Techies hanker after expertise in
troubleshooting in general, and performance
monitoring in particular. Here is a wonderful chance to have fun
and to learn about Windows Server 2008's memory availability, CPU
utilization, disk usage and much more.
Try the free download of
ipMonitor.
The Benefits of Performance Monitoring
Identify why Windows Server 2008 has become less responsive.
Detect network bottlenecks.
Troubleshoot connectivity problems.
Understand the effect of a server's workload on resources.
Create a baseline so that you can see the effect of demand on your
servers' resources.
Highlight which sub-systems need upgrading. Also undertake capacity
planning.
Automate recovery. Restart services on failure.
After a few hours with ipMonitor you learn all you need to know about
the operating system's services, and how they interact with hardware
components.
ipMonitor - A Data Display to Suit You
SolarWind's ipMonitor is designed
to
analyze servers, desktops, in fact, any device with SNMP.
SolarWinds have anticipated that IT professionals analyze
information in different ways. Thus ipMonitor provides options to
display the data as a graph or as a dial. Install the ipMonitor
and then you can add all manner of
counters, or 'Monitors' as SolarWinds calls them.
At the heart of this data retrieval is SNMP and WMI, thus you need to install these services if you wish to record data from client computers
on your network.
Actually, ipMonitor will auto-discover not only servers, but also computers, routers and TCP/IP
printers on your network. However, to make sure that all resources are
available when remote monitoring, I want to emphasise that you should install SNMP,
and setup 'Credentials', but firstly,
get your free download of ipMonitor
Which Resources to Monitor? The Big Four ++
Whenever you analyze Windows Server 2008's performance always the check the 'big
four' counters. For example, if you just monitor disk activity you
may find long read and write queues and conclude that the disk is the
bottleneck. However, unless you also check available memory, you
cannot be sure that the root is cause is not a RAM shortage, which
results in a lot of paging. The truth is memory shortage is
masquerading as a disk problem. Replacing the disk won't help, but
adding RAM will cure this problem.
Memory
Processor
Disk
Network
Application Specific (SQL and Exchange servers)
Hardware (For example, fan and battery)
The beauty of ipMonitor is that it gives a color coded representation
of resource utilization, thus you don't have to remember thresholds
counters for
when available memory is critical, or when CPU utilization is
abnormally high.
Drill down
What impresses me is the ease with which you can drill down to
reveal nuances that are lost in an overview. The ability to
analyze detail is invaluable when troubleshooting bottlenecks, or
discovering why computers are
responding slower than they were last week.
Network Map - Room View
Here is another neat idea, a network map. When things are working
well nobody remembers the relationship between a computer's physical
location and its hostname. However, when you get an alert that the fan on
machine HR356G is overheating, you too can get hot under the collar
chasing around to find just where HR356G is physically located. A
network map showing computer locations will save the frustration of a wild-goose
chase through all the rooms in your organization.
Naturally, there are other benefits of creating a network map, for
instance, bringing new staff up to speed quickly, not to mention
impressing your boss with a network plan that they can actually
understand. Once they have admired your map, you can mention why
you need to upgrade the server in the finance office.
ipMonitor will Guide You to the Next Level of Performance Analyzing
Rather like cars have gears, so ipMonitor shifts through different
levels. Because I see my role as getting you started, on this page
I am only driving ipMonitor in first gear, consequently, I am only
describing the product's overview level. As you drill-down so you
find more and more amazing details. My trouble is I cannot
possibly cover them all. One side effect of ipMonitor analyzing so
many factors is that resource is only of interest to minority of my
readers. The other side of that statement is there is a
fascinating piece of information for everyone. ipMonitor will
unearth facts that if acted upon, will enable you improve your network
performance.
Guy
recommends: The SolarWinds ipMonitor
I am attracted to
ipMonitor
because it inhabits that zone of part work, part play; Guy just could not put
the dashboard away. This excellent performance monitor will get you
started in the quest to remove bottlenecks on your network. SolarWinds
provides this fully-functioning product free for 21 days. So download and
install ipMonitor, then start scrutinizing your computers CPU, memory and disk
performance.
Installing ipMonitor is a breeze, but learn from gung-ho Guy's mistake, and
install SNMP on each computer that you wish to monitor. What sealed my
unreserved recommendation of SolarWinds is their support team, you will get
expert help even when you are evaluating the ipMonitor.
Vista has a special role in server monitoring, it is better to monitor
Windows servers from a desktop machine than one of the servers.
The point of this tactic is that it overcomes objections of bias.
On my very first performance monitoring job I collected the information
form the HG1 server, and my report said server HG1 was responding slower
than HG2 and HG3 because of insufficient RAM. The boss would not
believe me; he said it was my performance monitoring that caused that
particular server to run slower than the rest. It was not true,
but I had to repeat the work by remotely monitoring all the servers from
an XP machine. The result was the same, HG1 needed more RAM, but I
learned a valuable lesson, always monitor the servers from a Windows Server 2008 (or
XP) machine.
Note: Before you set ipMonitor to work remember
to install SNMP on the servers and create 'Credentials' on the Vista
machine.
Everyday Questions That ipMonitor Can Answer
Q1) We bought five identical Windows Server 2008
computers, but why is one is running
noticeably slower? Answer: A naughty boy took the RAM stick out of one and put it in his
machine! ipMonitor displayed the REAL amount of RAM, not the
amount on the invoice / specification.
Q2) The new kid on our block says we should splash out and upgrade our
computer's
CPU. Answer: Almost certainly no. I'll bet that the CPU is not the
bottleneck, but ipMonitor will easily confirm or deny my guess.
Q3) I was at my sister's office the other day, why is their network much
faster than ours. Answer: A wild guess, they have
a proper packet switching network, you
just have a basic router for connecting to the internet. Check
your network utilization figures to confirm my guess.
Q4) You have read about automatic recovery if services fail, you
would like to get this protection for your computers. Answer: ipMonitor can be configured to restart services, and in
extreme cases, reboot the computer.
Guy Recommends:
SolarWinds' NPM - Network Performance Monitor
SolarWinds' performance monitor is designed for detecting network outages,
making it easy to see what's working, and what needs your attention.
This utility guides you through creating network maps; it also helps
identifying whether the
root cause is faulty equipment, or resource overload. Give NPM a try.
