How To Gather Information for Effective Troubleshooting of Performance Issues

This article explains how to gather information so that Microsoft Support Professionals can troubleshoot performance problems on a computer running Windows NT. Please read all steps as you will be asked to provide information from several tools when contacting a support professional for assistance.

The basic tool used for troubleshooting performance issues is Performance Monitor. Follow the steps below to prepare for collecting performance information:

Prior to Creating a Performance Monitor Log

1. Turn off screen savers permanently.
   1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
   2. Click the Screen Saver tab, click None, and then click OK.
2. Disable all non-essential services in the Services tool in Control Panel.
3. For all possible disk issues, enable Diskperf.
   1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click MS-DOS Command Prompt.
   2. Type the command diskperf -y to enable disk counters.
      
      NOTE: Do not use diskperf -YE unless instructed to do so.
4. Document Lanman Server parameters.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.
   
   
   1. Run Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
   2. Go to the following keys in the registry:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager \Memory Management <BR/><BR/> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer \Parameters
      NOTE: The above registry keys are one path; they have been wrapped for readability.
   3. Write down all values on the right-hand side that are not equal to zero.
      -or-
      On the Registry menu, click Save Subtree As and then change the file type to Text File and give the file a name.
      
      NOTE: Do not save the file as a *.REG file.
5. If instructed to do so by the support professional, install the SNMP service and Network Monitor Agent and Tools. This procedure will require the Windows NT compact disc or an appropriate share path.
   
   To install on Windows NT 3.51
   
   
   1. In the Main group, double-click Control Panel, and then double-click Network.
   2. Click Add Software, select SNMP, and then click OK.
   3. Repeat the previous step and select Network Monitor Agent and Tools. Click OK when you receive a prompt to restart the computer.
   To install on Windows NT 4.0
   
   
   1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Network.
   2. Click the Services tab.
   3. Click Add.
   4. From the list of Network Software, select SNMP and then click OK.
   5. Repeat the previous step and select Network Monitor Agent and Tools.
   6. Click No when prompted to restart the computer.
   7. If there are any service packs installed, reapply the service pack.
   8. Click OK when prompted to restart the computer. NOTE: These services install Network Interface, Network Segment, and TCP/IP counters in Performance Monitor.

Creating the Performance Monitor Log

Run Performance Monitor from the following location:

1. Click Start, point to Program, and then click Administrative Tools.

For specific details on creating the Performance Monitor log, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: In cases where the User Interface (UI) of the server in question is hanging or not responding, run Performance Monitor from another computer running Windows NT Server or Workstation.

The counters recommended in the article above will change depending on the problem that you are troubleshooting. See the "Recommended Performance Objects" section below or consult the Microsoft support professional for suggested objects to monitor.

Recommended Performance Objects

If you are troubleshooting a performance issue or an issue that looks like a memory leak, the objects that Performance Monitor should log include, but are not limited to, the following:

For memory leaks: For all other resource issues, add additional counters: In addition, the smaller the update interval, the larger the log file, so check to make certain there is sufficient disk space available on the computer running Performance Monitor.

Allow Performance Monitor to run a minimum of three days unless you have been instructed otherwise.

Do not log off of the computer where you are running Performance Monitor as this will close out Performance Monitor. Minimize Performance Monitor if preferred and if needed lock the screen on this computer.

After Creating the Performance Monitor Log

1. Create a Windows NT Diagnostics Report.
   
   
   1. Click Start, point to Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Windows NT Diagnostics.
   2. On the File menu, click Save Report.
   3. Click All Tab in the Scope Set, click Complete in the Detail Level, click File for Destination, and then click OK.
2. Save the System and Application Event Logs.
   
   
   1. Click Start, point to Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Event Viewer.
   2. On the Log menu, click System. If System is already selected, click Save As. Save the file as System.evt.
   3. On the Log menu, click Application.
   4. On the Log menu, click Save As. Save the file as Application.evt.
3. Zip the following files into one file using a compression tool.
   
   
   • Registry file or the written information in a text file.
   • Performance Monitor log (the .log file, not the *.pml file).
   • Windows NT diagnostics report.
   • Event logs: System.evt and Application.evt.

Contact the Microsoft support professional working with you for additional information on sending the zipped file to the engineer.