Windows 2000 Performance Tuning: Disk Performance
First we need to setup a counter log, and determine our basline. In the Performance console, select Counter Logs, and right-click in the details pane. Select New Log Settings... from the menu. (for more details about the Performance console see this page.
To determine a baseline for our disk performance, we add the following counters:
- PhysicalDisk\Disk Time
- PhysicalDisk\Disk Reads/sec
- PhysicalDisk\Disk Writes/sec
- PhysicalDisk\Avg. Disk Queue Length
Also set the sample time, by adjusting the Sample data every to your needs. You can monitor for short intervals such as 2 - 5 seconds, if your workload typically consists of short bursts of activity. Otherwise a 60-second interval will do the job.
To determine a baseline, we should monitor over a range of times, like one day, one week, one month. Over time a pattern will develop, and you will see that the data will fall within a range of values: your baseline. You can adjust the time range on the Schedule tab from your counter log.