Windows NT includes two important tools, Performance Monitor and Event Viewer to help you view logs, plus other tools such as Netstat and Network Monitor to help you collect performance information about your Web server. Additional logging features are available in IIS.
For detailed information about using Performance Monitor and Event Viewer, see the Windows NT documentation.
Monitoring the server is a crucial part of server administration. By using appropriate monitoring tools, you can detect Web server problems, evaluate the result of changes to your Web site content, and plan upgrades to make your Web sites more accessible to users. The monitoring tools can provide both moment-to-moment and summary information.
The best choice of monitoring tool and method depends on the information you need. For example, if you were trying to measure the overall load on your Web server, you could use Performance Monitor to render a week-long plot, showing information such as the number of computer connections and file transfers. As another example, if you noticed a slowdown in your server's performance, you could check for errors in Event Viewer, the tool for viewing logs generated by Windows NT.
You can also monitor your server by examining logs generated by IIS. These logs extend beyond those generated by Windows NT and viewed in Event Viewer. For information about logging, see the topics listed in Logging Web Site Activity.
Your Windows NT documentation is an important source of information about performance monitoring, as is the Windows NT Resource Kit, a useful source of information on troubleshooting and capacity planning.
Performance Monitor is a powerful tool that you can use to monitor your server's activity and summarize its performance at selected intervals. With Performance Monitor, you can display performance data in real time charts or reports, collect data in files, and generate alerts that warn you when critical events occur. Performance Monitor contains counters that monitor the activity of specific objects, that is, specific services or mechanisms controlling server resources. For example, if you view the object called Web Service, you can see counters that monitor bytes received per second or connection attempts per second.
Windows NT includes a number of counters, and you can supplement these with counters for disk usage and TCP activity by using utilities available in the Windows NT Resource Kit (for information, see the Resource Kit documentation). In addition, IIS installs special counters, including Web service counters, FTP service counters, counters for Active Server Pages applications, and global counters for Internet Information Services. The Web and FTP service counters and Active Server Pages application counters monitor connection activity, while the Internet Information Services Global counters monitor such things as bandwidth usage and caching activity for all IIS services. The following four topics provide lists of the counters available:
Note While adding counters in the Add To dialog box in Performance Monitor, you can view an explanation of the currently selected counter by clicking the Explain button.
Performance Monitor is designed to provide both short-term and long-term perspectives about the load on your Web server, as described in the following two topics:
Windows NT includes an event-logging service, which records events such as errors or the successful starting of a service. These event logs are viewed by using Event Viewer. (To start Event Viewer, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and click Event Viewer.) You can use Event Viewer to monitor System, Security, and Application event logs. With this information you can better understand the sequence and types of events that led up to a particular performance problem. For details about how to use Event Viewer, see your Windows NT documentation.
In addition, IIS includes separate logging capabilities, for recording details about when and how your Web or FTP server is being accessed by users. For information about the logging included in IIS, see Logging Web Site Activity.
You can also use a variety of more advanced tools in Windows NT to collect specific performance information. These include the following:
For details about these tools, see your Windows NT documentation, including the Windows NT Resource Kit.