I started an article on Disk performance and characteristics for the PFE Performance Wiki a while back. I had actually forgotten about it (those who know me know my memory is Swiss Cheese sometimes). Anyway, here is a link to the article: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/disk-in-depth-pfe-performance-guide.aspx If you are a disk expert, feel free to critique and/or update… Continue reading Disk in-Depth
Author: jeffstokes2014
DPC triangle…
So once upon a time, a PFE had a problem with his video game stuttering. The game would be playing fine and then suddenly, the sound would skip until he rebooted his PC. Nothing in the event log, device manager reports all good… So we collected an xperf trace using the following flags: xperf -on… Continue reading DPC triangle…
BPAs, not just for Exchange anymore…
So for those who don’t know, I used to be mainly an Exchange dork…ESE flowed in the veins don’t cha know? Anyway, one of the tools that rocked (and still does) is the ExBPA and the family of Exchange Analyzers. But did you know in Windows Server you get analyzers as well? And some are… Continue reading BPAs, not just for Exchange anymore…
RunAsRadio.com
I just realized I forgot to link to my xperf into talk on RunAsRadio.com back in October. Boy is my face red… http://www.runasradio.com/default.aspx?showNum=182 Check out their podcasts, it’s a great repository of technical information!
Yes, it matters
Often at customer engagements when I encourage them to use things like SCCM and SCUP along with HP or Dell SCUP integration to keep drivers (and firmware!) up to date, I’m told it isn’t worth it. If the drivers from 2006 work, it doesn’t matter if an update is out. More often than not, the… Continue reading Yes, it matters
Boot delay in MOM 2005 Agent – notes from the field
Mom2005 agent for FCS v1 can slow boot times by around 20 seconds (typically)…So I did a WDRAP recently where part of their slow boot experience was related to FCS. It’s not FCS’s fault though, it rides on top of the old MOM 2005 health agent. Oddly enough, the MOM 2005 health agent, in the registry called:… Continue reading Boot delay in MOM 2005 Agent – notes from the field
The David Solomon TechNet Spotlight Talks are online once again!
As some would say…Mission Accomplished. It’s a long story, but I use these videos, particular part of the part 3, in my class to teach how Windows talks to physical RAM. The students just about universally dig it and now they are rescued from the Akamai cache and posted once again…. https://vimeo.com/15890452 https://vimeo.com/15888263 https://vimeo.com/15889595 As the… Continue reading The David Solomon TechNet Spotlight Talks are online once again!
Troubleshooting slow boot times, Part Deux
In my last session, I covered a rudimentary usage of XPERF to analyze my slow booting Dell with a SSD in it. The fix was simple and the problem stood out like a sore thumb. Resolution was as simple as setting the Ambient Light Service from Dell into an Automatic (delays start) state. But what… Continue reading Troubleshooting slow boot times, Part Deux
The effects of Acoustic Management on rotational media disks.
So one of the trends I’ve been seeing in WDRAPs I’ve performed is that companies are making use of older hardware for newer tasks on a much more frequent basis than before. Budgets seem to mandate a 4-5 year (or longer) pc recycle timeframe and the net result of this is companies are running their… Continue reading The effects of Acoustic Management on rotational media disks.
To Hyper-Thread or not, that is the question….
So there was some discussion on an internal alias recently, like, well, this morning at 6 A.M….anyway, where we were talking about if having HT enabled was good or bad. Some of our performance aliases tend to equate a HT processor as 20-30% of a normal processor. It does give some benefit, but it also… Continue reading To Hyper-Thread or not, that is the question….