computer. Which tool should you use to do this?
Troubleshooting Lab 19-25
2. What objects and counters would you select?
3. At the end of the day, you use System Monitor to view the log created on Pat’s
computer. You note the following key average counter values:
❑
Memory, Pages/sec: 92
❑
Processor, %Processor Time: 35 percent
❑
Physical Disk, %Disk Time: 73 percent
What do you suspect is causing the performance problem? How would you
resolve it?
Troubleshooting Lab
In this lab, you will create a performance log on your own computer and then read the
results.
To create a performance log, use the following steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel window, click Performance And Maintenance.
3. In the Performance And Maintenance window, click Administrative Tools.
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4. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click Performance.
5. In the Performance window, expand Performance Logs And Alerts.
6. Right-click Counter Logs, and select New Log Settings.
7. In the New Log Setting dialog box, type My Performance for the name for the
log and click OK.
8. In the My Performance dialog box, on the General tab, use the Add Counters button to add the following counters:
❑
Memory: Pages/sec
❑
Paging File (_Total): %Usage
❑
Processor: %Processor Time
❑
System: Processor Queue Length
❑
Physical Disk: Disk Reads/sec
❑
Physical Disk: Disk Writes/sec
❑
Physical Disk: Avg. Disk Queue Length
9. On the Schedule tab, configure the start time for five minutes in the future. In the
Stop Log section, click After, and then set the stop time for one hour from now.
10. Click OK to save the log configuration.
Windows displays a dialog box asking whether you want to create the new log
file.
11. Click Yes.
12. In the Performance window, under Performance Logs And Alerts, click Counter
Logs.
13. In the right-hand pane, what do you notice about the My Performance log?
14. While the log is recording, you should continue to use your computer as you normally would. Be sure to run multiple applications (you can even play pinball—a
fairly resource-hungry program).
15. After one hour has elapsed, return to the Performance window.
The My Performance log icon should now be red, indicating that the log is
stopped.
Lesson 2
Using the Performance Console 19-27
16. Click System Monitor.
17. Press CTRL+L (or click the View Log Data button) to open the System Monitor
Properties dialog box with the Source tab showing.
18. Click Log Files.
19. Click Add.
20. Locate the My Performance log file. The default location for log files is C:\PerfLogs.
Click OK.
21. In the Performance window, add each of the counters that you configured the log
to monitor.
22. Click the View Report button (or press CTRL+R).
23. Record the values for each counter in the following table.
Object: Counter
Value
Memory: Pages/sec
Paging File (_Total): %Usage
Processor: %Processor Time
System: Processor Queue Length
Physical Disk: Disk Reads/sec
Physical Disk: Disk Writes/sec
Physical Disk: Avg. Disk Queue
Length
24. Do you notice any values that indicate a bottleneck? If so, list the values and
explain what you would do to troubleshoot the problem.
25. Close the Performance window.