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SOFTWARE/SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION
PerfMan 1.1
Supplement Perfmon with this toolkit
PerfMan from The Information Systems
Manager (ISM) is an extensive toolkit for monitoring every aspect of an
enterprise network. PerfMan provides data management, trend analysis, graphical
reporting, database interfacing, and automation. ISM created PerfMan to
supplement Microsoft's Windows NT Performance Monitor (Perfmon). PerfMan manages
the same metrics (the measured events, counters, and traffic items) available to
NT's Perfmon, but PerfMan improves the versatility, power, and control over how
the tool monitors these items, what data it collects, and how it stores, views,
and reports data. Specifically, PerfMan can centrally manage the monitoring
activities of an entire network, gather different metrics for each computer
(unlike Perfmon), and distribute the monitoring activities over multiple
computers to reduce network performance degradation. (For a description of
Perfmon, 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, and
PerfMan Analyst. Its modular design lets you install only the components you
need on a specific machine, so that you can keep the monitoring activities from
degrading network performance.
The PerfMan Server is the administrative control nucleus for an entire
enterprise network. The Server controls the installation and configuration of
one or more Collectors (which gather data), summarizes the collected metrics,
and manages the database of accumulated log files. PerfMan Server configures and
manages the metrics for every monitored system and exports metric raw data to
text files for use by other applications.
The PerfMan Collector is an NT service, that the operating system starts
automatically. You can install this component on several machines to distribute
the monitoring load. Each instance, or installation, of the Collector can gather
data from its host computer and from any number of other target systems. The
PerfMan Collector monitors the target systems without additional software. The
Collector 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 run
from any Windows 3.x (or higher) or compatible system on the network. With the
Analyst, you can view metrics from one monitored system or every monitored
system over any period from minutes to years. Furthermore, the Analyst provides
such reporting tools as the Chart Builder and Exception Analysis, which aid in
presenting and interpreting the gathered metric data.
What PerfMan Can Do
PerfMan can monitor the performance of networks of any size. Using your
network's existing logical layout, PerfMan can divide your network into
manageable regions, each monitored by a single Collector host. In ISM's labs,
one Collector gathered measurements from 250 machines--only available memory and
computing horsepower on the Collector host system limit the number of systems
each Collector can monitor.
PerfMan can analyze data collected over various intervals and can compare
current collections of measurements with historical collections--even with data
sets of varying metrics, missing data, and overlapping time frames. You can
adjust PerfMan to collect data for short intervals for rapidly changing
environments or for long intervals for stable systems. You can use PerfMan's
built-in scripting capabilities to automate repetitious activities to simplify
reporting and data file management.
You don't have to use the PerfMan Analyst to interpret and view the
collected metrics. You can export custom-selected data groups from specific
intervals, systems, or metrics to other applications, spreadsheets, and
databases such as SAS, Excel, and SQL Server. By combining the automated
scripting abilities and the export functions, you can easily use applications
you are already familiar with to create your own custom monitoring tools and
utilities.
Installation
Although installation of PerfMan is straightforward, you need to be aware of
some potential problems. If you want PerfMan to perform up to its capabilities,
pay close attention to the installation instructions. The following elements can
prevent PerfMan from functioning properly.
Each component of PerfMan requires administrative access to the Registry
and file system of the computers that the particular component monitors. Use
multiple accounts and groups to establish a tiered security system for the
PerfMan components so that each PerfMan component has the proper permission
level to access the systems it monitors or accesses. Specifically, the Collector
needs access to each system it monitors and collects data from, the Server needs
permission to retrieve the data from the Collector hosts, and the Analyst needs
permission to access the database stored on the Server system.