Windows Server 2008: Performance and Reliability Monitoring (part 2)

Adding Counters with Performance Monitor

Before counters can be displayed, they have to be added. The counters can be added simply by using the menu bar. The Counter button on the toolbar includes Add, Delete, and Highlight. You can use the Add Counter button to display new counters. On the other hand, use the Delete Counter button to remove unwanted counters from the display. The Highlight Counter button is helpful for highlighting a particular counter of interest; a counter can be highlighted with either a white or black color around the counter.

The following step-by-step procedures depict how to add counters to Performance Monitor:

1.	In the navigation tree of Performance Monitor, first expand Performance, Monitoring Tools, and then Performance Monitoring.
2.	Either click the Add icon in the menu bar or right-click anywhere on the graph and select Add Counters. Note Typical baseline counters consist of Memory - Pages/Sec, PhysicalDisk - Avg. Disk Queue Length, and Processor - % Processor Time.
3.	The Add Counters dialog box is invoked, as shown in Figure 3. In the Available Counters section, select the desired counters, and click the Add button. Figure 3. Adding counters to Performance Monitor. Note Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a tremendous amount of counters to choose from when conducting performance monitoring. It is challenging to fully explain what each counter offers in this section. If you are interested in finding out more about a counter, enable the Show Description option in the Add Counters dialog box and highlight a specific counter to obtain a detailed explanation of it.
4.	Review the selected counters in the Added Counters section, and then click OK.

Managing Performance Monitor Settings

While back on the Performance Monitor display, update displays by clicking the Clear Display button. Clicking the Freeze Display button or pressing Ctrl+F freezes displays, which suspends data collection. Data collection can be resumed by pressing Ctrl+F or clicking the Freeze Display button again. Click the Update Data button to display an updated data analysis.

It is also possible to export and import a display by using the Cut and Paste buttons. For example, a display can be saved to the Clipboard and then imported into another instance of Performance Monitor. This is commonly used to view or analyze system information on a different system, such as information from a production server.

The Properties page of Performance Monitor has five additional tabs of configuration: General, Source, Data, Graph, and Appearance. Generally, the Properties page provides access to settings that control the graph grid, color, style of display data, and so on. Data can be saved from the monitor in different ways. The easiest way to retain the display features is to save the control as an HTML file.

Performance Monitor enables you to also save log files in HTML or tab-separated (.tsv) format, which you can then analyze by using third-party tools. Alternatively, a tab-separated file can be imported into a spreadsheet or database application such as Excel or Microsoft Access. Windows Server 2008 R2 also enables you to collect data in SQL database format. This is useful for performance analysis at an enterprise level rather than a per-server basis. Reports displayed in Excel can help you better understand the data as well as provide reports to management. As well as saving log files, you can save the results from Performance Monitor as an image. This is great when you need to obtain a point-in-time depiction of a performance graph.

Data Collector Sets

The Data Collector Sets is a vital new feature available as a subfolder within the Performance Monitor snap-in. The purpose of a Data Collector Set is to review or log system performance data. This is achievable through a single component that encompasses organized multiple data collection points. This information can then be analyzed to diagnose problems, correct system performance issues, or create baselines.

Performance counters, event trace data, and system configuration information are all data collector elements that can be captured and contained in a Data Collector Set. Data Collector Sets can be based on a predefined template, from a Data Collector Set that already exists, by creating it manually, with a wizard, or it can be user defined. Data Collector Sets can be exported and used for multiple systems, easing the administrative load involving the configuration of new systems producing more effective monitoring. Wizards facilitate the creation of Data Collector Sets and enable an administrator to quickly create collections based on server roles or the type of information that is required.

Creating Data Collector Sets

Data Collector Sets can be created manually from a template or from Performance Monitor. The following examples will help you to gain an understanding of the different methods for creating Data Collector Sets.

To create a Data Collector Set from Performance Monitor, do the following:

The resulting Data Collector Set can be configured to run immediately by right-clicking the new Data Collector Set and selecting Start. The properties of the Data Collector Set can be viewed by right-clicking and selecting Properties.

Data Collector Sets can be created, saved, or restored from templates. Many templates are built in and can be created using the Create New Data Collector Set Wizard in Windows Performance Monitor. This wizard is invoked by right-clicking on the User Defined folder, the Event Trace Sessions folder, or the Startup Event Trace Sessions folder under Data Collector Sets and selecting New, Data Collector Set.

To create a Data Collector Set from a template, do the following: