Demand Technology Software
Version 2.4.7 of NTSMF.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004.
We are pleased to announce that version 2.4.7 of NTSMFÒ is currently available. All customers currently on regularly scheduled maintenance plans may request shipment of the new version immediately. Customers who have acquired an earlier version of version 2.4 within the last year may also upgrade to the new version 2.4.7 collection service free of charge.
Version 2.4.7 is a maintenance release that incorporates all known fixes developed for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. It is current for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.
On 64-bit machines, the 32-bit version is not capable of gathering performance data from any Performance Library DLLs that are only available in 64-bit versions. The Microsoft SQL Server 64-bit edition provides a Performance Library DLL (Perflib) that is available only in a 64-bit version. The 32-bit version of the NTSMF collection agent cannot load this Perflib DLL. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of all other Performance Library DLLs currently ship for the 64-bit platform, and the 32-bit collection agent otherwise functions correctly in that environment.
A native 64-bit version of the 2.4.7 release is scheduled to be available within 60 days.
This maintenance release fixes a known problem that can cause the collection service to terminate unexpectedly.
It also features the following improvements:
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A new Physical Processor configuration record that returns processor-specific information that is returned when the CPUID instruction is issued. |
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A new Logical Processor configuration record that identities those Intel processors that have the Hyper-threading features. |
In addition, the new version contains extensive default data collection set updates and incorporates a large number of new Counter definitions associated with Exchange Server 2003.
Hyper-threading (HT) is an Intel brand name for its processors that can simultaneously process multiple instruction streams on a single processor core. Currently, HT is a feature available on many of Intel's 32-bit processors. When HT is enabled, each physical processor presents two "logical" processor interfaces to the OS. The new physical and logical processor configuration records make it possible to identify those machines that are equipped for Hyper-threading, determine if HT is enabled, and map the processor IDs of logical processors to their physical processor core.
The new HT support was developed in response to customer requests for data that would enable them to figure out whether HT was working effectively in their environment. When HT is enabled, there are two instances of the Processor record provided for each physical processor. The Logical Processor configuration information shows clearly which logical processors share a physical processor core. Instead of reporting on individual logical processor instances, some authorities recommend calculating and reporting the average processor utilization of the logical processors that share a physical processor core. The new processor configuration records enable customers to do that. For more information, see the answer to this FAQ here.
For More Information Contact:
Demand Technology Software
1020 8th Avenue South, Suite 6, Naples FL USA 34102
Tel: (941) 261-8945
Internet:
sales@demandtech.com
