Performance Monitoring

Is Your Computer Running Slowly?

 

Guy recommends:
Free Solarwinds
VM Console

 A free desktop tool that monitors, or restarts, your VMware virtual machines.  Download your free VM Console

---

 

Best Practice (Litmus Test)

Professionals always monitor the 'big four' resource counters: memory, disk CPU and network.

Amateurs fixate on one resource.  For example disk activity, thus they miss the big picture where memory shortage is the true problem.

The Art and Science of Performance Monitoring

Every computer, and every network has bottlenecks.  For maximum gain in performance seek out, then remove the biggest bottleneck.  In your quest to improve your network always consider adding more RAM.  Other tactics include re-distributing services so that you even out resource consumption amongst your servers.

Performance Monitor Tactics Used By Professionals

Baseline

Monitor the servers on your network during a quiet time, overnight, weekend or holiday.  The benefit is that you will have a baseline to compare activity when users start arriving in the morning rush hour.

Self-heal and auto-correction

Professionals use knowledge derived from performance monitoring to configure services to restart on failure.  All that amateurs can do is reboot the server and hope for the best.

Alerts

Professionals set alerts on key counters so that they know of problems before the become serious.  Amateurs only react to problems.

Capacity Planning

Professionals have a good idea of the effect of adding another 50 users to the network,  amateurs haven't a clue on the impact on resources.

Task Manager

If you have not got time to run performance monitor, call for the Task Manager, and then examine the Process tab.  Professionals sort by the 'Memory' tab.

Guy Recommends: The Free IP Address Tracker (IPAT)

Calculating IP Address ranges is a black art, which many network managers solve by creating custom Excel spreadsheets.  IPAT cracks this problem of allocating IP addresses in networks in two ways:

For Mr Organized there is a nifty subnet calculator, you enter the network address and the subnet mask, then IPAT works out the usable addresses and their ranges.  For Mr Lazy IPAT discovers and then displays the IP addresses of existing computers. 

Download the Free IP Address Tracker

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Admin

Train Signal have an excellent Windows Server 2008 course.  You get over 70 hrs instruction with Ed Liberman and Ben "Coach" Culbertson.  Try their step-by-step videos and master Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Admin.

The package includes the Transcender exams, which are the key to gaining the coverted Microsoft Certified IT Professional certification.  However, the course also builds practical experience so that you can manage your network effectively once you complete the course.

Watch a Demo of Train Signal's MCITP course

More Help for Detecting Computer Bottlenecks

See more about Windows 8

• Install Windows 8  • When will Windows 8 Expire?  • Windows 8 Metro UI

• Windows 8 Task Manager

 *

Custom Search	Guy Recommends: SolarWinds Free IP SLA Monitor SolarWinds IP SLA Monitor offers so much more than just uncovering network bottlenecks, the real joy is learning about router traffic. To find out what's happening on the network between your computers and their routers, download your free copy of the of IP SLA Monitor.
Home Copyright © 1999-2012 Computer Performance LTD All rights reserved Please report a broken link, or an error.