Tracking Anonymous and Nonanonymous Requests
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 with SP1
The Web Service and FTP Service performance objects include counters that report the number of anonymous and nonanonymous requests that are sent to each of these IIS 6.0 services. (The term nonanonymous is used instead of authenticated to account for custom authentication schemes that require data from the client other than, or in addition to, the user name and password, as is also the case with authentication.)
By themselves, these counters help you determine the number and proportion of each type of request. You can also use the counter values to estimate the effect of changing how you handle anonymous and nonanonymous users. For example, if most connections are anonymous, prohibiting anonymous requests has a more significant impact than if most requests are nonanonymous.
Analysis of data from these counters, together with general measures of server performance — such as the use and allocation of processor time, the size of processor queues, memory use, the number of disk reads and writes, and throughput — is even more useful. By analyzing the combined data, you can associate the effects of varying numbers and proportions of anonymous and nonanonymous users with changes in the performance of system components.
The counters that report the number of anonymous and nonanonymous requests are called Current Anonymous Users and Current NonAnonymous Users. In IIS 5.0, these counters actually displayed connections. In IIS 6.0, these counters count each request as a unique user.
Table 6.29 describes the counters for monitoring anonymous and nonanonymous requests. These counters are associated with the Web Service and FTP Service performance objects. The Anonymous Users and Nonanonymous Users counters display the number of anonymous and nonanonymous requests to the IIS 6.0 service when the values were last observed. They do not report averages or rates. These counters can exaggerate the number of requests because closed requests might not yet have been deleted when the counter is displayed.
Table 6.29 Counters for Anonymous and Nonanonymous Users
| Object\Counter | Indicates |
|---|---|
Web Service\Anonymous Users/sec Web Service\NonAnonymous Users/sec |
The number of requests per second that anonymous or nonanonymous users sent to the IIS 6.0 service. (These counters provide an instantaneous value rather than an average.) Note that IIS 6.0 counts each request as a new user. |
Web Service\Current Anonymous Users Web Service\Current NonAnonymous Users FTP Service\Current Anonymous Users FTP Service\Current NonAnonymous Users |
The number of requests from anonymous or nonanonymous users that the server is currently processing. Note that IIS 6.0 counts each request as a new user. |
Web Service\Maximum Anonymous Users Web Service\Maximum NonAnonymous Users FTP Service\Maximum Anonymous Users FTP Service\Maximum NonAnonymous Users |
The maximum number of anonymous or nonanonymous users that made concurrent requests to the service since the service was started. Note that IIS 6.0 counts each request as a new user. |
Web Service\Total Anonymous Users Web Service\Total NonAnonymous Users FTP Service\Total Anonymous Users FTP Service\Total NonAnonymous Users |
The total number of requests that anonymous or nonanonymous users sent to the service since the service was started. Note that IIS 6.0 counts each request as a new user. |
Web Service\Total Logon Attempts FTP Service\Total Logon Attempts |
The total number of requests that both anonymous and nonanonymous users sent to the service since the service was started. |
Related Topics
If you prefer to use SNMP services to monitor the WWW and FTP services, IIS provides a set of SNMP counters that monitor anonymous and nonanonymous users. For more information about the SNMP Web counters, see IIS 6.0 Performance Counters.