PerfMan 1.1

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PerfMan 1.1
Supplement Perfmon with this toolkit
PerfMan from The Information SystemsManager (ISM) is an extensive toolkit for monitoring every aspect of anenterprise network. PerfMan provides data management, trend analysis, graphicalreporting, database interfacing, and automation. ISM created PerfMan tosupplement Microsoft's Windows NT Performance Monitor (Perfmon). PerfMan managesthe same metrics (the measured events, counters, and traffic items) available toNT's Perfmon, but PerfMan improves the versatility, power, and control over howthe tool monitors these items, what data it collects, and how it stores, views,and reports data. Specifically, PerfMan can centrally manage the monitoringactivities of an entire network, gather different metrics for each computer(unlike Perfmon), and distribute the monitoring activities over multiplecomputers to reduce network performance degradation. (For a description ofPerfmon, see Michael D. Reilly, "The Windows NT Performance Monitor,"March 1997 and "More Windows NT Performance Monitor," page 157.)

How PerfMan Works
PerfMan 1.1 has three components: PerfMan Server, PerfMan Collector, andPerfMan Analyst. Its modular design lets you install only the components youneed on a specific machine, so that you can keep the monitoring activities fromdegrading network performance.

The PerfMan Server is the administrative control nucleus for an entireenterprise network. The Server controls the installation and configuration ofone or more Collectors (which gather data), summarizes the collected metrics,and manages the database of accumulated log files. PerfMan Server configures andmanages the metrics for every monitored system and exports metric raw data totext files for use by other applications.

The PerfMan Collector is an NT service, that the operating system startsautomatically. You can install this component on several machines to distributethe monitoring load. Each instance, or installation, of the Collector can gatherdata from its host computer and from any number of other target systems. ThePerfMan Collector monitors the target systems without additional software. TheCollector has no user interface (UI); instead, the PerfMan Server installs,controls, and manages the Collector.

The PerfMan Analyst is the set of integrated analysis tools that can runfrom any Windows 3.x (or higher) or compatible system on the network. With theAnalyst, you can view metrics from one monitored system or every monitoredsystem over any period from minutes to years. Furthermore, the Analyst providessuch reporting tools as the Chart Builder and Exception Analysis, which aid inpresenting and interpreting the gathered metric data.

What PerfMan Can Do
PerfMan can monitor the performance of networks of any size. Using yournetwork's existing logical layout, PerfMan can divide your network intomanageable regions, each monitored by a single Collector host. In ISM's labs,one Collector gathered measurements from 250 machines--only available memory andcomputing horsepower on the Collector host system limit the number of systemseach Collector can monitor.

PerfMan can analyze data collected over various intervals and can comparecurrent collections of measurements with historical collections--even with datasets of varying metrics, missing data, and overlapping time frames. You canadjust PerfMan to collect data for short intervals for rapidly changingenvironments or for long intervals for stable systems. You can use PerfMan'sbuilt-in scripting capabilities to automate repetitious activities to simplifyreporting and data file management.

You don't have to use the PerfMan Analyst to interpret and view thecollected metrics. You can export custom-selected data groups from specificintervals, systems, or metrics to other applications, spreadsheets, anddatabases such as SAS, Excel, and SQL Server. By combining the automatedscripting abilities and the export functions, you can easily use applicationsyou are already familiar with to create your own custom monitoring tools andutilities.

Installation
Although installation of PerfMan is straightforward, you need to be aware ofsome potential problems. If you want PerfMan to perform up to its capabilities,pay close attention to the installation instructions. The following elements canprevent PerfMan from functioning properly.

Each component of PerfMan requires administrative access to the Registryand file system of the computers that the particular component monitors. Usemultiple accounts and groups to establish a tiered security system for thePerfMan components so that each PerfMan component has the proper permissionlevel to access the systems it monitors or accesses. Specifically, the Collectorneeds access to each system it monitors and collects data from, the Server needspermission to retrieve the data from the Collector hosts, and the Analyst needspermission to access the database stored on the Server system.

Clock synchronization across your network is important because theCollector gathers metrics in coordination with the time clocks of each Collectorhost. Proper enterprisewide timestamps correlate and integrate metrics frommultiple Collectors. The NT time synchronizing service (TIMESERV) can helpsynchronize network time (for the latest details, see Microsoft Windows NTServer 4.0 Resource; for a description of TIMESERV and other timesynchronization methods, see Tao Zhou, "Time Synchronization in an NTNetwork," February 1997).

The system can gather disk metrics only if you execute the command

diskperf -y

on each system and reboot. This command instructs the system to gather diskperformance statistics. See NT's Help file for more information on diskperf.

PerfMan Analyst must have share access to the main installation directoryof the PerfMan Server to access the log and history files stored there. Isuggest sharing the installation directory immediately after you install PerfManServer and before you install PerfMan Analyst. Also, install NT Server ServicePacks (SPs) before you install PerfMan. NT Server 3.51 requires SP4 and SP5, andNT Server 4.0 requires at least SP1.

Figure 1 shows a possible installation scheme of the PerfMan components. Inthis example, you distribute system load across many systems and regions of thenetwork, thus balancing the monitoring load across several machines. When youplan your installation of PerfMan, take advantage of its modular design.

After I installed PerfMan, I viewed my first collection of metrics in chartform through PerfMan Analyst within five minutes. The system is easy to operate,and you can obtain meaningful data quickly. The variety of options and featuresavailable through PerfMan server, shown in Screens 1 and 2, and PerfMan Analyst,shown in Screen 3, clearly identify what PerfMan was measuring and let youcompare each metric with others from the same or a different system. Screen 1shows the eight counters PerfMan is collecting for the server Spock. Screen 2shows the database settings for creating a summary every 30 minutes and storingthese summaries for 31 days. Screen 3 is visual summary of some of the datacollected on server RAS1.

Real-World Operation
Like most Windows-based tools, PerfMan is easy to use right out of the box.However, just because you can operate the application doesn't necessarily meanthat you can get meaningful results. You need to be familiar with what eachmetric is measuring, why it is important, and how each metric relates to others.PerfMan is a tool for experienced network administrators, who already know whataspects of their network need monitoring.

Using PerfMan, you can establish a baseline against which you can judgefuture performance (e.g., you can determine when a server needs additional RAMor storage space). Knowing the purpose and function of each monitored systemwill help you learn which metrics are useful to monitor on that system, whatvalues are normal for regular operation, and what levels represent systemproblems that you need to address.

If you use PerfMan consistently and interpret the gathered data regularly,PerfMan will help you find which areas of your network need improvements, gaugewhich servers need hardware upgrades, learn which machines are overused,ascertain which systems are improperly located in the logical layout, andprevent system failures and performance dips. By identifying areas whereimprovements will have the greatest benefit, you can also use the data thatPerfMan has gathered to plan future network growth and expansion. For example,you can measure the throughput, CPU usage, and disk access to see where you neednetwork upgrades, CPU replacements, and larger or faster hard disks.

When you use PerfMan with NT's Perfmon--and once you understand thebaseline and standard deviations of the regular performance activities of eachsystem--you can establish alarms to signal you when a specific system'sperformance is approaching a critical level. The historical data trail thatPerfMan maintains and the realtime display of the metric through Perfmoneliminate the need for trial and error when you look for the cause of potentialcrises and implement a solution. When you use PerfMan in this manner, it becomesan early warning system by giving you detailed reports about the performance andactivity of your network.

System Requirements

The PerfMan Collector and PerfMan Server components run under NT 3.51 and NT4.0 (with relevant Microsoft SPs). The PerfMan Analyst component is a Win16application that runs under NT, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, or OS/2 Warp. ISMrecommends allowing 5MB of hard disk space for the installation of the softwarecomponents and at least 100MB of hard disk space for the accumulation ofgathered data on the host systems for Collector and Server. The size of thestored data files increases dramatically as the number of metrics gathered andsystems monitored increases. However, you can control the size of the files byregularly exporting data or by limiting the time that the system retains thefiles.

Try It and See
PerfMan is an invaluable tool for system administrators who maintain anetwork of any size because PerfMan lets you centrally monitor every machine onyour network. I recommend downloading the 30-day evaluation version from the ISMWeb site and trying it out in your organization. Once you discover how usefulPerfMan is, you can purchase it via fax or phone. The cost of PerfMan depends onthe number of systems monitored. The current sliding scale has many increments,which range from 5 systems for $995 to 1000 systems for $90,000.