Active Administrator 8.6 - User Guide

Operating System components

Operating System components

The following table describes the operating system components:

 

Table 129. Operating System Components

Operating system component	Description
CPU Usage	The total amount of CPU being used on the computer being monitored. It includes CPU consumed by all Windows® processes. This component opens the CPU drilldown.
System Disk (Free Space/Total Space)	The total unused disk space on the system disk (the disk that houses the Windows operating system). There should be enough free disk space to accommodate the operational requirements of the Windows operating system. Total space refers to the total size of the system disk.
Physical RAM	The amount of physical memory (RAM) Windows is using. Physical memory usage normally remains close to the total amount of physical memory installed on the system unless the amount of physical memory exceeds the amount of virtual memory that Windows is using. Windows normally keeps some physical memory available for immediate reuse. This component opens the Memory drilldown.
Processor Queue	The number of process threads (program execution units) waiting to be run on all processors. A sustained processor queue length can indicate processor congestion. This component opens the CPU drilldown.
Top CPU Consumer	The process name that is consuming the most CPU on this domain controller. This component opens the Top CPU Consumers tab on the Performance drilldown.
Top Memory Consumer	The process name that is consuming the most physical memory on this domain controller. This component opens the Top Memory Consumers tab on the Performance drilldown.

Using indicators

Using indicators

Indicators give more information about the selected domain controller. The indicator is green if it is active. Hold the cursor over an indicator to see a definition and any current alarms.

 

Table 130. Indicators

Indicator	Description
ISTG	Indicates if the domain controller is an Intersite Topology Generator (ISTG). An ISTG considers the cost of intersite connections, checks if previously available domain controllers are no longer available, and checks if new domain controllers have been added. The Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC) then updates the intersite replication topology accordingly.
GC	Indicates if the domain controller is a Global Catalog. The Global Catalog stores full replicas of all object attributes created within the domain and also partial replicas of all object attributes within other domains in the forest.
S	Indicates if the domain controller is the Schema Master for its forest. All changes to the schema of a forest must be made on that computer. There is only one Schema Master for a forest.
D	Indicates if the domain controller is the Domain Naming Master for its forest. Each forest has only one Domain Naming Master. The Domain Naming Master is contacted whenever a new domain is added to the forest to ensure its name is unique.
RID	Indicates if the domain controller is the RID Master for its domain. The RID Master is responsible for handing out RID pools to the other domain controllers in a domain. A RID pool is used to generate RIDs, which are a part of every object created by Active Directory. There is one RID Master per domain.
I	Indicates if the domain controller is the Infrastructure Master for its domain. Each domain has an Infrastructure Master, which is used to maintain the integrity of Active Directory's internal database.
PDC	Indicates if the domain controller is the PDC Emulator for its domain. The PDC Emulator acts like the PDC for pre-Windows® 2000 applications and performs time synchronization for the enterprise. It is contacted by default when other domain controllers in the domain fail to authenticate. Password changes are duplicated here as well. There is one PDC Emulator per Active Directory domain.
RO	Shows if the domain controller is a Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC).

Using drilldowns

Using drilldowns

Drilldowns display detailed information about the domain controller you are analyzing.

The Diagnostic Console is designed to help you locate and identify problem areas quickly using a visual representation of the major components in the domain controller being monitored. When you have isolated a problem, you can see a detailed breakdown by viewing a drilldown that displays the underlying statistics.

You can display drilldowns by clicking a component in the main screen or by clicking a drilldown button on the toolbar. You can modify the way drilldowns display information.

Each drilldown page contains displays that provide you with specific information about the components of your system. Drilldowns mainly use two different types of displays - tables and charts. Drilldowns have the following features:

•	There is more than one way to view a specified drilldown.

•	They can be configured to show all or some of the metrics associated with components.

•	You can access further information about displays in drilldowns by moving the mouse over the displays, or by clicking or right-clicking on them.

•	You can copy the data shown in drilldowns to other applications or save it to a file

The Diagnostic Console provides the following drilldowns:

•	Performance drilldown

•	Replication drilldown

•	Configuration drilldown

•	DNS drilldown

•	LSASS drilldown

•	LDAP drilldown

•	FSMO Roles drilldown

Performance drilldown

Performance drilldown

Displays information on the applications running on a domain controller, including the process name and ID of the application, the percentage of CPU usage, and the physical memory usage in megabytes.

To display the Performance drilldown

1	Click (Performance).

2	Open the following tabs:

▪	Top CPU Consumers tab

▪	Top Memory Consumers tab

▪	All Processes tab