by Jay Milne  Server Performance: Benchmarking, Monitoring and Avoiding Bottlenecks If the computer network is the backbone of IT, the servers are the brains. If a server fails to perform, the entire company may shut down. Computer systems are complex, and systems go down for many reasons-including human errors, power outages, hardware issues, such as a disk drive or memory failure, or because the system cannot handle the load placed on it. Servers have a way of growing once they are in production. A file server might have 100 users now but in two years, that same server might handle 500 users. Can your servers handle these new loads? This chapter of the Network Design Manual will help you decide if your server can meet your current and your future needs. We will cover benchmarks, tools for monitoring system performance and suggestions on how to avoid the most common server bottlenecks. Benchmarking Bottlenecks Monitoring Tools Common Tips and Tricks Jay Milne can be reached at jmilne@nwc.com For more information on server issues, try these articles: The Hard & Soft Of Server Auditing , Workshops, May 1, 1996 Low-Cost Servers: Easy To Use, Easy To Manage And Easy On Your Pocketbook , Reviews, June 1, 1996 Server Management Software: Bundles Of Joy For Your Web Server , Reviews, June 15, 1996 Call In A Pro... A Pentium Pro Server , Buyers Guide, December 1, 1996 Building A Common Server Operating Environment , Workshops, February 15, 1997 Making Your Server System Scale , Workshops, March 15, 1997 SMP Provides A Mirror Into Your Server , Buyers Guide, May 1, 1997 Updated May 21, 1997 Print This Page E-mail this URL