Windows 2000 Performance Guide

681 Pages·2002·7.635 MB·English

by  Mark Friedman, Odysseas Pentakalos

Windows 2000
Performance Guide

Windows 2000
Performance Guide
Mark Friedman and Odysseas Pentakalos
Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Paris • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo
Windows 2000 Performance Guide
by Mark Friedman and Odysseas Pentakalos
Copyright © 2002 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Friedman, Mark, 1951 June 13-
Windows 2000 performance guide: help for Windows 2000 administrators / Mark Friedman
& Odysseas Pentakalos.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-56592-466-5
1. Microsoft Windows (Computer file) 2. Operating systems (Computers) I. Pentakalos,
Odysseas. II. Title.
QA76.76.O63 F774 2001
005.4'4769--dc21 2001036167
[M]
Preface
The book you hold in your hands originally arose from need. Professionally, we felt
the need to answer both basic and not-so-basic questions about the performance of
Intel-based computer systems running various versions of the Microsoft Windows
2000 operating system, including both Windows NT and Windows XP. We expect
thatmostreadersofthisbookareseekinganswerstocommonquestionsaboutcom-
puterandoperatingsystemperformanceoutofsimilarpersonalorprofessionalcuri-
osity.Thisbook,infact,evolvedfromaseminarintendedtoaddresssuchquestions
that one of the authors developed and taught over a number of years.
Thematerialinthebookistheresultofresearchperformedoverthelastfiveyearson
successiveversionsoftheWindowsNToperatingsystem,beginningwithVersion3.5
andcontinuingtothepresentday.(Asthisbookwasgoingtopress,wewereexperi-
menting with early versions of Windows XP. As best we can currently determine,
almost all of the information provided here regarding Windows 2000 performance
canalsobeappliedtothe32-bitversionofWindowsXP.)Muchofthematerialhere
is original, derived from our observations and analysis of running systems, some of
whichmaycontradictofficialdocumentationandthewritingsandrecommendations
of other authorities. Rest assured that we carefully reviewed any findings reported
here that run counter to the received wisdom.
While we strive to make the discussion here definitive, there are necessarily many
places where our conclusions are tentative and subject to modification should new
information arise. We expect readers to be willing to challenge our conclusions in
the face of strong empirical evidence to the contrary, and urge you to communicate
to us (via the publisher) when you discover errors of commission or omission, for
which we assume full responsibility. If you observe behavior on one of your Win-
dows2000machinesthatseemstocontradictwhatwesayinthebook,pleaseshare
those observations with us. With your help, we should be able to produce a subse-
quent version of this book that is even more authoritative.
Our research for the book began with all the standard sources of information about
the Windows 2000 operating system. We frequently cite official documentation
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included in the operating system help files. We also refer to the extensive reference
material provided in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit. David Solomon and Mark
Russinovich’sInsideWindows2000,publishedbyMicrosoftPress,wasanothervalu-
able source of inside information. The Windows 2000 platform System Develop-
ment Kit (SDK) and Device Driver Development Kit (DDK) documentation, along
with Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) KnowledgeBase entries and other tech-
nical articles, also proved useful from time to time. Intel processor hardware docu-
mentation (available at http://www.intel.com) was helpful as well, particularly in
writing Chapters 4 and 5. At many points in the text, we cite other reference mate-
rial, including various academic journals and several excellent books. From time to
time, we also mention worthy magazine articles and informative white papers pub-
lished by various vendors. This book contains a complete bibliography.
Originally, we intended this book to serve as an advanced text, picking up where
Russ Blake’s outstanding Optimizing Windows NT left off. Unfortunately, Blake’s
book is currently out of print and woefully obsolete. Blake led a team of developers
who implemented a performance monitoring API for the initial version of Windows
NT 3.1, when the OS first became available in 1992. Russ’s book also documented
usingPerformanceMonitor,theall-purposeperformancemonitoringapplicationthe
team developed. We acknowledge a tremendous debt to Russ, Bob Watson, and
other members of that team. Writing when he did, Blake had little opportunity to
observe real-world Windows NT environments. Consequently, almost all the exam-
ples he analyzes are based on artificial workloads generated by an application called
PerformanceProbe,whichhealsodeveloped.(ThePerformanceProbeprogramisno
longer available in the Windows 2000Resource Kit; it is available in earlier versions
of the NT 3.5 and 4.0 Resource Kits.)
While we also experiment in places with artificial workloads running under con-
trolled conditions, we were fortunate to dive into Windows NT some years after it
first became available. That allowed us to observe and measure a large number of
real-world Windows NT and Windows 2000 machine environments. One advan-
tage of real-world examples and case studies is that they are more likely to resemble
the environments that you encounter. We should caution you, however, that many
of the examples we chose to write about reflect extreme circumstances where the
behavior we are trying to illustrate is quite pronounced. However, even when the
systems you are observing do not evidence similar exaggerated symptoms, you
should still be able to apply the general principles illustrated.
Our focus is on explaining how Windows 2000 and various hardware components
associated with it work, how to tell when the performance of some application run-
ningunderWindows2000isnotoptimal,andwhatyoucandoaboutit.Thepresen-
tation is oriented toward practical problem-solving, with an emphasis on
understanding and interpreting performance measurement data. Many realistic
examples of performance problems are described and discussed.
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Intended Audience
We have tried to aim this book at a variety of computer systems professionals, from
system administrators who have mastered the basics of installing and maintaining
Windows2000serversandworkstations,todeveloperswhoaretryingtobuildhigh-
performance applications for this platform, to performance management and capac-
ityplanningprofessionalswithexperienceonotherplatforms.Althoughwepresume
no specific background or prior level of training for our readers, our experience
teaching this material suggests that this is not a book for beginners. If you find the
material at hand too challenging, we recommend reading a good book on Windows
2000operatingsysteminternalsoronbasicoperatingsystemprinciplesfirst.Wetry
to pick up the discussion precisely where most other official documentation and
publishedsourcesleaveoff.Thisincludesthecoursematerialassociatedwithobtain-
ing MCSE certification, which provides a very limited introduction to this topic.
Computer performance remains a core topic of interest to experienced program-
mers, database administrators, network specialists, and system administrators. We
wrotethisbookforprofessionalswhoseektounderstandthistopicinthecontextof
Windows 2000 and the hardware environment it supports. At a minimum, you
shouldhaveaworkingknowledgeofWindows2000.Werecommendthatyouhave
read and are familiar with the section on performance in the Windows 2000 Profes-
sional Resource Kit, which introduces the topic and documents the basic tools. For
best results, you should have ready access to a computer running Windows 2000
Professional or Server so that you can refer frequently to a live system while you are
reading, and put the abstract concepts we discuss into practice.
We understand that many people will buy this book because they hope it will assist
them in solving some specific Windows 2000 performance problem they are experi-
encing. We hope so, too. Please understand, though, that for all but the simplest
applications, there may be many possible solutions. While we do try to provide spe-
cific and detailed answers to Frequently Asked Questions, our approach to problem
diagnosisismoretheoreticalandgeneralthanthemanybooksthatpromisethatthis
sortofunderstandingiseasilyacquired.Itispossiblethatwehavechosentoillustrate
a discussion of some topic of immediateinterest with an example that looks remark-
ably similar to a problem that you currently face. We all get lucky from time to time.
Organization of This Book
This book consists of twelve chapters and a bibliography.
Chapter1, Perspectives on Performance Management, introduces a broad range of
best practices in computer performance and capacity planning.
Chapter2, Measurement Methodology, describes the Windows 2000 performance
monitoring API, which is the source of most of the performance data that is dealt
with in subsequent chapters.
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Chapter3, Processor Performance, discusses the basics of processor performance
monitoring at the system, processor engine, process, and thread levels. Since the
thread, not the process, is the unit of execution in Windows 2000, we focus on
thread scheduling and thread execution priority.
Chapter4,OptimizingApplicationPerformance,isorganizedaroundadescriptionof
a programming optimization exercise that compares and contrasts several popular
CPU usage code-profiling tools.
Chapter5,Multiprocessing,discussesperformanceconsiderationswhenyouarerun-
ningWindows2000Server,AdvancedServer,andDatacenteronmachineswithtwo
or more processors.
Chapter6, Memory Management and Paging, discusses Windows 2000 virtual mem-
ory management and describes the techniques Windows 2000 uses to manage RAM
and the working sets of active application processes.
Chapter7,FileCachePerformanceandTuning,tacklestheWindows2000filecache,
a built-in operating system service that is crucial to the performance of a number of
important applications, including Windows 2000 network file sharing and IIS.
Chapter8,Disk Subsystem Performance, introduces basic disk performance concepts.
Chapter9,Filesystem Performance, looks at filesystem performance.
Chapter10, Disk Array Performance, discusses the disk array technology used in
most larger Windows 2000 servers.
Chapter11,IntroductiontoNetworkingTechnologyisasurveyofcomputernetwork-
ing, with an emphasis on the TCP/IP support in Windows 2000.
Chapter12, Internet Information Server Performance, focuses on the Microsoft web
server application Internet Information System (IIS).
The bibliography contains a list of references for those who would like to pursue
these topics in more depth.
Conventions Used in This Book
We have used the following conventions in this book:
• Italic is used for filenames, directories, URLs, and hostnames. It is also used for
emphasis and to introduce new terms.
• Constantwidth is used for commands, keywords, functions, and utilities.
• Constantwidthitalic is occasionally used for replaceable items in code.
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How to Contact Us
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O’Reilly & Associates, Inc.
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We have a web page for this book, where we list errata and any additional informa-
tion. You can access this page at:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/w2kperf/
To comment or ask technical questions about this book, send email to:
[email protected]
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Network, see O’Reilly’s web site at:
http://www.oreilly.com
Acknowledgments
BothauthorsgratefullyacknowledgethesupportandassistanceofRobertDennand
his staff at O’Reilly, without whom the book you hold in your hands would never
have been completed. We are especially grateful for Robert’s steady hand and
patiencethroughoutthelonggestationperiodforthisbook.Atonepointwethought
thathemightselectanengravingofaslothtoadornthefrontcover.Wewouldalso
liketoacknowledgethehelpofmanyotherindividualswhoreviewedearlierdraftsof
the book, including Dave Butchart, Janet Bishop, Bob Gauthier, Todd Glasgow,
Kitrick Sheets, Jim Quigley, and Rich Olcott. They all contributed to making the
final text clearer and more readable. Any errors that remain are solely the responsi-
bility of the authors.
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