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Exchange Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer (ExPTA) 1.1 has shipped

This release of ExPTA includes the following:

 

1.    Perfmon data collection:  Collect performance data to log file or analyze previously collected logs.  ExPTA can collect for durations between 5 minutes to 8 hours. Collection works remotely. Data is analyzed in 20 minute time ranges, and results are grouped by the time in which the problem occurred.  You can analyze logs previously collected by ExPTA or via perfmon.  ExPTA will expect that the performance counters listed below are included in any log that is analyzed.

 

2.    Queue thresholds: SMTP Server\Categorizer Queue Length, Epoxy(IMAP)\Queue length, EPOXY(POP3)\Queue length, LDAP times, MSExchangeIS Public\Replication Receive Queue Size, SMTP Server\Remote Queue Length, SMTP Server\Remote Retry Queue Length, SMTP Server\Local Queue Length, Virus scan queue length

 

3.    Network thresholds:  Network Interface\Packet Outbound errors, Network Interface\Output Queue Length, Network Interface\Bytes Total/sec

 

4.    LDAP latency checks:  MSExchangeDSAccess Domain Controllers\LDAP Search Time and MSExchangeDSAccess Domain Controllers\LDAP Read Time thresholds were added to detect problems due to bottlenecks on the AD server.

 

5.    RPC requests: Max RPC requests, average RPC request thresholds are now dependent on the number of users per server

 

6.    Memory changes: Validate that the Database Cache Size Peak < 1.2 GB.  In addition, most of the memory rules have been changed to work off the maximum rather than the average values.

 

7.    Improved reporting: Reporting of results between steps and the summary are now displayed in a consistent fashion, using tabbed pages for the different reports.

 

Pick up the latest version from here.

 

Performance counters analyzed by this version of ExPTA:

 

\Database(Information Store)\Database Cache Size

\Database(Information Store)\Database Page Fault Stalls/sec

\Database(Information Store)\Log Record Stalls/sec

\Database(Information Store)\Log Threads Waiting

\LogicalDisk(*)\Avg. Disk Queue Length

\LogicalDisk(*)\Avg. Disk sec/Read

\LogicalDisk(*)\Avg. Disk sec/Write

\LogicalDisk(*)\Disk Reads/sec

\LogicalDisk(*)\Disk Writes/sec

\Memory()\Available Mbytes

\Memory()\Free System Page Table Entries

\Memory()\Pages/sec

\Memory()\Pool Nonpaged Bytes

\Memory()\Pool Paged Bytes

\MSExchangeIS Mailbox(_Total)\Active Client Logons

\MSExchangeIS Public(_Total)\Active Client Logons

\MSExchangeIS()\Active User Count

\MSExchangeIS()\Exchmem: Number of Additional Heaps

\MSExchangeIS()\Exchmem: Number of heaps with memory errors

\MSExchangeIS()\Exchmem: Number of memory errors

\MSExchangeIS()\RPC Averaged Latency

\MSExchangeIS()\RPC Operations/sec

\MSExchangeIS()\RPC Requests

\MSExchangeIS()\VM Largest Block Size

\MSExchangeIS()\VM Total 16MB Free Blocks

\MSExchangeIS()\VM Total Free Blocks

\MSExchangeIS()\VM Total Large Free Block Bytes

\Paging File(_Total)\% Usage

\Process(*)\% Processor Time

\Process(emsmta)\Private Bytes

\Process(inetinfo)\Private Bytes

\Process(lsass)\Private Bytes

\Process(mad)\Private Bytes

\Process(store)\Private Bytes

\Process(System)\Private Bytes

\Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time

\System()\Context Switches/sec

\System()\Processor Queue Length

\Epoxy(IMAP)\Client Out Queue Length

\Epoxy(IMAP)\Store Out Queue Length

\Epoxy(POP3)\Client Out Queue Length

\Epoxy(POP3)\Store Out Queue Length

\MSExchangeIS Public(_Total)\Replication Receive Queue Size

\SMTP Server(_Total)\Categorizer Queue Length

\SMTP Server(_Total)\Remote Queue Length

\SMTP Server(_Total)\Remote Retry Queue Length

\SMTP Server(_Total)\Local Queue Length

\MSExchangeIS()\Virus Scan Queue Length

\MSExchangeDSAccess Domain Controllers(*)\LDAP Search Time

\MSExchangeDSAccess Domain Controllers(*)\LDAP Read Time

\Network Interface(*)\Output Queue Length

\Network Interface(*)\Current Bandwidth

\Network Interface(*)\Packets Outbound Errors

\Network Interface(*)\Bytes Total/sec

\MSExchangeDSAccess Domain Controllers(*)\LDAP Read calls/Sec

\MSExchangeDSAccess Domain Controllers(*)\LDAP Search calls/Sec

\MSExchangeDSAccess Caches(*)\Cache Hits/Sec

\MSExchangeDSAccess Caches(*)\LDAP Searches/Sec

\MSExchangeIS()\Virus Scan Files Scanned/Sec

\MSExchangeIS()\Virus Scan Files Quarantined/Sec

\MSExchangeIS()\Virus Scan Messages Processed/sec

 

Hope you like it! Let us know if you have feedback on the tool!

 

- Nicole Allen

Published Thursday, April 06, 2006 10:18 AM by Exchange
Filed Under: , ,

Comments

 

Martin Pavlis - pavlis.net said:

April 6, 2006 5:23 PM
 

subject: exchange said:

&quot;The&quot; weekly list, this time on schedule.

Microsoft Exchange Server Profile Analyzer Web Release 2.5...
April 7, 2006 12:32 PM
 

Henrik Walther Blog » Blog Archive » Exchange Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer (ExPTA) 1.1 has shipped said:

PingBack from http://blogs.msexchange.org/walther/2006/04/09/exchange-performance-troubleshooting-analyzer-expta-11-has-shipped/
April 9, 2006 7:30 AM
 

Yonkey said:

I've downloaded it but what i got is 1.0 version. Can you please re-check the download link??
April 11, 2006 1:44 PM
 

Nicole Allen said:

Chance are good that either

  a. ExPTA.MSI from v1.0 is stuck in your browser temporary cache.  In this case, if you are using IE, the workaround is to clear the IE cache.  From IE, go to  Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Delete Files.

   b. You are going through a caching proxy server and it hasn't picked up the file change from microsoft.com.  If this is the problem, you can either wait and try again, or manually change or bypass your proxy server.  
April 12, 2006 1:30 PM
 

Yonkey said:

What would be reason mad.exe eat the CPU to high? possible reason when store.exe consume CPU as well?
April 14, 2006 5:06 PM
 

Welcome to Flaphead.com @ Home said:

I really, really recommend that you look at this.&amp;nbsp; Like ExBPA it is tool that helps you help yourself.&amp;nbsp;...
April 19, 2006 10:59 AM
 

Nicole Allen said:

There are many things that mad.exe does, such as maintanance on the databases, generating the OAB, and tasks for DSProxy, RUS, free busy generation for CDO etc.  Many of the actions done by MAD can also drive up the store.exe CPU.
April 19, 2006 11:35 AM
 

Ed said:

Hi,

We've been successfully running ExPTA 1.0 and have downloaded ExPTA 1.1.  However, we can't analyse any of the results that are generated.  We see the following 2 errors:

"Failed to retrieve RPC performance counter data from the file <filename>.blg.  An unspecified error occurred while reading the file."
"Error accessing RPC performance counters. String was not recognised as a valid DateTime.."

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Ed.
April 20, 2006 3:49 AM
 

DaveB said:

I want to use ExPTA to analyse customer log files off site. The customer has used ExPTA to run an analysis and has sent me the perfmon log files. I'd like to be able to run up ExPTA and select the option to analyse a previous log file. BUT - to get there I have to go through the connectivity test, which fails, 'cos I can't see their server! If I enter one of my servers which I can see, it lets me through but then when I tell it to analyse the log file it says the server names don't match. Is there anyway I can get round this?
April 26, 2006 7:20 AM
 

Is this thing on? said:

Well, although I started this blog with the best intentions, I have been very bad at keeping it regular.&amp;nbsp;...
April 30, 2006 11:44 AM
 

Garry said:





Security
&amp;nbsp;





News
&amp;nbsp;
Are Smart Cards the New Way of Life? - Solving the...
May 1, 2006 5:33 AM
 

Garry said:






Security
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News
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Are Smart Cards the New Way of Life? - Solving the...
May 1, 2006 5:34 AM
 

Nicole Allen said:

Responding to DaveB's question above: ExPTA must have network connectivity to the Exchange server and a domain server in order to process the data, as ExPTA gathers other information  from the system (such as the location of data files, and the number of processors) to measure the server health.
-Nicole
May 8, 2006 6:56 PM
 

Nicole Allen said:

Performance data collection and analysis will not work when ExPTA is run on Windows Server 2000 and Windows XP Sp1 machines

ExPTA must be run on Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 machines.  Note ExPTA can collect and analyze data from Windows Server 2000 machines, as long as ExPTA is running on a Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 machine.  However, only the first option (to collect and analyze data) will work against a Windows Server 2000 server, and it is the only option that will appear.

The error messages that display when reading a data file or collecting data on Windows Server 2000 and Windows XP SP1 machines were misleading.  An updated configuration file that contains improved error messages is available at microsoft.com (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4BDC1D6B-DE34-4F1C-AEBA-FED1256CAF9A&displaylang=en)

I apologize for the problems this has caused, and hope this information is helpful.
-Nicole
May 12, 2006 3:19 PM
 

Peter Boos said:

What would be proffesional is also providing the caclulation
formula's used by these tools. So someone can monitor
those same valeus in perfmon export to excel
do some calculation and present these in a an excel graph.

Why because when your 'sometimes' in problems you would like
to take long measurements for specific problems.
While all counters have some good reskit explainations.
I would like a Q art about the formula's used by these tools.
June 20, 2006 4:13 AM
 

Chiel Varkevisser said:

Even when I run ExPTA from WinXP SP2 or Win2003 I get the same 2 error messages as Ed mentioned: "Failed to retrieve performance counter data" and "Error accessing RPC performance counter data".

The improved version of Nicole does not solve this issue.
June 21, 2006 11:37 AM
 

Peter Boos said:

I was talking to Chiel Varkevisser today the problem he has is
"failed toretrieve performance counter data from file......"
and next this error is displayed.
""error accessing 'MSexchangeIS' RPC performance counters. "String was not recognized as a valid Date time".

(ehm.. can we confirm on a date time format to use ???
(or could MS think of an algorythm to retrieve correct date/time
June 22, 2006 9:20 AM
 

Alex said:

I'm also getting the same errors that Ed and Chiel are getting. Has anyone found a fix for this?
June 29, 2006 3:11 AM
 

Paul said:

Same problem here, Windows XP SP2 collecting data from a Windows 2003 SP1 Exchange 2003 SP2 server, and it's ""error accessing 'MSexchangeIS' RPC performance counters. "String was not recognized as a valid Date time"
June 29, 2006 4:33 AM
 

Nicole Allen said:

In response to the errors "Error accessing RPC performance counters. String was not recognised as a valid DateTime.."  - this occurs when the system locale is not set to US english.  
This is a bug that will be fixed in the August release, but won't occur if you are running en-us.

June 29, 2006 7:22 PM
 

Nicole Allen said:

Chiel Varkevisser,
If your problem is not due to problems with the locale of the machine ExPTA is run on, please send a result file (with the error) to
nicolebo @ microsoft . com

The result file is an xml file located in the %APPDATA%\microsoft\expta folder (the appdata folder is usually C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data).
June 29, 2006 7:25 PM
 

Nicole Allen said:

Peter,
which formulas are you interested?  Most of the rules fire based on flat thresholds, which match the thresholds published in the Troubleshooting Exchange Performance whitepaper.   Is there an area of particular interest where you would like more detail?
-Nicole
June 29, 2006 7:26 PM
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