Task Manager: Task Manager will allow you to view the applications and processes that are currently running on your system. Task Manager provides "real time" monitoring of a server or system.
You can access it in a number of ways:
• Right-click the taskbar
• Using CTRL|SHIFT|ESC
• Using CTRL|ALT|DEL.
• There are five tabs available under Task Manager:
• Applications
• Processes
• Performance
• Networking
• Users.
When you view the Applications Tab, you will see the applications that are running and their status (running | not responding | stopped). On this tab you can end a task, switch to a task or start a new task.
The Processes tab will show you all the processes currently running on your server, including processes used by the operating system. This tab allows you to end a process that has ceased to function or is causing system instability. If you right-click a process, a menu is displayed allowing you to end the process, end the process tree, debug (if a debugger is registered on the system), set the affinity (on multiprocessor systems) or change the priority of the process.
On multiprocessor systems, the Set Affinity command can inform an application or process to use a specific processor or processors. The effect of this can be a double-edged sword. You are essentially removing the ability of the process to benefit from the asymmetrical processing capabilities of Windows 2003. On the other hand, certain applications can gain substantial benefits from it, specifically if they do not use threading.
By changing the priority of a process, you can optimize it to use a specific amount of processor time. This can adversely affect the overall performance of not only the process itself, but of all other processes as well. By raising the priority, you grant the process more processing time, making it run faster. Inversely, by lowering the priority, you limit the amount of processing time, making it run slower.
In order for Windows 2003 to guarantee that every process will get a chance for processing time, a mechanism for scheduling threads is used. This mechanism is the basis for the pre-emptive multitasking strategy in Windows 2003. Each and every thread and process is assigned a priority, which then determines the order in which they are granted processing time. A thread's priority is based on the priority class of its parent process. There are four process priority classes:
• Idle - used for processes (such as screen savers) that periodically update the display.
• Normal - the default priority class for a process.
• High - these processes receive the majority of processor time.
• Real Time - used mostly by kernel-mode processes (such as mouse and keyboard input).
Each of these priority classes set a range of priority values between 0 and 31. Priority 0 is reserved for system use. Priorities between 1 and 31 have increasingly higher priorities (with 1 being the lowest). Idle, Normal and High priorities range between 1 and 15, Real Time priorities range between 16 and 31. For processes that are Real Time, the thread's priority cannot change while the thread is running. For all other priorities, the threads are considered variable (they can change thread priority while running). For threads running in the Normal or High priority classes, the thread's priority can be raised or lowered by up to a value of 2, but cannot fall below its original, program-defined base priority. The resulting value of changing the base priority for optimized thread scheduling is called the thread's dynamic priority.
A listing of all Windows 2003 process priorities is listed in Table 3.2.
Note: If you have at least one priority 31 thread running, other threads cannot run.
Process Priority Classes
Thread Priorities Real Time High Normal Idle
Time Critical 31 15 15 15
Highest 26 15 10 6
Above Normal 25 14 9 5
Normal 24 13 8 4
Below Normal 23 12 7 3
Lowest 22 11 6 2
Idle 16 1 1 1
Table 3 2: Server 2003 Process Priorities.
With Task Manger, you can change the base priority of a process to one of the following:
• Real time (Time Critical)
• High (Highest)
• Above Normal
• Normal
• Below Normal
• Low (Lowest).
Remember that you cannot change the Process Priority Class, just the thread priority. Changes made to the base priority of the process are not permanent; they are effective only as long as the process runs.
Note: You must be an administrator to change a process' priority.
The information on the Processes tab can be modified to gain even more information. By choosing Select Columns... on the View menu will display . Each of these options is explained
Column Description
Base Priority A precedence ranking that determines the order in which the threads of a process are scheduled for the processor.
CPU Time The total processor time, in seconds, used by a process since it started.
CPU Usage The percentage of time that a process used the CPU since the last update.
GDI Objects The number of Graphics Device Interface (GDI) objects currently used by a process.
Handle Count The number of object handles in a process's object table.
Image Name The name of a process.
I/O Other The number of input/output operations generated by a process that is neither a read nor a write, including file, network and device I/Os.
I/O Other Bytes The number of bytes transferred in input/output operations generated by a process that are neither a read nor a write, including file, network and device I/Os.
I/O Reads The number of read input/output operations generated by a process, including file, network and device I/Os. I/O Reads directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Read Bytes The number of bytes read in input/output operations generated by a process, including file, network and device I/Os. I/O Read Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Writes The number of write input/output operations generated by a process, including file, network and device I/Os. I/O Writes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Write Bytes The number of bytes written in input/output operations generated by a process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Write Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
Memory Usage The current working set of a process, in kilobytes. The current working set is the number of pages currently resident in memory.
Memory Usage Delta The change in memory, in kilobytes, used since the last update.
Non-paged Pool The amount of memory used by a process, in kilobytes, that is not paged to disk.
Page Faults The number of times data has to be retrieved from disk for a process because it was not found in memory. The page fault value accumulates from the time the process started.
Page Faults Delta The change in the number of page faults since the last update.
Paged Pool The amount of system allocated virtual memory, in kilobytes, used by a process.
Peak Memory Usage The peak amount of physical memory resident in a process since it started.
PID (Process Identifier) A numerical identifier that uniquely distinguishes a process while it runs. Thread Count The number of threads running in a process.
USER Objects The number of USER objects (windows, menus, cursors, icons, etc.) currently being used by a process.
Virtual Memory Size The amount of virtual memory, or address space, committed to a process.
Session ID
(Terminal Services Only) The Terminal Services session ID that owns the process.
User Name
(Terminal Services Only) The name of the user whose Terminal Services session owns the process.
The Performance Tab will give you a quick glance at CPU and memory usage. This tab provides you with a quick version of the System Monitor tool.
By clicking Show Kernel Times on the View menu, red lines are added to the CPU Usage gauge and CPU Usage History graph. These red lines indicate the percentage of processor time consumed in privileged or kernel mode.On multiprocessor systems, you can change the graph to display each processor in a single graph, or in separate graphs. Clicking CPU History on the View menu achieves this functionality.
New to Server 2003 is the Networking Tab. Introduced with Windows XP, with this view, you can see bytes sent, bytes received and the total number of bytes sent and received. The Networking tab provides a quick indication of the network traffic on the server. A quick reference for determining the amount of network bandwidth being consumed, when there are multiple network connections; it allows easy comparison of the traffic for each connection.Note: If there is no network card connected to the server, this tab will not appear.Also new to Server 2003 is the Users tab, which was introduced in Windows XP with Fast User Switching enabled. When there is more than one user connected to the server, you can see who is connected, what they are working on and you can send them a message. As well, you can disconnect users if necessary.
Pop Quiz Questions
1. What are the four main subsystems?
2. In any configuration of Server 2003, what are the three logs that will appear in Event Viewer?
3. What events will show in the System Log?
4. If Server 2003 is a domain controller, what two additional logs become available?
5. What three views are available to you in System Monitor?
Pop Quiz Answers
1. The four main subsystems are memory, processor, disk and network.
2. No matter what the configuration, Event Viewer will always record events in the Application Log, the System Log and the Security Log.
3. The System Log (and the Application Log) will show three events-Error, Warning and Information.
4. In Windows Server 2003 domain controllers, there will also be a Directory Services log and a File Replication Service log.
5. The three views in System Monitor are Chart, Histogram and Report.
Deborah Timmons is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. She came into the Microsoft technical field after six years in the adaptive technology field, providing technology and training for persons with disabilities. She is the President and co-owner of Integrator Systems Inc.
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