Key Monitoring Scenarios

  • Article

Applies To: Operations Manager 2007, System Center 2012 - Operations Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Operations Manager, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

The System Center Management Pack for Windows Server Operating System is designed to provide monitoring information for computers running Windows Server 2008 (Full and Core), Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server. The following section describes some of the most common monitoring scenarios.

Availability

Operating system and services

The following required services are checked for status (for example, running, not running, or paused):

  • Logical Disk Manager (Windows Server 2003)

  • Server (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003)

  • Workstation (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003)

  • Remote Procedure Call (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003)

  • DHCP Client (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003)

  • Computer Browser (Windows Server 2003)

  • DNS Client (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003)

  • Event Log (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003)

  • Messenger (Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2003)

  • Plug and Play (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003)

  • TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper (Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003)

In addition, services and drivers are checked for unstable or unpredictable states, incorrect configuration, failure to start, or unexpected termination.

Storage

Logical hard drives are checked for availability, sufficient free space, and integrity of the NTFS partition.

Network

Network adapters are checked for connection health, name and IP address conflicts.

Performance

Processor

System processor(s) performance is checked system-wide using the following performance indicators:

  • CPU Utilization

  • Percent Interrupt Time

  • DPC Time

Processors can optionally be monitored on a per processor basis using the following criteria performance indicators:

  • CPU Utilization

  • Percent Interrupt Time

  • Percent DPC Time

Performance data is collected for the following processor performance indicators:

  • System Processor Queue Length

  • System Context Switches Per Second

  • Total Percent Interrupt Time

  • Total DPC Time

  • Total CPU Utilization

Memory

Memory consisting of physical memory and virtual memory (also known as page files) is monitored using the following performance indicators:

  • Available memory (in MB)

  • Pages per second

  • Page file percent usage

Performance data is collected for the following memory criteria:

  • Percent Committed Bytes In Use

  • Available MB

  • Pages per second

  • Memory Pool Non Paged Bytes (disabled by default)

  • Memory Pool Paged Bytes (disabled by default)

  • Page File Percent Usage

Logical disk
  • Logical disks are monitored, and performance data is collected for average disk seconds per read, disk seconds per write, and disk seconds per transfer.

  • The “Logical Disk Fragmentation Level” monitor runs a periodic fragmentation check for all logical disks on a given computer running Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2012 during non-business hours. Use overrides to enable automatic defragmentation or to modify the configuration of non-business hours. The Logical Disk Defragmentation task for Windows Server 2003 disks may take long periods of time to execute (up to several hours).

    Note

    The “Logical Disk Fragmentation Level” does not apply to Windows Server 2003 clusters.

Physical disk

Physical disks are monitored, and performance data is collected for average disk seconds per read, disk seconds per write, and disk seconds per transfer.

Network adapter

Network adapters are monitored for the number of bytes received per second, the number of bytes sent per second, and the total bytes per second. In addition, the health state of the network adapter is evaluated and is set to Healthy if connected and Critical if disconnected.