Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Windows Server® 2008 operating system includes Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor, which provides IT Professionals with the tools to monitor and assess system performance and reliability.

What does Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor do?

Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that combines the functionality of previous stand-alone tools including Performance Logs and Alerts, Server Performance Advisor, and System Monitor. It provides a graphical interface for customizing performance data collection and Event Trace Sessions.

It also includes Reliability Monitor, an MMC snap-in that tracks changes to the system and compares them to changes in system stability, providing a graphical view of their relationship.

Who will be interested in this feature?

• IT professionals who need to review the performance and reliability of individual systems on their network

• End users interested in the impact of applications and maintenance on their system performance and reliability

Are there any special considerations?

Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor is a tool intended for use by IT Professionals or computer administrators. To view real-time status in Resource View, the console must run as a member of the Administrators group. To create Data Collector Sets, configure logs, or view reports, the console must run as a member of the Administrators group or the Performance Log Users Group.

What new functionality does this feature provide?

Features of Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor new to Windows Server 2008 include the following.

Data Collector Sets

An important new feature in Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor is the Data Collector Set, which groups data collectors into reusable elements for use with different performance monitoring scenarios. Once a group of data collectors are stored as a Data Collector Set, operations such as scheduling can be applied to the entire set through a single property change.

Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor also includes default Data Collector Set templates to help system administrators begin collecting performance data specific to a Server Role or monitoring scenario immediately.

Wizards and templates for creating logs

Adding counters to log files and scheduling their start, stop, and duration can now be performed through a Wizard interface. In addition, saving this configuration as a template allows system administrators to collect the same log on subsequent computers without repeating the data collector selection and scheduling processes. Performance Logs and Alerts features have been incorporated into the Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor for use with any Data Collector Set.

Resource View

The home page of Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor is the new Resource View screen, which provides a real-time graphical overview of CPU, disk, network, and memory usage. By expanding each of these monitored elements, system administrators can identify which processes are using which resources. In previous versions of Windows, this real-time process-specific data was only available in limited form in Task Manager.

Reliability Monitor

Reliability Monitor calculates a System Stability Index that reflects whether unexpected problems reduced the reliability of the system. A graph of the Stability Index over time quickly identifies dates when problems began to occur. The accompanying System Stability Report provides details to help troubleshoot the root cause of reduced reliability. By viewing changes to the system (installation or removal of applications, updates to the operating system, or addition or modification of drivers) side by side with failures (application failures, operating system crashes, or hardware failures), a strategy for addressing the issues can be developed quickly.

Unified property configuration for all data collection, including scheduling

Whether creating a Data Collector Set for one time use or to log activity on an ongoing basis, the interface for creation, scheduling, and modification is the same. If a Data Collector Set proves to be useful for future performance monitoring, it does not need to be re-created. It can be reconfigured or copied as a template.

User-friendly diagnosis reports

Users of Server Performance Advisor in Windows Server 2003 can now find the same kinds of diagnosis reports in Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor in Windows Server 2008. Report generation time is improved and reports can be created from data collected by using any Data Collector Set. This allows system administrators to repeat reports and assess how changes have affected performance or the report's recommendations.

Do I need to change any existing code?

Previous performance counters, event trace providers, and other performance-related code elements do not need to change to work with the new Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor or its features.