How to identify and troubleshoot NTFS log file size bottlenecks in Windows 2000 Server

This article discusses how to identify and troubleshoot NTFS file system log file size bottlenecks in Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.

In certain situations when a Windows 2000 Server-based file server is under a heavy load or stress, the NTFS log file may not flush the disk in time, and as a result becomes full. When this behavior occurs, NTFS file operations do not continue until the log file is completely flushed to disk. You may experience decreased performance during this time.

If you experience decreased performance on a Windows 2000 Server-based file server and you want to determine whether it is caused by a bottleneck in the NTFS log file size, in Performance Logs and Alerts, view the activity of the Current Disk Queue Length counter for the appropriate PhysicalDisk object.

If the performance data shows constant high disk queue length values that intermittently drop to a value of exactly 1 for a period of time (during this period you cannot write to disk) and then increases again, this indicates that the NTFS log file is full and must be flushed.

Note When the value of the disk queue length drops to one, you cannot write to disk.

To troubleshoot and resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Increase the performance of the disk subsystem. For example:
   • Install additional disks, or upgrade the existing hard disks. Update the bus and disk controllers.
   • Use striped volumes on several physical disks to increase throughput.
2. Increase the NTFS log file size. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click Run, in the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
   2. At the command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER, where Size is the size of the log file:
      chkdsk /l:size
      If stress on the disk subsystem continues to be high, the log file may eventually become full again. Use this method if stress on the disk system is temporary.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4d38f848-4828-4d6d-a012-ee66cee9b71f&DisplayLang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4d38f848-4828-4d6d-a012-ee66cee9b71f&DisplayLang=en)