barcode vb.net free Figure 12-3 shows the System Monitor with the default counters loaded. in C#

Creator Code 39 Extended in C# Figure 12-3 shows the System Monitor with the default counters loaded.

Figure 12-3

The three performance counters that appear in System Monitor by default are useful gauges of the computer s performance, but the snap-in includes dozens of other counters that you can add to the display. To add counters to the System Monitor details pane, click the Add button in the toolbar or press CTRL+I. In the Add Counters dialog box, you can select any of the available counters for either the local computer or any remote computer on your network. Counters are arranged and available for use based on the type of object, the counter in the object category, and the instance of the counter.

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A logical collection of resource, service, or application counters. A data-reporting item. The data reported depends on the type of counter.

Instance Refers to one or more occurrences of a counter, indexed by the number available on the computer. For example, on a computer with two processors, Instance 0 would refer to the first processor, Instance 1 to the second, and _Total the aggregate of both instances. In the case of a single instance of a counter, Instance 0 and _Total will be available.

Figure 12-4

Remember that _Total represents the combined data from multiple instances of a counter when multiple instances are available.

With the Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in, you collect data from the same performance objects and counters as the System Monitor from local or remote computers and save that data to a log. When you select the Performance Logs And Alerts snap-in in the Performance console, you see three subheadings:

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Counter Logs Enables the Performance console to capture statistics for specific counters to a log file at regular intervals over a specified time. Trace Logs Enables the Performance console to record information about system applications when certain events occur such as disk input/output (I/O) operations or page faults. Alerts Enables the Performance console to monitor the values of a specific counter at regular intervals and to perform an action when the counter reaches a specified value.

One of the main benefits of Performance Logs And Alerts is that it enables you to capture performance counter data for later study. You can view the logged data with System Monitor, or you can export the data to spreadsheet programs or databases for analysis and report generation. You can therefore use counter logs to establish a baseline for network performance and then periodically check the logs for deviation from that baseline. You can also create alerts to warn you when specific network conditions deviate too far from the norm. Figure 12-5 shows the configuration dialog box for an alert on Server01 when Free Disk Space drops below 20 percent.

Figure 12-5

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When monitoring performance data for your server or network, start from the top down; that is, start with the broadest monitoring configurations of % Processor Time, Disk and Processor Queue Length, Memory Use, and Network I/O to determine where the bottleneck occurs. Once you have determined the problem area, look at the particular services and applications using the resource, and at protocol and thread levels, if needed. Usually, there is either one device or application causing the problem or a global lack of resources on the system. Single devices can be reconfigured or replaced, and global resources can be added (more memory, faster processor, and so on) as appropriate. The results of this monitoring can be ambiguous, however, if you do not have a baseline of system performance by which to judge your monitoring results. As soon as is practical after configuring a new computer, perform a set of monitoring activities for the key Processor, Memory, Network, and Process (Application and Services) objects to determine how your computer performs under normal conditions commonly called a baseline in normal, idle, and peak performance states. When problems or bottlenecks occur during later monitoring, measurement against the baseline will help to find a solution.