Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Server Manager Reliability and Performance Monitor

The Reliability and Performance monitor is incorporated into Server Manager as well. The Reliability and Performance Monitor was introduced with the Windows Vista platform. This diagnostic tool allows the administrator to monitor the performance of the server in real time and also save the performance data to logs for analysis.

The top-level folder of the Reliability and Performance monitor displays the Resource Overview. This gives a comprehensive overview of the CPU, Disk, Network, and Memory utilization during the past 60 seconds. The graph shows the server overall usage for each of the four categories. In addition, there is a Details pane for each of the categories that shows the utilization by process.

The Monitoring Tools in the Reliability and Performance monitor contain the Performance Monitor and the Reliability Monitor. These tools allow you to monitor the performance and reliability of the server.

The Performance Monitor has not really changed from previous versions of Windows. It allows you to select performance counters and add them to a graph view for real-time monitoring. The graph can be configured to be a line graph, a bar graph, or even a simple text report of the counters being monitored. The monitor shows the last, average, minimum, maximum, and duration of the windows (1 minute 40 seconds by default).

The Reliability Monitor tracks events that could potentially affect the stability of the server, such as updates, installs, and hardware issues. It uses this information to generate a System Stability Index, which is a number between 1 (least stable) to 10 (most stable). The index tracks the following:

• Software Installs/Uninstalls
• Application Failures
• Hardware Failures
• Windows Failures
• Miscellaneous Failures

It plots all these events on the chart and uses them to compute the System Stability Index. This is useful for assessing the overall health of the server and for troubleshooting. You can see these events on the chart over time and see how they potentially impact the stability of the server, then correlate the events to actual stability issues.

Finally, for longer-term tracking, the Data Collector Sets can be used. Data Collector Sets can log data from the following data sources:

• Performance Counters
• Event Traces
• Registry Key Values

This data can be logged over an extended period of time and then reviewed.

Device Manager

The Device Manager node shows the hardware that is installed on the server. It shows the hardware grouped by type of device, such as Disk Drives, Display Adapters, and Network Adapters. Each instance of the device type is listed in a node underneath the device type.

The Device Manager can be used to update the device drivers of the hardware, to change settings, and to troubleshoot issues with the hardware. Specifically, you can perform the following tasks:

• Scan for new hardware
• Identify hardware problems
• Adjust configurations
• View device driver versions
• Update the device drivers
• Roll back device driver upgrades
• Enable or disable hardware

For example, sometimes older video drivers or network card drivers will cause problems with the system. It is easy to check the Microsoft online driver repository using Device Manager. To check for an update to the device driver for the network adapter, follow these steps:

1. Expand the Network Adapters node in Device Manager.
2. Select the network adapter to check.
3. Select Action, Update Driver Software from the menu.
4. Click on Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software.
5. Click on Yes, Always Search Online (Recommended).
6. Install the update if found.
7. Click Close to exit the wizard.

NOTE: Many times, the latest version of the driver will already be installed. In these cases, the message "The best driver for your device is already installed" will be shown.