WINDOWS 2000
Performance Monitor Essentials
One thing about Windows NT that you can't take lightly is its hearty appetite for powerful hardware. In order to operate well, your Windows NT system will require a fast processor, lots of memory and a good- sized hard disk--or maybe even two. But how do you know how much you really need? The recommended system requirements on the box offer a rule of thumb, but are definitely not what you'd want to build a system by. Performance is based strictly on what you plan to do with your system. This is applicable for workstations as well as servers. But even task-based recommendations are just a start.
So, how do you determine what the optimum hardware configuration for a Windows NT system? Simple--you purchase what you think you need for your task, and then perform benchmark tests over time to determine if your initial purchase decisions were wise or not. Lucky for us, Microsoft has provided a tool in Windows NT that helps greatly in this task. It is called Performance Monitor.
The Performance Monitor tool is located within the Administrative Tools group in the Start Menu. Although it is easy to fire up, determining what counters to monitor and what the results mean are a different story. Below I've listed some simple guidelines to find typical bottlenecks in your system that can help you make hardware purchasing decisions.
First, we'll talk about memory. Most performance problems on your system can be remedied by adding more memory. This is the most important resource for Windows NT. However, just throwing memory at the problem instead of diagnosing the situation can be like treating an ulcer with antacid. You want to treat the problem, not just the symptoms.
The following Performance Monitor counters can help you determine if additional memory will solve your problem or not:
While it may seem that both of these situations point to a lack of memory, that's not always the case. If Memory Pages/Sec is increasing but Memory Available Bytes is not, you may have an application (a database, for instance) that requires much I/O since the entire database would not reside in memory.
If pagefile is greater than its initial size, this also indicates that a lot of paging is occurring. While this can be remedied by additional memory, it may also indicate that you need to reconfigure your Pagefile for your system's needs. Check Pagefile Essentials for details on configuring your Pagefile for optimal performance.
There are many more counters to monitor your memory. The above will give you a good start. Once you made an assessment that you need more memory, you must decide how much to add. The Paging File % Usage MAX performance counter can help. Use this formula:
Paging File % Usage MAX" * Page file size = number of bytes used
This algorithm shows the amount of memory your system is using to operate properly. This will not eliminate paging, as that isn't possible, but will significantly decrease it.
All the information given above (free) is purly for Educational purpose.
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