Exchange Server 2007: Monitor Your Exchange Environment (part 3) - Performance Troubleshooter

In the Toolbox, directly beneath the Performance Monitor is a tool called the Performance Troubleshooter. This can be a monitoring tool or a troubleshooting tool, depending on what it is you are concerned about with your Exchange server. It can even assist with solutions to your problems or performance issues.

To use the Performance Troubleshooter, perform the following steps:

1.	Open the EMC.
2.	From the Navigation Tree, select Toolbox.
3.	Scroll down to the Performance tools, select Performance Troubleshooter, and then from the Actions pane, select Open Tool.
4.	You are first taken to the Update the Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant. If no updates are needed, select the Go to the Welcome Screen link.
5.	You are asked to label the analysis that will be performed. Then select either the option Troubleshoot New Performance Issue or the Analyze Previously Collected Data option. If this is your first time looking at Performance Troubleshooter, you want to choose Troubleshoot New Performance Issue. If you have an analysis you want to view, choose Analyze Previously Collected Data. Then click Next.
6.	You are asked, “What symptoms are you seeing?” and you can choose one of the following: Multiple users are complaining of delays while using Outlook or are seeing the Outlook cancellable RPC dialog frequently. The number of RPC operations per second is higher than expected. The number of outstanding RPC requests is high.
7.	Make a choice depending on the problems you notice, and click Next.
8.	You are asked for a Server Name. The Global Catalog Server Name is usually filled in by default. You can Show Advanced Login Options and alter the credentials to be used. Then click Next.
9.	In the Configure Data Collection section, there are many options. You are shown the root-data directory and you can start the collection immediately or set a scheduled time. If you show advanced data collection options, you can turn on or off settings such as the following: Collect PerfMon Data Collect ExMon Data Collect Function Call Log (FCL) Data Collect Event Log Data
10.	Review the options, make the changes you prefer, and click Next.
11.	The analysis is performed and the Connectivity Test Results page is displayed, as shown in Figure 6. Figure 6. Connectivity test results.

Now you can perform the analysis of the gathered data, either immediately or by restarting the process at a convenient time. To do so, perform the following:

1.	From the Connectivity Test Results page, click Next.
2.	The files are read and analyzed. In the end, you are presented with a Performance Summary tab, a Performance Details tab, and an Informational Items tab.
3.	The tool offers to investigate user activity. Click Next.
4.	You are presented with a variety of options from which to choose. For example, if high RPC is found on the server, there could be a third-party Outlook add-in to blame, so you are asked to provide additional information regarding the users of the server. Then click Next.
5.	Your system will check the following items: Disk drives Location of the data files Health of the physical disk Queue performance LDAP health Network performance Miscellaneous checks ExMon RPC analysis FCL analysis
6.	You are finally presented with a final set of results with the Overview of all items, Performance Issues, Execution Issues, Recommendations, and General Information, as you can see in Figure 7. Figure 7. The analysis results.
7.	You can change the report type from List Reports to Tree Reports or Other Reports. You can see the various issues and print the report, export the report, use the Find option to locate something specific, or arrange by severity or issue.

This tool can be used for troubleshooting, but it is better to use it for monitoring and reporting first. Fix the problems before they grow too large.