How MOM Monitors Logical Disk and Physical Disk Performance Counters (300117)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Operations Manager 2000

This article was previously published under Q300117

SUMMARY

This article describes how Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) monitors logical and physical disks.

MORE INFORMATION

MOM monitors disk performance counters on the Consolidator and on each drive on each agent computer. For example, if the Database Access Server/Consolidator/Agent Manager (D/CAM) has only drive C, Agent A has drives C and D, and Agent B has drives C, D, E, and F, MOM can monitor all of the drives on each computer.

To test this, create a Performance rule that uses the Microsoft Windows NT or Microsoft Windows 2000 LogicalDisk-% Free Space <All> 30 Min counter, which picks up all drives on each agent computer.

Creating a Custom Performance Rule

You can create a custom Performance rule for a logical disk and specify which agent and which drive you want to monitor. Follow these steps:
  1. Create a new Performance Processing Rule to sample or compare data.
  2. For the data provider, do one of the following:
    • To monitor a Windows 2000-based computer:

      Click the existing W2K LogicalDisk-% Free Space <All> counter.

      NOTE: To enable the logical disk performance counter, you must first run diskperf -yv at a command prompt then restart the computer. You must do this for each computer where you want to have the logical disk monitored. For more information, see the "Turning On the Logical and Physical Disk Objects" section of this article.
    • To monitor Windows NT 4.0-based computers:

      Click New, click Windows NT Performance Counter, and then in the Counter definitions from box, browse to the remote agent that you want to monitor. Specify the following:

    Object: Logical Disk
    Counter: your choice
    Instance: your choice

    Note that if you want to monitor the disk performance counters of remote computers, you must have Diskperf running.

  3. Complete the steps for the rule.

Turning On the Logical and Physical Disk Objects

In Windows NT 4.0, both physical and logical disk objects are turned off by default. In Windows 2000, the physical disk object is turned on by default and the logical disk object is turned off by default.

To turn on the logical and physical disk performance counters for Windows NT 4.0, start a command prompt, type diskperf -y, press ENTER, and then restart the computer.

To turn on the logical disk performance counters for Windows 2000, start a command prompt, type diskperf -yv, press ENTER, and then restart the computer.

Understanding the Logical Disk Performance Counters

This is what the Windows NT 4.0 logical disk performance counters mean:

0 ==> X means that this is a "compound" performance counter. Some performance counters have parent performance counters, whose values are used in calculating the values of children counters. The zero (0) is the 0th physical disk, and an X after the arrow usually indicates the logical disk.

For example, if a computer has two physical disks, the first partitioned into logical disks C and D and the second partitioned into E and F, the list of available instances displays the following information:

0 = C:

0 = D:

1 = E:

1 = F:

Therefore, 0 ==> <All> means all performance counters whose parent instance is 0, which in this case is all logical disks for the physical disk 0.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/13/2005
Keywords:kbenv kbinfo KB300117