19-15LESSON 2 USING THE PERFORMANCE CONSOLETABLE 19-3 PARTIAL LIST OF...

19

-

15

Lesson 2

Using the Performance Console

Table 19-3 Partial List of Available Objects in System MonitorObject DescriptionCache Used to monitor the file system cache used to buffer physical device dataMemory Used to monitor the physical and virtual memory on the computerPhysicalDisk Used to monitor a hard disk as a wholeProcessor Used to monitor CPUsWhen you first start the Performance tool, the graph displays three counters by default:Pages/sec Represents the rate at which pages are read from or written to disk duringvirtual memory operations. Consistently high values can indicate that not enoughmemory is present on a computer.Avg. Disk Queue Length Represents the average number of read and write requestsqueued for the selected disk. Consistent values above 0 means that requests are back-ing up, which might indicate not enough memory or a slow disk system.%Processor Time Represents the percentage of elapsed time that the processorspends executing nonidle tasks. Consistently high values (exceeding approximately 80percent) might indicate that the processor is slowing down your computer.

How to Add Counters

Adding counters to an object (such as those described in Table 19-3) allows you totrack certain aspects of the object. The three default counters loaded with System Mon-itor actually do a very good job of representing the basic aspects of a computer’s per-formance. Of course, they are only three of the hundreds of counters that are available.The counters that you monitor depend on whether you are trying to collect generalbaseline information, troubleshoot a performance problem, diagnose an issue with anapplication, and so on. The following steps allow you to add counters to an object inSystem Monitor: