70-270: MCSE Guide to Microsoft Windows XP Professional Second Edition, Enhanced Chapter 10: Performance Tuning

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70-270 MCSE Guide to Microsoft Windows XP
ProfessionalSecond Edition, Enhanced Chapter
10 Performance Tuning
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Objectives

• Create a performance baseline
• Understand the performance and monitoring tools
  found in Windows XP Professional
• Log and use logged activity
• Use performance tuning in the system applet

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Objectives (continued)

• Detect and eliminate bottlenecks
• Boost Windows XP Professional performance
• Optimize performance for mobile Windows XP users

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Establishing a Baseline

• Baseline
• Measure system behavior
• Key elements
• Recorded observations about characteristics and
  behavior of computer system
• Recorded by creating a Counter log
• Collecting data at regular intervals
• Establish definition of what a normal load looks
  like

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Monitoring and Performance Tuning

• Monitoring
• Thorough understanding of system components
• Continued observation of those components
• Performance tuning
• Changing a systems configuration systematically
• Carefully observing performance before and after

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Task Manager

• Provides overview of current state of computer
• To access
• Press CtrlAltDelete.
• Press CtrlShiftEsc.
• Right-click any unoccupied area on the Windows XP
  taskbar and select Task Manager from the menu
  that appears

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Task Manager (continued)

• Tabs
• Application
• Processes
• Performance
• Networking
• Users in Task Manager
• Only appears in special circumstances

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Task Manager, Application tab
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Task Manager, Networking Tab
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System Monitor

• Performance monitoring tool
• Monitor many different events concurrently
• Analyze network operations
• Identify trends and bottlenecks
• Determine system capacity

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System Monitor (continued)

• Notify administrators when thresholds are
  exceeded
• Track performance of individual system devices
• Monitor local or remote computers

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System Monitor (continued)
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Realtime Monitoring

• Process of viewing the measured data from one or
  more counters in the System Monitor display area
• Formats
• Graph
• Histogram
• Report

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Add Counters
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System Monitor Properties
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Logging and Using Logged Activity

• Two types of logging capabilities
• Counter log
• Records data from selected counters at regular,
  defined intervals
• Allows you to define exactly which counters are
  recorded
• Trace log
• Records nonconfigurable data from designated
  provider only when events occur

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Logging and Using Logged Activity (continued)

• Trace log
• Operating system environment status dumps
• Measure data continually

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Counter Logs Node
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Alerts

• Automated watchdog that informs you when counter
  crosses a defined threshold, high or low
• Can consist of one or more counter/instance-based
  alert definitions
• Focuses on one or all counters

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Setting an Alert
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When an Alert is Triggered

• Log an entry in the application event log
• Send a network message to
• Start performance data log
• Run this program

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Event Viewer

• Tool for examining the performance and activities
  on a system
• Tracks all events generated by the operating
  system
• Event
• Anything that causes event detail to be created
  in one of the logs that Event Viewer manages

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Event Viewer Log Files

• System
• Application
• Security

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Event Viewer, System Log
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Event Types

• Information
• Warning
• Error
• Success Audit
• Failure Audit

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Event Log Entry

• Events date and time
• Source
• Category (such as Logon or Logoff )
• Event number
• Name of the account that generated the event
• Name of the computer on which the event occurred

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Performance Options

• Adjust system performance based on applications
  and virtual memory
• Tasks
• Optimize processor scheduling
• Optimize memory usage
• Manage size of paging file

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Performance Options (continued)
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Setting Application Priority

• 32 levels of application priority
• Determine which process should gain access to the
  CPU
• Users have minimal control over priority
• Priority Levels
• 015User-accessible process priorities
• 1631System-accessible process priorities
• 06Low user range

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Setting Application Priority (continued)

• Priority Levels
• 4Low value (as set in Task Manager, or with /low
  parameter to Start command)
• 5Below-Normal value (as set in Task Manager)
• 7Normal (default setting for user processes)
• 815High user range
• 10Above-Normal value (as set in Task Manager)
• 13High value (as set in Task Manager, or with
  /high parameter to Start command)

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Setting Application Priority (continued)

• Priority Levels
• 1624Realtime values accessible to
  Administrator-level accounts
• 24Realtime value (as set in Task Manager, or
  with /realtime parameter to Start command)
• 2531Realtime values accessible to operating
  system only

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Performance Tuning in the System Applet

• Advanced tab of System Applet
• Category View
• Start, Control Panel, Performance and
  Maintenance, then click the System icon in the
  Control Panel section
• Windows Classic view
• Start, Control Panel, System. Next, select the
  Advanced tab, and then click the Settings button
  in the Performance pane

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The Visual Effects Tab

• Control how Windows XP handles computer display
  when managing screen output
• Settings
• Adjust for best appearance
• Adjust for best performance
• Custom

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The Visual Effects/Advanced Tabs
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The Advanced Tab

• Panes
• Processor scheduling
• Memory usage
• Virtual memory

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Virtual Memory
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Recognizing and Handling Bottlenecks

• Bottleneck
• Limitation in single component slows down entire
  system
• Always exist in any computer
• No single bottleneck monitor
• Goal
• Make bottlenecks unnoticeable for everyday
  functions

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Recognizing and Handling Bottlenecks (continued)

• Create a baseline for a computer
• Compare baseline observations to current system
  behavior
• Investigate more common causes of system problems
• Make changes to system configuration
• Test impact of any fix you try
• Some fixes are more expensive than others

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Common Bottlenecks

• Disk bottlenecks
• Disk-related counters increase more dramatically
  than other counters
• Disk queue lengths become unacceptably long
• Memory bottlenecks
• Make sure that the paging file is working as
  efficiently as possible
• Detect excessive paging activity

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Common Bottlenecks (continued)

• Processor bottlenecks
• Processor objects Processor time counter stays
  consistently above 80
• System objects Processor Queue Length counter
  remains fixed near a value of 2 or more
• CPU is being overworked
• Two CPUs do not double performance

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Network Bottlenecks

• Not typical on most Windows XP Professional
  machines

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Eight Ways to Boost Windows XP Professional
Performance

• Buy a faster machine
• Upgrade an existing machine
• Install a faster CPU
• Add more L2 cache
• Add more RAM
• Replace the disk subsystem
• Increase paging file size
• Increase application priority

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Optimizing Performance for Mobile Windows XP Users

• Substantially same as managing performance for
  network-connected machines
• Key resources
• RAM
• Disk
• CPU
• Communications

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Optimizing Performance for Mobile Windows XP
Users (continued)

• Make sure network interface appears higher in the
  binding order than a modem or other slower link
  device
• File synchronization settings do not require
  machines to synchronize when running on battery
• Use hibernate and standby modes
• Refresh rates should be extended

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Summary

• Number of tools to monitor system performance
• Task Manager
• View applications
• Processes
• Overall system performance
• Performance console includes
• System Monitor
• Log files
• Alerts

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Summary (continued)

• Event Viewer
• Tracks logs generated by system
• Isolate and correct any bottlenecks