How to enable Microsoft Performance Monitor logging for Symantec Email Submission Client (SESC)

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
• Messaging Gateway

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

 

When troubleshooting a resource utilization problem the Windows Performance Monitor is an optional tool to gather additional information. This information is stored in a Perfmon log.  Performance logging may be necessary on either the SESC computer or the Microsoft Client Access Server (CAS) that SESC is integrated with.
 

1. Save the attached file sescperfmonconfig.xml to the computer.
2. On the taskbar click Start > Run.
3. In Open box, type:
   
   perfmon
4. Click OK. A window named Reliability and Performance Monitor appears.
5. In the left pane expand Data Collector Sets.
6. Click User Defined.
7. On the menu at the top, click Action > New > Data Collector Set. A wizard called Create new Data Collector Set appears.
8. Give the new data collector set a descriptive name, such as SESC and leave the default at Create from a template (recommended) then click Next.
9. On the Which template would you like to use? page, click Browse... .
10. Navigate to the sescperfmonconfig.xml file, select it, and click Open.
11. By default the files are saved in C:\PerfLogs\Admin\SESC. If you'd like to save to a different drive, click Next and enter the preferred file path under the Root directory box and click Ok. Otherwise, click Finish.
12. Now what should be visible is the following: Reliability and Performance -> Data Collector Sets -> User Defined view with a new counter named SESC.
13. Right click the SESC log counter and click Start.
14. Configure the data collector to restart when the computer starts.

a. Start the Task Scheduler by running Start -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Task Scheduler.
b. Browse to Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows –> PLA.
c. Enable Hidden Tasks (View ->  Show Hidden Tasks).
d. Right click on the SMSMSE entry in the Tasks list and select Properties to bring up the SMSMSE task properties window.
e. Click on the Triggers tab and click the New... button to bring up the New Trigger dialog window.
f. Select At startup from the Begin the task dropdown and click the OK button to save the new trigger.
g. Click the OK button to close the SMSMSE task properties window.
 

Re-create the issue

Now that the server is ready to capture all of the data, re-create the issue being worked on. Once the issue has successfully re-created, all logging can be disabled, and it is possible to move on to the next section. Stop the PerfMon logging from within the Performance Applet by right-clicking on the log that was created, and selecting "Stop".

Analyzing the log

Recommended tool to assist in perfmon analysis:

http://pal.codeplex.com/

This tool gives starting point for analysis of perfmon logs, and includes templates for Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007. It will generate a report with warnings about various resources on the system. This should be the first step whenever analyzing a perfmon log.