FINDING THE “MAKE IT FASTER!” BUTTON AND HITTING IT! Ewan MacKellar Senior Premier Field Engineer Microsoft SESSION CODE: SVR306 (c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Finding the “make it faster” button

Agenda ► Introducing the Performance Troubleshooting Flow Chart ► Using the flow to – Fix slow disk – Find memory pressures – Uncover network issues – Identify high processor utilization ► Resource to help you back at work (c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Use the flow to proactively maintain and fix servers

(c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved. CounterValueExplanation Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time<75%Shows the percentage of time that the processor is executing application or operating system processes. Processor(_Total)\% User Time<75%Shows the percentage of processor time that is spent in user mode. Processor(_Total)\% Privileged Time<75%Shows the percentage of processor time that is spent in privileged mode. Privileged mode is a processing mode designed for operating system components and hardware-manipulating drivers. It allows direct access to hardware and all memory. Process(*)\% Processor TimeNo thresholdShows the percentage of elapsed processor time that all process threads used to execute instructions. An instruction is the basic unit of execution in a computer; a thread is the object that executes instructions; and a process is the object created when a program is run. Code executed to handle some hardware interruptions and trap conditions are included in this count. System\Processor Queue Length<5Indicates the number of threads each processor is servicing. Memory\Available Mbytes>100 megabytesShows the amount of physical memory, in megabytes (MB), immediately available for allocation to a process or for system use. It is equal to the sum of memory assigned to the standby (cached), free, and zero page lists. Memory\Pool Nonpaged BytesVaries by OS SKU and boot configurationConsists of system virtual addresses that are guaranteed to be resident in physical memory at all times and can thus be accessed from any address space without incurring paging input/output (I/O). Memory\Pool Paged BytesVaries by OS SKU and boot configurationShows the portion of shared system memory that can be paged to the disk paging file. Paged pool is created during system initialization and is used by kernel-mode components to allocate system memory. Memory\Cache BytesNo thresholdShows the current size, in bytes, of the file system cache. By default, the cache uses up to 50 percent of available physical memory. The counter value is the sum of Memory\System Cache Resident Bytes, Memory\System Driver Resident Bytes, Memory\System Code Resident Bytes, and Memory\Pool Paged Resident Bytes. Memory\Committed BytesNo thresholdShows the amount of committed virtual memory, in bytes. Committed memory is the physical memory that has space reserved on the disk paging files. Memory\%Committed Bytes in UseNo thresholdShows the ratio of Memory\Committed Bytes to the Memory\Commit Limit.

Using the flow to fix slow disks

Looking for disk latency

► Common causes of high latency ► We don’t care what disks – Direct Attached Storage (DAS) – Storage Area Network (SAN) – Network Attached Storage (NAS) – Internet SCSI (iSCSI) ► Installed software may change performance metrics

Looking for disk queuing

► Common causes of queuing ► Now we do care about what disks – Queuing to local disk – Queuing over a storage network ► Identify the problem and work with the storage team

Understanding disk load

► Load only matters when we see latency and queuing ► Correlating load – Disks – Processes ► Talking with the storage team

Using the flow to find memory pressures

Looking at memory pressure (c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Looking at memory pressure ► Available memory is not unused memory ► Why paging is not just the page file ► The file system cache (c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Looking at application memory use ► It’s all virtual ► Monitoring overall memory consumption ► How to identify consumers and leakers

Looking at application memory use ► Remember it’s all virtual ► Monitoring overall memory consumption ► How to identify consumers and leakers

Looking for kernel memory pressure ► Common causes of kernel memory depletion ► Additional tools – Process Explorer shows kernel pool sizes Process Explorer – Poolmon shows memory pool consumers Poolmon

Looking for kernel memory pressure ► Common causes of kernel memory depletion ► Additional tools – Process Explorer shows kernel pool sizes Process Explorer – Poolmon shows memory pool consumers Poolmon

Looking for network problems

► It’s just more I/O ► Check end-to-end link saturation ► Check the configuration of NICs ► Don’t forget your network tools – Ping – Tracert – Pathping

Looking for processor problems

► Look for overall load ► Determine which process is hogging the processor ► Be careful in a virtualised environment

How does virtualization affects performance troubleshooting?

► Disk counters are not affected – Queuing is more likely as resources may be shared ► Memory counters may not be affected – Counters values may be false when using any type of dynamic memory allocation ► Network counters are not affected – Queuing is more likely as resources may be shared ► Processor counter are completely unreliable – Use native virtualisation tools to monitor processor utilisation (c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Go back to work, find the go faster button and hit it! (c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Go back to work, find the go faster button and hit it! ► To get the flow follow me on Twitter for publishing infoTwitter ► Use PAL for fast checks, performance templates and to double check your resultsPAL ► Attend the Premier Workshop Performance Monitor: Monitoring Vital Signs WorkshopPLUS Performance Monitor: Monitoring Vital Signs

Enrol in Microsoft Virtual Academy Today Why Enroll, other than it being free? The MVA helps improve your IT skill set and advance your career with a free, easy to access training portal that allows you to learn at your own pace, focusing on Microsoft technologies. What Do I get for enrolment? ► Free training to make you become the Cloud-Hero in my Organization ► Help mastering your Training Path and get the recognition ► Connect with other IT Pros and discuss The Cloud Where do I Enrol? Then tell us what you think.

© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries. The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION. (c) 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.