Monitoring Capacity

Monitoring capacity involves comparing actual usage to available resources. Monitoring indicates the level of resource utilization relative to system capacity. Capacity monitoring provides advance warning of resource shortages.

To monitor Chat Service capacity, you can examine physical resource capacity and chat user capacity. A physical resource reaches capacity when it is busy 100 percent of the time. An indication that a service is reaching capacity is when requests for the service start experiencing delays.

Use the following counters to monitor the capacity of a chat server:

% Processor Time (Processor object). This counter should not exceed 90 percent. Chat Service is highly dependent on the CPU, and excessive usage indicates the need for additional hardware or that the server is under attack.
Available Bytes (Memory object). Less than 10 percent of available free memory can indicate excessive processing or a software error.

Tip Set up capacity and performance logging and monitoring at the same time so you can analyze both sets of data simultaneously.

To monitor capacity

From the Start menu, choose Programs, choose Administrative Tools (Common), and then choose Performance Monitor.
From the Edit menu, choose Add To Chart.
Select the computer you want to monitor.
From the Object drop-down menu, choose Chat Service.
Select a counter, and then choose Add. To add several counters at the same time, hold down the CTRL key while you select the counters.
To adjust the scale on a counter, double-click the counter name at the bottom of the screen. Select the Scale box, and then choose a scale.
Choose Done when you are finished.