Introduction to Optimizing MOM

  • Article

Consider optimizing and tuning MOM to:

  • Reduce or eliminate performance bottlenecks that are reducing overall effectiveness or causing a system failure.

  • Improve performance to increase operational effectiveness or to scale up to manage more computers.

When you are dealing with performance issues, or you want to tune your system, it is recommended that you:

  • Clearly define goals and objectives for optimizing MOM, and confirm that the results of optimizations can be quantified.

  • Review capacity planning and sizing documents to ensure that computers are appropriately sized for each component in the MOM system (for example, the a server hosting the MOM Database).

  • Review the existing MOM architecture to ensure that it is adequate for supporting the number of computers that you are managing, and that the load on architectural components falls within supported limits (for example the number of agents reporting to a Management Server).

  • Confirm that the MOM support team is aware of known hardware and networking issues that may have existed before MOM was installed.

  • Confirm that the MOM support team is familiar with the pre-defined performance thresholds provided in the Management Packs that are installed.

  • Make sure that historical data is available in, order identify trends and develop the appropriate performance benchmarks. See also: Benchmarks.

  • Take a systematic approach to identify performance issues and implement changes.

    • Start with a system-wide view and identify key performance indicators.

    • Isolate the part of the system that you want to focus on, and identify the appropriate performance indicators.

    • Implement changes, and monitor the system, to verify the results of the changes by collecting historical data.

    • Have a back out plan for reversing configuration changes that may create new bottlenecks or further degrade performance.

Required Knowledge and Skills

It is recommended that staff members responsible for performance monitoring and analysis have a working knowledge of the Microsoft Performance Monitor, Microsoft Network Monitor, and SQL Profiler.

In all cases, they should know what the key performance indicators are, and be able to interpret the results of the data that is collected.

Trends

One of the major techniques for analyzing performance is trend analysis. Support staff should be able to identify trends in performance on all parts of the MOM system.

Benchmarks

Although Management Packs provide rules to generate alerts when certain thresholds are exceeded, it is necessary to determine if the general performance of a computer is constant, or changing, so potential issues can be addressed proactively.

Performance benchmarks, based on real time and historical data, are essential for determining whether or not performance on a MOM component has changed. For example, unless there is a baseline, you cannot conclude that Management Server performance is "slower" or "faster".