FIX: Performance monitor counters are lost on the cluster during failover in Message Queuing

Microsoft Message Queuing, also known as MSMQ, may report information that is not correct in Performance Monitor (Perfmon). This problem occurs with Message Queuing on a Microsoft Windows 2000 cluster and on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 cluster. Message Queuing may also lose Perfmon counters after a failover between nodes.

The following error message may be logged in the application event log:

Event ID: 1008
Source: Perflib
Description: The Open Procedure for service "MSMQ" in DLL "C:\WINNT\System32\MQPERF.DLL" failed. Performance data for this service will not be available. Status code returned is data DWORD 0.

Message Queuing Performance Monitor counter data is exchanged between Message Queuing and Mqperf.dll, the Message Queuing Performance Monitor DLL. The data is exchanged in shared memory. Multiple service instances on a computer, such as when Message Queuing is running on the local node and on the virtual server on the cluster, all write performance data to the same location in memory. This makes the performance results meaningless.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

This hotfix has an important limitation. After you apply this hotfix, you can no longer view Performance Monitor counters for clustered queues from remote computers. This includes the local cluster nodes. This limitation also exists in Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) and in Windows Server 2003.

The underlying reason for this limitation is that this hotfix permits different instances of Message Queuing to store performance data in separate spaces in memory. Each memory space is labeled with the computer name of its corresponding instance of Message Queuing. This is typically the name of the computer, except in a cluster. In a cluster, the name is the network name of the virtual Cluster service. The Message Queuing Performance Monitor DLL, Mqperf.dll, queries for the name of the local computer and then uses the name of the local computer to determine the set of performance data to read.

This always works correctly when an application accesses the counters for the computer where the application runs, whether that computer is a stand-alone computer, a cluster node computer, or a virtual Cluster service computer. In this case, Mqperf.dll is loaded directly by the application. Therefore, when Mqperf.dll queries for the name of the local computer, Mqperf.dll receives the correct name back.

Problems only occur when you try to access the counters for a remote computer. In this case, Mqperf.dll is loaded by the remote registry service. The remote registry service works as expected on a stand-alone computer, but the remote registry service is not cluster-aware. Therefore, on a cluster node, the remote registry service always runs locally. In this situation, when Mqperf.dll queries for the name of the local computer, the remote registry service always receives the name of the local cluster node and not the names of any one of the virtual Cluster services. Therefore, you can correctly view the Performance Monitor counters for the local cluster nodes from remote computers. However, you cannot view the counters for the virtual Cluster services that are running on those nodes. This problem occurs even when you specify a virtual Cluster service name when you open the counters. The local cluster nodes are considered "remote" to the virtual Cluster service as far as Message Queuing is concerned. Therefore, you cannot even view the clustered counters from the local nodes of the cluster.

There are three possible workarounds for this problem:

• Run the application that accesses the Performance Monitor counters in the context of the cluster. The application runs locally on the virtual Cluster service. For example, you can open a clustered command prompt and then run the application at the command prompt.
  
  For additional information about information about how to set up a clustered command prompt, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  256975  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256975/ ) How to install and configure Message Queuing on a Windows 2000 cluster
• Use the Message Queuing Local Admin API to develop a custom application that monitors queues on the virtual cluster servers.
  
  For additional information about the Local Admin API, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  242471  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/242471/ ) MSMQ Local Admin API
• You can add a registry key to monitor one clustered instance of Message Queuing. You can do this either locally or remotely by using the following registry key:
  
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters\NetNameForPerfCounters
  Data type: String
  Value: Network name of the virtual cluster server to monitor in uppercase characters.
  
  You must restart the Message Queuing service after you add this registry key for the changes to take effect.
  
  Note If you add this registry key, the Perfmon counters monitor only the specified instance of Message Queuing. This is true regardless of what computer accesses the counters. You cannot monitor counters for the local node or for other clustered instances of Message Queuing, even from applications that are running locally on those computers. If you revert to the default behavior, you can access clustered counters locally, and you can access local node counters locally or remotely. To revert to the default behavior, delete the registry key. Then restart the Message Queuing service.