Define counters and thresholds for an alert

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To define counters and thresholds for an alert

  1. Open Performance.

  2. Double-click Performance Logs and Alerts, and then click Alerts.

  3. In the details pane, double-click the alert.

  4. In Comment, type a comment to describe the alert as needed, and click Add.

  5. For each counter or group of counters that you want to add to the log, perform the following steps:

    1. To monitor counters from the computer on which the Performance Logs and Alerts service will run, click Use local computer counters.

      Or, to monitor counters from a specific computer regardless of where the service is run, click Select counters from computer and type the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name, such as \\MyLogServer, of the computer you want to monitor in the text box.

    2. In Performance object, click an object to monitor.

    3. In Select counters from list, click one or more counters to monitor.

    4. To monitor all instances of the selected counters, click All Instances. (Binary logs can include instances that are not available at log startup but subsequently become available.)

      Or, to monitor particular instances of the selected counters, click Select Instances From List, and then click an instance or instances to monitor.

    5. Click Add. When you are through adding counters, click Close.

  6. In Alert when the value is, specify Under or Over, and in Limit, specify the value that triggers the alert. Perform this step for each counter or group of counters that you added to the log.

  7. In Sample data every, specify the amount and the unit of measure for the update interval.

  8. Complete the alert configuration using the Action and Schedule tabs.

  9. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Notes

  • To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group or the Performance Log Users group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. For more information, see Default local groups, Default groups, and Using Run as.

  • To open Performance, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Performance.

  • You can add a counter to an alert multiple times, and specify different thresholds for each instance.

  • To save the settings for a counter log, trace log, or alert, right-click the log or alert in the details pane and click Save Settings As. You can then specify an .htm file in which to save the settings. To reuse the saved settings for a new log or alert, right-click the details pane, and then click New Log Settings From or New Alert Settings From. This is an easy way to generate new settings from a log or alert configuration. You can also open the HTML file in Internet Explorer to display a System Monitor graph.

  • Some object types have several instances. For example, if a system has multiple processors, the Processor object type will have multiple instances. The PhysicalDisk object type has two instances if a system has two disks. Some object types, such as Memory and Server, have only a single instance. If an object type has multiple instances, you can add counters to track statistics for each instance, or in many cases, for all instances at once.

Information about functional differences

  • Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.

See Also

Concepts

Setting up a monitoring configuration
Analyzing performance data
Performance Logs and Alerts interface