W3 WP Pools Test

Unlike IIS on Windows 2000, where all web sites operate within a logical default application pool, multiple application pools can be physically configured on IIS web servers on Windows 2003. Typically, each of these application pools will contain a web site. Problems in a web site will therefore, adversely impact the performance of the corresponding application pool, sometimes causing the pool to crash. In order to prevent such adversities, you can use the W3WPPool test to closely observe application pool performance (for IIS web servers on Windows 2003) in terms of resource usage, and promptly report abnormalities (if any). Using the statistics gathered by this test, you not only get to identify the problematic application pool, but also the erroneous web site.

This test is disabled by default, and can be enabled when monitoring an IIS web server on Windows 2003. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the disabled tests list, and click on the < button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Target of the test : An IIS web server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent;

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every web site monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
  1. TEST PERIOD - How often should the test be executed .
  2. Host - The host for which the test is to be configured.
  3. Port - The port to which the specified host listens.

  4. application pool name - Provide a comma-separated list of application pools to be monitored. The default value is "all", indicating that all available application pools will be monitored by default. To know the application pools on the IIS web server in question, do the following:

    • On the IIS host, follow the menu sequence: Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
    • When the IIS Manager opens, expand the node that corresponds to the local host in the tree-structure in the left pane of the manager.
    • An Application Pools sub-node will appear. Expand this sub-node to view the complete list of application pools on the IIS web server.

  5. To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

    The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

    • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability
    • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Number of processes:

Indicates number of w3wp.exe processes that are currently running in the application pool.

Number

A zero value in this measure indicates that the application pool is crashed.

CPU utilization:

Indicates the percentage CPU utilization of the application pool.

Percent

A higher value indicates excessive CPU utilization.

Memory utilization:

Indicates the percentage of total memory utilized by the application pool.

Percent

If the value of this measure consistently increases, it indicates a memory bottleneck.

Number of threads:

Indicates the number of threads that are currently active in the application pool.

Number

This is an indicator of the workload on the pool.

Number of handles:

Indicates the number of handles currently opened by the application pool.

Number

 

Page faults:

Indicates the rate of page faults happening in the application pool.

Faults/Sec

 

Private data:

Indicates the amount of data that the application pool has currently allocated and cannot be shared with other application pools.

MB

A gradual growth in this measure indicates a memory leak in the websites that are running in the application pool.

Pool paged data:

Indicates the amount of memory currently allocated from the paged pool. The Paged Pool is an area of the System's virtual memory that is limited in size and used for various system related functions.

MB

A gradual growth in this measure indicates a memory leak in the websites that are running in the application pool.

Pool non paged data:

Indicates the amount of memory currently allocated from the non-paged pool. The Non-Paged Pool is an area of the System's virtual memory that is limited in size and used for kernel and device driver functions.

MB

A gradual growth in this measure indicates a memory leak in the websites that are running in the application pool. Running out of space in the nonpaged pool often results in a Blue Screen.

I/O reads:

Indicates the rate at which the W3WP.exe process is reading data from I/O operations.

KBytes/Sec

 

I/O read operations:

Indicates the rate at which the W3WP.exe process is issuing read I/O operations.

Operations/Sec

 

I/O writes:

Indicates rate at which the W3WP.exe process is writing data into I/O operations.

KBytes/Sec

 

I/O write operations:

Indicates the rate at which the W3WP.exe process is issuing write I/O operations

Operations/Sec