Monitoring a Windows Performance Monitor (Perfmon)

Use the following steps to add a Windows® Performance Monitor data source:

1. On the Agent Initial Data Source page (Figure 81) or the Data Source Location page, click Data from a server in the Monitoring Data Categories area.
   Figure 81. Adding Perfmon data

   
2. In the Data Sources area, click Perfmon.
3. Click Next.
4. On the Perfmon Information page (Figure 82), do one of the following steps:
   Figure 82. Perfmon Information page

   
   1. Type the name of the object in the Object Name field, and click NEXT to define the first attribute in the attribute group.

      --OR--

   2. Click Browse to display the list of Perfmon objects.
      Note:
      If you type the name for the Performance Monitor object, it must be the English name.

      When the Performance Monitor (Perfmon) Object Browser (Figure 83) window initially opens, the window populates with the information from the local system. To browse a remote system, select a system from the drop-down list (if one has been defined), or click Add to add the host name of a Windows system. Provide an Administrator ID and password. The window updates with the information for the remote system. Browsing is available only when the Agent Builder is running on a Windows system, and can browse only Windows systems. For instance, you cannot add the host name of a Linux® or Solaris system to do a remote browse.

      • When you click on an object name, the available counters in that object are displayed in the area on the right side of the window.
        Figure 83. Browsing for Performance Monitor objects

        
        • To sort the Performance Monitor objects or counters, click the column heading.
        • To refresh the information in the window, click Refresh.
        • To search for specific objects or counters click the Search (binoculars) icon to display the Performance Monitor Search window (Figure 84). You can search only object names, only counter names, or both. The search operation performs a substring match and is not case-sensitive.
          Figure 84. Performance Monitor Search window

          
        • Select an object and click OK.
        • The Perfmon Information page is displayed with the name of the selected object in the Object Name field.
          Figure 85. Perfmon Information page with Object Name

          
   3. If you want to set global options for the data source, click Global Options (Figure 86).
      Figure 86. Global Windows Data Source Options window

      

      Select the Include remote Windows configuration properties check box if you want to include this option, and click OK.

      For information about Windows remote connection configuration for Windows data sources, see Configuring a Windows remote connection.

5. If the Performance Monitor object selected returns multiple instances and you want to filter the results based on the instance name, select the Filter by Perfmon Instance Name check box on the Perfmon Information page. In the Perfmon Instance Name field, type the name of the instance to be filtered, or click Browse to list the instances available.

   To browse a remote system, either select one from the drop-down list, or click Add to add the host name of a Windows system. After you select a host, provide an Administrator ID and password. The table is updated with the list of instances on the remote system.

   In the Performance Monitor Instance Browser window, there is no option to change the system you are browsing. The browser browses the same system that the object browser used, and if you did not browse for an object, then the browser lists the instance on the local system (if any).

6. If the selected Performance Monitor Object is to return multiple instances, and you want the instance name to be returned, select Return Instance Name on the Perfmon Information page (Figure 82). Checking this option adds an additional attribute to the data source that is not displayed in the list of attributes. This attribute contains the instance name.
   Note:
   If you browsed for the selected object, and that object is defined as having multiple instances, this check box is selected automatically.
7. If you did not check the option to return the instance name, the Select key attributes page is displayed. On the Select key attributes page, select key attributes or indicate that this data source produces only one data row. See Selecting key attributes for more information.
8. Do one of the following steps:
   1. If you are using the New Agent Wizard, click Next.

      --OR--

   2. Click Finish to save the data source and open the Agent Editor.

      The Agent Editor Data Source Definition page displays a list that contains the object (Figure 87) and information about the object.

      Figure 87. Perfmon Data Source Definition

      
9. You can add attributes and supply the information for them. See Creating attributes for more information.

   In addition to the fields that are applicable to all of the data sources (Table 6), the Attribute Information page for the Perfmon data source has the following field:

   Metric name

   Name of the counter for the specific object.

For information about Windows remote connection configuration for Perfmon data sources, see Configuring a Windows remote connection.

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