Resource Monitor, Reliability Monitor, and Performance Monitor
are the tools of choice for monitoring a system’s reliability and
performance. One of the key reasons for tracking performance
information is to establish a baseline for a computer that allows you to compare past
performance with current performance. There are several types of
baselines you can use, including the following:
-
Postinstallation
baselines A postinstallation baseline is a performance level
that is meant to represent the way a computer performs after
installing all the roles, role services, features, and
applications that will be used on the system. -
Typical usage
baselines A typical usage baseline is a performance level
that is meant to represent average usage conditions and serve as a
starting point against which you can measure future
performance. -
Test baselines
A test baseline is a performance level that you use
during testing of a system. In the test lab, you might want to
simulate peak usage loads and test how the system performs under
these conditions.
Although it is important to obtain postinstallation and typical
usage baseline values, the more important of the two is the typical
usage baseline. This is the baseline you get when you simulate user
loads or when users actually start working with a server. Ideally, it
represents typical or average loads. After you have a typical usage
baseline, you can gather information in the future to try to determine
how resource usage has changed and how the computer is performing
comparatively.
To be able to establish a baseline, you must collect a
representative set of performance statistics. By that, I mean collect
the data that you actually need to determine resource usage and
performance in future scenarios. If possible, you should also collect
several data samples at the same time each day over a period of
several days. This will give you a more meaningful data sample.
You must work to keep the baseline in sync with how the server
is used. As you install new roles, role services, features, and
applications, you must establish new baselines. This ensures that
future comparisons with the baseline are accurate and that they use
the most current system configuration to determine how resource usage
has changed and how the computer is performing comparatively.
Tracking per-process resource usage
You can use Task
Manager to determine the overall utilization of system resources.
The Processes and Details tabs in Task Manager provide information
about resources being used by running processes. What’s missing from
Task Manager, however, is the ability to take a deep look at how
processes are using resources, and this deep-look capability is
exactly what Resource Monitor provides.
You can start Resource Monitor by selecting the related option on
the Tools menu in Server Manager. Alternatively, type Resource Monitor in the Apps Search box and
press Enter.
When you start Resource Monitor, shown in Figure 1, you’ll see
that the statistics provided are organized into five general categories:
-
Overview -
CPU -
Memory -
Disk -
Network
Each of these categories can be used for comprehensive
performance analysis, and in the sections that follow, I’ll show you
how.
Getting an overview of resource utilization
The Overview tab in Resource Monitor, shown in Figure 2, provides a
detailed overview of resource utilization. Top-level utilization
statistics are tracked in the graphs and on the panel bars. As per
the legend shown on the panel bars, the values are plotted in
either green or blue on the corresponding graph. The statistics
tracked include the following:
-
% CPU usage -
CPU maximum frequency -
Disk I/O bytes per second -
Disk % highest active time -
Network I/O bytes per second -
% Network utilization -
Memory hard faults per second -
% Physical memory used
At first glance, the information provided seems similar to
that available in Task Manager. What’s different, however, is that
when you select one or more processes on the CPU panel, you see
related utilization statistics for the processes on the Disk
panel, Network panel, and Memory panel. You also see related
activity plotted in orange on the CPU, Disk, Network, and Memory graphs.
Note
The CPU, Disk, Network, and Memory panels show a subset of
the information available on the related tabs. Your process
selections are applied globally so that you can determine
exactly how the selected processes are using CPU, disk, network,
and memory resources.
In the example, I selected three processes for tracking:
sqlservr.exe, System, and sqlwriter.exe. I chose these processes
because I already determined in Task Manager that these were some
of the most active processes on the server and I wanted to
determine how these processes were affecting the server. I quickly
learned that these processes weren’t affecting the CPU nearly as
much as I thought. Although the processor utilization on the
server was performing well at about 70 percent, these processes
seemed to be using few actual CPU resources. On the other hand,
they were high consumers of disk and network resources (and, in
fact, accounted for nearly all of the disk and network
activity).
By examining the disk and network activity, I was able to
identify exactly which activities were using these resources.
Although some of the disk I/O activity was related to SQL Server,
the bulk of the activity was related to large data transfers. One
data transfer in particular involved a large data set that was
being moved from another file server to the server I was
analyzing. You can see this in the three entries under Disk and
the first entry under Network. Under Disk, a large write is in
progress for the C:\Shares folder. Under Network, a large data set
is being received from another server.
Tracking per-process CPU utilization
The CPU tab in Resource Monitor shows the current CPU utilization and the maximum CPU frequency. If
you expand the Processes panel (by tapping or clicking the options
button), as shown in Figure 3, you’ll see
a list of currently running executables. Each process is listed
according to the following categories:
-
Average CPU The average
percentage of CPU utilization for the process in the last
minute -
CPU The percentage of CPU
utilization for the process (across all physical and logical
processors) -
Description The name of
the process (and sometimes other information as
well) -
Image The name of the
process or executable running the process -
PID The numeric
identifier for the process -
Status The execution
status of the process -
Threads The number of
threads that the process is using
If you press and hold or right-click any column header and
then choose Select Columns, you’ll see a dialog box that allows you to
add columns to the CPU panel. The additional columns that are available
include the following:
-
Average Cycle The average
percentage of CPU cycle time for the process (over a 60-second
interval). -
Cycle The current
percentage of CPU cycle time being used by the process. -
Elevated The elevation
status of the process. An entry of Yes indicates an elevated
process. -
Operating System Context
The operating system context in which the process is running,
such as Windows Server 2012 or Windows Vista. -
Platform The platform on
which the process is running, either 32-bit or 64-bit. -
User Name The name of the
user or service that is running the process.
Select one or more processes on the Processes panel to get
more detailed information about how those processes are using
CPU resources. As you select processes for tracking,
keep in mind your selections are global. The same selections will appear in the other
tabs in Resource Monitor.
When you select one or more processes for tracking, you’ll
see additional details on these panels:
-
Services Shows the name
of the service running a process or processes, along
with process identifiers, the status, descriptions of the
services, percentage of CPU utilization, and the average percentage of
CPU utilization. -
Associated
Handles Shows the names of the handles associated with
the selected processes, listed by the executable name of the
process, the process identifier, the handle type, and the
handle file path. -
Associated
Modules Shows the names of modules loaded by the
selected processes, listed by the executable name of the
process, the process identifier, the module name, the module
version, and the module file path.
Use this information to help you identify which services are
running processes, as well as which handles and modules a process
is using. No additional details can be added to the Services,
Associated Handles, or Associated Modules panels.
Tracking per-process memory utilization
The Memory tab in Resource Monitor shows how processes are using
memory, focused primarily on physical memory. As shown in Figure 4, the percent
utilization of physical memory, the current commit charge, and the hard
memory faults are graphed over time. On the Processes panel,
individual processes are listed by the following
categories:
-
Image The name of the
process or executable running the process. -
PID The numeric
identifier for the process. -
Hard Faults/Sec The
average number of hard memory faults per second in the last
minute. -
Commit The commit charge
for the process, measured in kilobytes (KB). The commit charge
represents the amount of virtual memory reserved by the
operating system for the process. -
Working Set The amount of
physical memory the process is currently using. -
Shareable The nonprivate
working set for the process, representing the amount of
physical memory in use by the process that can be shared with
other processes. -
Private The private
working set for the process, representing the amount of
physical memory in use by the process that cannot be shared
with other processes.
On the Physical Memory panel, you’ll see a graph showing the
composition of in-use and available memory and related usage statistics. Although the details provided are
similar to those provided in the Task Manager Performance tab,
they are more precise and you’ll see specific values listed for
the following:
-
Available
Memory The nonallocated physical memory (which includes the system’s standby
memory and free memory). -
Cached Memory Part of the
available physical memory. This memory is used for system
caching (and includes the system’s modified memory and standby
memory). -
Free Memory Nonallocated
memory and part of the available memory. This memory doesn’t
contain any valuable data and will be used first whenever more
memory is needed. -
Hardware Reserved Memory
Memory reserved for BIOS and some drivers for other
peripherals. -
In-Use Memory Currently
allocated physical memory. The size of the paging file is the
difference between the current commit charge and the in-use
memory. -
Installed Memory The
total amount of physical memory installed on the system,
inclusive of the hardware-reserved memory. -
Modified Memory Part of
the cached memory. This memory needs to be written to disk
before becoming available. -
Standby Memory Part of
the cached memory. This memory contains cached data and code
not actively being used. -
Total Memory The total
amount of physical memory installed on the system, not
including hardware-reserved memory.
Use this information to help you identify how processes are
using memory and whether there are performance issues related to memory. No additional
details can be added regarding memory usage.
Tracking per-process disk utilization
The Disk tab in Resource Monitor shows the number of kilobytes per
second being read from or written to disk and the highest
percentage usage. As shown in Figure 5, processes
with disk activity are listed by name, process ID, number
of bytes being read per minute, number of bytes being written per
minute, and total read/write bytes per second.
Select one or more processes on the Processes With
Disk Activity panel to get more detailed information
about how those processes are using disk resources. As you select
processes for tracking, keep in mind your selections are global.
The same selections will appear in the other tabs of Resource
Monitor.
When you select one or more processes for tracking, you’ll
see additional details on the Disk Activity and Storage panels. To
help you quickly identify disk-related performance issues, the Disk Activity
panel identifies the files a particular process is reading or
writing along with the bytes read per second, bytes written per
second, and total read/write bytes per second for each file. Also
shown are the I/O priority and the response time.
The Storage panel provides information about the underlying
logical and physical disks. The Logical Disk column shows the
drive letters of logical disks with I/O activity. The Physical
Disk column identifies the specific physical disk where the
logical disks were created. If there are performance issues with a
server’s disks and files are being read from and written to
multiple logical disks residing on the same physical disk (or a
relative few physical disks as compared to the number of available
physical disks), you might be able to improve performance by
changing the storage configuration so that I/O activity is spread more evenly across the
server’s physical disks. You also can try to balance the workload
by moving applications and services from an overutilized server to
another, less-utilized server.
Tracking per-process network utilization
The Network tab in Resource Monitor shows the current network
bandwidth utilization in kilobytes and the
percentage of total bandwidth utilization. As shown in Figure 6, processes
that are transferring or have transferred data on the network are
listed by name, process ID, number of bytes being sent per minute,
number of bytes received per minute, and total bytes sent or
received per minute.
Select one or more processes on the Processes With Network
Activity panel to get more detailed information
about how those processes are using network resources. As you
select processes for tracking, keep in mind your selections are
global. The same selections will appear in the other tabs of
Resource Monitor.
When you select one or more processes for tracking, you’ll
see additional details on these panels:
-
Network
Activity Identifies the name or IP address of the
computer to which a process is connected, along with the
average number of bytes sent per second in the last minute,
the average number of bytes received per second in the last
minute, and the total number of bytes transferred per second
in the last minute. -
TCP Connections
Shows the TCP connections for processes with network activity according to the local
addresses, local ports, remote addresses, and remote ports
being used. Also shown are the percentage of packets lost
during the connection and the roundtrip latency in
milliseconds. -
Listening Ports
Shows the specific listening ports being used by processes with
network activity, along with the firewall
status.
If there are performance issues with a server’s network connections, you might be able to improve
performance by installing multiple network adapters in the server
and teaming the network cards. You configure network
interface card (NIC) teaming using Server Manager, either through a
local logon or using a remote desktop connection. Either way, once
you are logged on to the server, you can configure NIC teaming by selecting Local Server in the left
pane of Server Manager and then tapping or clicking the link
provided for NIC teaming. Next, tap or click Tasks under Teams and
then select New Team. Enter a name for the teamed network
adapters, such as Team Set 1, select the member adapters, and then
tap or click OK.
If you can’t add or team network adapters, you can try to
reduce the server’s network activity by moving applications and
services from an overutilized server to another, less-utilized
server.
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