Demand Technology Software
Frequently Asked Questions about NTSMF installation
2. What do I need to do to get started with NTSMF?
3. What key metrics in Windows I should collect and report on?
4. What do I need to do to monitor my servers running MS Exchange, SQL Server, or IIS?
Frequently Asked Questions about NTSMF installation
Easy as pie.
The standard installation package that we ship on your CD contains three separate Setup routines that can be run separately or together. One setup routine is used to install the SeNTry Administration GUI which is used to administer NTSMF data collection. You can install as many copies of the SeNTry Administration program as necessary to administer NTSMF across your network. (It is often helpful to run separate copies of SeNTry Administration in front of and behind your firewall, for example.
The second setup routine is for the NTSMF collection agent. You can run this setup routine right from the distribution or copy it to disk and run it separately. There is even a silent mode setup option so that you can install the NTSMF collection agent unattended. Finally, the User Manual shows how to create a simple installation script that you can use to roll out NTSMF across your network of Windows machines. A scripted installation of the collection service has the advantage of being able to assign a Data Collection set (DCS) of your own during installation and also allows you to assign a User Account to be impersonated during Cycle End processing. (To read more about collection service security considerations, click here.) The User Manual also provides a sample script to use to distribute the NTSMF collection agent using SMS.
For those customers who develop their own distribution and installation procedures, the required set of files needed to install the current version of the collection service is
DbgHelp.dll
DmCmd.exe
DMDCSMASTER.OMI
DMPerfss.exe
Dmperfss.cfg
Dmperfss.sdb
DMSumMsg.dll
DMSumSMF.exe
DTSFnd.dll
msvcp71.dll
msvcr71.dll
PSSMsg.dll
Unable to copy the PSSMsg.dll file during installation. Running an installation script to upgrade the collection service, you are likely to find that the PSSMsg.dll file is in use and cannot be replaced. The PSSMsg.dll file is an application Event log message dll that is loaded and used by the Event Log service. Any other utility programs that you run that access the Event log are likely also to have opened the PSSMsg.dll file. In order to copy the latest PSSMsg.dll file, you may have to shut down the Event Log service and any other service that accesses Event Log message dlls. Make sure you restart these services after you complete the file copy successfully.
Please do not agonize over the fact that your script cannot replace the PSSMsg.dll file because it is in use. It is not the end of the world to run the most current collection service with a slightly out-of-date Event Log Message dll.
Using the dmperfss.cfg configuration file to suppress loading of problem Perflib DLLs is discussed in this technical note.
Optional runtime files. Diagnostic symbols are no longer included in the program's binary executables like DMPerfss.exe and DTSFnd.dll due to Microsoft compiler changes. Diagnostic symbols are now found in filenames ending with a .pdb suffix. Installing these debug symbol files is optional, but highly recommended so that we can maintain the high quality of the collection service code.
DmCmd.pdb
DMPerfss.pdb
DTSFnd.pdb
msvcr71.pdb
msvcp71.pdb
Installing the
enclosed version of PKZIP25.exe is also optional.
Note that this list of required files updates the list found on on page 21 of the User's Guide.
The runtime files listed here can be found in the \NTSMF24 folder following the installation of the collection service following setup, or in the folder \Performance SeNTry\Collection Sevice Files following the installation of Performance SeNTry Administration component.
The third setup routine is for Performance Gallery. You will need to contact us for a permanent Registration Code keyed to the machine where you are installing Performance Gallery to run this setup routine once you have licensed the product.
2. What do I need to do to get started with NTSMF?
Installation is a three-step process:
1. Prepare the machine you want to use to administer Performance SeNTry.
Run the Setup program contained on the installation disk to install the SeNTry Administration program on the Win2K workstation or server you intend to use to administer Performance SeNTry. SeNTry Administration is used to define and activate NT performance Data Collection Sets (DCSes) on the local machine and any remote computers that you want to monitor.
A Data Collection Set defines (1) which of the available performance Counters you want to collect, (2) the data collection interval and other runtime parameters that control the operation of the collection agent, and (3) the filtering options that ensure that you are collecting the right amount of information. The program ships with standard defaults that are appropriate for most environments. We also provide you with a large number of pre-defined DCSes that are appropriate for different application servers. With SeNTry Administration, you can assign any of the DCSes we provided, use the DCS Editor to modify them in a jiffy, or create your own.
2. Prepare the machine you want to monitor.
Install the NTSMF collections engine as a service on any NT/2000/XP computer that you wish to collect information about and start it. The Performance SeNTry service collects the performance data you specify on the Windows NT/2000/XP computer on which it is installed. You can install as many copies of the Performance SeNTry service as you are licensed to run. By default, DMPerfss.exe writes an NTSMF format data file to a \Data subdirectory of the installation directory on the monitored system's local hard drive. You can change the Data directory to point anywhere you want, even to point to a remote hard disk
3. Automate the process for consolidating Performance SeNTry collection files for processing by SAS IT/SV, MXG, or other performance reporting packages.
Once installed, the Collection Service runs automatically from the time your NT machine starts up until it shuts down. At the end of the collection cycle, Performance SeNTry closes the current .smf data logging file to free it up for processing. It immediately opens a new collection file so no collection intervals are lost. At this time you can schedule a process to copy the older collection file to a central location for consolidation and processing. This may involve setting up a connection to a remote drive on a machine you designate as a central collection file consolidation point and scheduling a program to move the old collection files to that machine at regularly scheduled times. To read more about the daily smf data file consolidation process using our built-in push technology, click here. Or follow this link to read how one customer scripted a simple server pull operation (the sample VB script he developed is here).
If the machine being monitored is behind a firewall, it may be necessary to run a simple ftp script to consolidate the daily data files.
3. What key metrics in Windows I should collect and report on?
Once NTSMF 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 NTSMF. There are several ways to approach this.
To help you get started, we produced an annotated list of some of the more useful Performance Counters, which also documents some of the common gotchas that you can read more about online in this FAQs section. Click here to access this Getting Started guide.
The Default Data Collection set (DCS) is enabled at the factory and runs until you assign your own DCS. This is a good, general purpose set of metrics to collect and is consistent with the built-in report templates that are included with Performance Gallery. There is an extensive set of documentation that accompanies these report templates which is included on your Performance Gallery CD. (If you do not have an installation CD, you can download the report template documentation here.) We recommend you read this document both for tips on what kinds of reports to build if you are not using Performance Gallery and for an overview of the most important performance Counters that you will encounter.
If you want to get involved at a deeper level with the interpretation and analysis of NTSMF performance data, we recommend that you pick up a copy of the Microsoft Server 2003 Resource Kit. The Resource Kit contains a volume written by Mark Friedman on server performance and tuning. Mark is the founder of Demand Technology, and he worked with Microsoft technical staff to create this volume, drawing from his extensive experience using the NTSMF data to analyze the performance of Windows machines. Mark also regularly teaches a hands-on seminar in Windows Server 2003 performance.
If you have a question about any aspect of the NTSMF data that you are collecting and analyze, please write to us care of the NTSMF Forum, which is an e-mail Discussion Group that we sponsor.
4. What do I need to do to monitor my servers running MS Exchange, SQL Server, or IIS?
Everything you need to monitor Windows NT/2000/XP servers running MS Exchange, SQL Server, IIS, or any other application is included in NTSMF. You only need to assign a Data Collection set (DCS) appropriate to the application that runs on these machines to start gathering data on these applications, too.