Everything you need to monitor Windows Servers running MS Exchange, SQL Server, IIS, or any other application is included in Performance Sentry. You only need to assign a Data Collection set (DCS) appropriate to the application that runs on these servers to start gathering data on these applications.
Archive for Performance Sentry
What key metrics in Windows I should collect and report on?
Once Performance Sentry is installed and you are able to collect and process Windows performance data on a consistent basis, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the more important data elements that you will be collecting with Performance Sentry. There are several ways to approach this. To help you get […]
What User Rights and Permissions does the User Account that I will run the Performance Sentry Collection Service under require?
OK, you asked for it. If you do not need to gather Module identification information, you can run the Performance Sentry collection service under a User Account. You can only set the Collection Service to run under a User Account manually using the Services Administrative Tool, which is illustrated below: To function correctly, the User Account […]
Can the Performance Sentry Collection Service impersonate a User Account to gain access to secure network resources?
Yes, the Performance Sentry collection service can impersonate a User Account to gain access to secure network resources. By design, the Performance Sentry Collection Service (dmperfss.exe) is installed to run under the built-in LocalSystem (SYSTEM) account. This built-in account, which most services use, has the authority to perform almost any internal function on the local […]
Can I run the Performance Sentry Collection Service under a User Account, instead of LocalSystem (or SYSTEM)?
No, to function properly the Performance Sentry collection service should be set up to run under the LocalSystem (or SYSTEM) account. The LocalSystem (or SYSTEM) account is a built-in account used by many services with an extraordinary level of privileges for accessing local system resources. These include privileges that cannot be granted to any User […]
What is the format of the Performance Sentry data files?
Performance Sentry data files are ASCII text files, comma delimited by default, in an open, documented format that can be easily read in almost any application. To make it easy for third party products to process our data, we developed a self-defining file format. At the start of each file, we write Configuration records and […]
How big are the nightly Performance Sentry data files?
You can expect data files on the order of 8-12MB daily. If you find that your daily .smf data files are significantly larger and that amount of data is causing unacceptable problems and delays in post-processing, there are several approaches that you can use to trim them back in size without sacrificing clarity and detail. Review […]
What is the overhead of running Performance Sentry?
At typical collection intervals (we recommend at least once per minute), Performance Sentry overhead is well under 1% of a single processor. Chapter One of the User’s Manual contains a lengthy discussion of Windows Server performance monitoring overhead considerations.
How is running Performance Sentry different from Microsoft’s Perfmon or the Windows System Monitor?
Performance Sentry and the Performance Monitor (Perfmon) or System Monitor all access the same performance data and all access it the same way. This performance data encompasses an enormously rich set of metrics on resource usage of key hardware and software components that is available on every Windows server and workstation. We think this is […]
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From the Blog
- Windows Performance and Capacity Planning Challenges in Virtualized Environments
- Defining and Using Machine Groups in the Performance Sentry PDB
- Microsoft’s Hyper-V Performance — Introduction
- Performance Sentry Cumulative Maintenance Released
- Demand Technology Software Announces v2.4 of the Performance Sentry Web Portal
- Performance Sentry VM 2.0 now available
- Performance Sentry supports Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1
- New Performance Objects in Windows 8 and Server 2012
- MXG and Performance Sentry for Cost Effective Windows Performance Monitoring
- Performance Sentry supports Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8
- Performance Sentry Performance Database (PDB) Data Model
