Windows NT General Performance Monitor Counters

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Windows NT General Performance Monitor Counters

The complete list of Performance Monitor counters is extensive. The following table contains only those counters relevant to Microsoft Exchange Server.

Object Counter Uses

LogicalDisk % Disk Time Records the percentage of time a hard drive is either reading or writing. A sustained value above 90 percent indicates that the hard drive is a performance bottleneck. Use the diskperf command at the Windows NT command prompt to activate disk monitoring.

Memory Pages/sec Measures paging of memory from or to the virtual memory paging file. A high average value indicates the computer is short on memory. Sudden spikes in use should be ignored.

Processor % Processor Time Records the percentage of time the processor is running non-idle threads. If your server has multiple processors, you can watch each instance. Microsoft Exchange Server services can use multiple processors. An average value that is below 20 percent indicates the server is unused or services are down. An average value that is consistently above 90 percent indicates that the server is overburdened.

Process Elapsed Time Records the number of seconds a process has been running. It gives you a quick way to see whether a server or service has recently been restarted without looking through the event log.

Redirector Bytes Total/sec Measures the number of bytes per second sent and received by the network redirector. Compare the maximum throughput of your network card with the maximum value of this counter to see if network traffic is a bottleneck in your system.

Redirector Network Errors/sec Measures the number of unexpected errors the redirector receives. If you suspect network problems, check to see whether this counter is above zero. If it is above zero, check the system event log for details on the network error.

Object	Counter	Uses
LogicalDisk	% Disk Time	Records the percentage of time a hard drive is either reading or writing. A sustained value above 90 percent indicates that the hard drive is a performance bottleneck. Use the diskperf command at the Windows NT command prompt to activate disk monitoring.
Memory	Pages/sec	Measures paging of memory from or to the virtual memory paging file. A high average value indicates the computer is short on memory. Sudden spikes in use should be ignored.
Processor	% Processor Time	Records the percentage of time the processor is running non-idle threads. If your server has multiple processors, you can watch each instance. Microsoft Exchange Server services can use multiple processors. An average value that is below 20 percent indicates the server is unused or services are down. An average value that is consistently above 90 percent indicates that the server is overburdened.
Process	Elapsed Time	Records the number of seconds a process has been running. It gives you a quick way to see whether a server or service has recently been restarted without looking through the event log.
Redirector	Bytes Total/sec	Measures the number of bytes per second sent and received by the network redirector. Compare the maximum throughput of your network card with the maximum value of this counter to see if network traffic is a bottleneck in your system.
Redirector	Network Errors/sec	Measures the number of unexpected errors the redirector receives. If you suspect network problems, check to see whether this counter is above zero. If it is above zero, check the system event log for details on the network error.