ISA Server 2000 performance Monitoring and Optimization (iii)

Other regulation and monitoring tools

ISA Server includes a number of additional tuning tools. Use these tools to optimize and monitor ISA Server performance. For example, you can optimize the performance of the ISA Server by adjusting the number of days that servers are expected to connect, and adjust its cache performance by adjusting the amount of physical memory that saves Web content.

In addition to the alerts, logs, and reporting features in the ISA management, there are a number of performance counters that can be used to collect data related to system performance. This data can be viewed in the Windows 2000 Performance console or in the ISA server's built-in console-isa server Performance Monitor.

To optimize the performance of the ISA Server by adjusting the number of days the servers are expected to connect, you can right-click the server name in the ISA Management console, and then select Properties. In the Server Name Properties dialog box that pops up, you can move the slider to "fewer Than 100" (see Figure 7) by clicking to open the Performance tab, and then adjusting the slider based on the user situation on your network, typically less than 100 users per day.

When ISA server stores Web content in the cache, it uses a certain amount of available memory. Therefore, adjusting the percentage of usage can adjust the performance of the cache. Allocating more Web content to physical memory shortens the time to cache the response. In the ISA Management console, right-click the cache Configuration node and open the Advanced tab in the Properties dialog box (see Figure 8), where you can adjust the size of the memory cache free space.

The data collected by performance counters is an important resource for analyzing server functions. With this information, you can measure server workloads and their corresponding impact on resources, tracking trends and changes in performance. It also allows you to adjust configuration and planning changes later, as well as test configuration changes, track the effects of these changes, and diagnose possible performance problems.

When ISA Server is installed, 7 additional performance objects are installed in the Windows 2000 Performance console for performance monitoring:

ISA Server Firewall Service object

ISA Server Cache Object

ISA Server Web Proxy service object

ISA Server Packet Filter Object

ISA Server Bandwidth Control object

H.323 Filter Object

Cocks Filter Object

Each performance object contains a series of counters that you can use to monitor ISA Server performance. This monitoring is performed either in real time using the System Monitor node or through counter logs, trace logs, and alerts using the performance Logs and Alerts nodes.

In addition, ISA Server includes a preconfigured Windows Performance console called ISA Server Performance Monitor, which can be accessed from the Start menu. It includes "System Monitor" and "Performance Logs and Alerts" nodes that are designed to monitor the performance characteristics of ISA Server.

It contains 21 preloaded ISA Server performance counters that are monitored in real time in the System Monitor node. Of these, 6 counters are part of the ISA Server cache, 8 counters belong to the ISA Server Firewall service, 1 are ISA Server packet filters, and 6 are Web Proxy service-capable objects.

With it, you can view performance data in reports, or in different charts, log formats. The report displays the collected data in the form of text, and the chart displays the data as a view.