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Active Directory 2008 Optimization and Reliability : Monitoring and Troubleshooting Active Directory Components (part 3) - The Network Monitor, The Task Manager

4/25/2014 3:36:02 AM
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3. Using Other Performance Monitoring Tools

Performance Monitor allows you to monitor various different parameters of the Windows Server 2008 operating system and associated services and applications. However, you can use three other tools to monitor performance in Windows Server 2008. They are Network Monitor, Task Manager, and Event Viewer. All three of these tools are useful for monitoring different areas of overall system performance and for examining details related to specific system events. In the following sections, we'll take a quick look at these tools and how you can best use them.

3.1. The Network Monitor

Although Performance Monitor is a great tool for viewing overall network performance statistics, it isn't equipped for packet-level analysis and doesn't give you much insight into what types of network traffic are traveling on the wire. That's where the Network Monitor tool comes in. There are two main components to the Network Monitor: the Network Monitor Agent and the Network Monitor tool itself.

The Network Monitor Agent is available with Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008. The agent allows you to track network packets. When you install the Network Monitor Agent, you will also be able to access the Network Segment System Monitor counter.

On Windows Server 2008 computers, you'll see the Network Monitor icon appear in the Administrative Tools program group. You can use the Network Monitor tool to capture data as it travels on your network.

NOTE

A limited version of Network Monitor is available for free with Windows Server 2008. The full version of Network Monitor is available at Microsoft's download server. For more information, see www.microsoft.com/downloads/.

Once you have captured the data of interest, you can save it to a capture file or further analyze it using the Network Monitor. Experienced network and systems administrators can use this information to determine how applications are communicating and the types of data that are being passed via the network.

NOTE

For the exam, you don't need to understand the detailed information that Network Monitor displays, but you should be aware of the types of information that you can view and when you should use Network Monitor.

3.2. The Task Manager

Performance Monitor is designed to allow you to keep track of specific aspects of system performance over time. But what do you do if you want to get a quick snapshot of what the local system is doing? Creating a System Monitor chart, adding counters, and choosing a view is overkill. Fortunately, the Windows Server 2008 Task Manager has been designed to provide a quick overview of important system performance statistics without requiring any configuration. Better yet, it's always readily available.

You can easily access the Task Manager in several ways:

  • Right-click the Windows taskbar, and then click Task Manager.

  • Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, and then select Task Manager.

  • Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

Each of these methods allows you to quickly access a snapshot of the current system performance.

Once you access the Task Manager, you will see the following six tabs:


Applications tab

The Applications tab (see Figure 1) shows you a list of the applications currently running on the local computer. This is a good place to check to determine which programs are running on the system. You can also use this tab to shut down any applications whose status is listed as [Not Responding] (meaning either that the application has crashed or that it is performing operations and is not responding to Windows Server 2008).

Figure 1. The Applications tab of the Task Manager

Processes tab

The Processes tab shows you all of the processes that are currently running on the local computer. By default, you'll be able to view how much CPU time and memory a particular process is using. By clicking any of the columns, you can quickly sort by the data values in that particular column. This is useful, for example, if you want to find out which processes are using the most memory on your server.

By accessing the performance objects in the View menu, you can add additional columns to the Processes tab. Figure 2 shows a list of the current processes running on a Windows Server 2008 computer.

Figure 2. Viewing process statistics and information using the Task Manager

Services tab

The Services tab (see Figure 3) shows you what services are currently running on the system. From this location, you can stop a service from running by right-clicking the service and choosing Stop. The Services button launches the Services MMC.

Figure 3. Viewing services information using the Task Manager

Performance tab

One of the problems with using Performance Monitor to get a quick snapshot of system performance is that you have to add counters to a chart. Most systems administrators are too busy to take the time to do this when all they need is basic CPU and memory information. That's where the Performance tab of the Task Manager comes in. Using the Performance tab, you can view details about how memory is allocated on the computer and how much of the CPU is utilized (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Viewing CPU and memory performance information using the Task Manager

Networking tab

Like the Performance tab, the Networking tab (see Figure 5) displays a graph of the current network utilization. The active connections are displayed at the bottom of the tab along with their connection speed, percentage of utilization, and status. The graph in the top part of the tab displays the percentage of utilization in real time.

Figure 5. Viewing network information using the Task Manager

Users tab

The Users tab (see Figure 6) displays a list of the currently active user accounts. This is particularly helpful if you want to see who is online and quickly log off or disconnect users. You can also send a console message to any remote user in the list by clicking the Send Message button. (The button is grayed out in Figure 6 because you cannot send a message to yourself. If you select a different user, the button will be available.)

Figure 6. Viewing user information using the Task Manager

As you can see, the Task Manager is very useful for quickly providing important information about the system. Once you get used to using the Task Manager, you won't be able to get by without it!

NOTE

Make sure you use Task Manager often and familiarize yourself with all that it can do; you can end processes that have become intermittent, kill applications that may hang the system, view NIC performance, and so on. In addition, you can access this tool quickly to get an idea of what could be causing you problems. All the performance monitoring tools (Task Manager, Event Viewer, Network Monitor, and Performance Monitor) are great at getting granular information on potential problems

 
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