PerfMon over a long time range?

DeaconFrost · 14 Feb 2018

So, I was hit with a question from a client and I didn't know the answer. They wanted to do some testing on a server we host, Server Standard 2016 x64. They asked if we could use Perfmon to output a file using the System Performance report....but over a six week period. I've used Perfmon before, plenty of times, but I have no idea how to output the results to a file, or have it run for 6 weeks (even allowing for reboots).

Anyone know how to do this? I have admin rights to the server.

EdTittel · 14 Feb 2018

You can save PerfMon data to a log file. But such files can be quite large, especially if the Data Collector Set(s) collected have lots of counters captured in them. There's a tutorial on "Setting up Perfmon Logs" that's probably worth checking out. There's also an option for your customers to create a binary circular log file (which allocates a fixed amount of log space, and then starts over-writing at the beginning when that space is filled. Unless your customers can drop in a HUGE drive (4TB or larger) and dedicate the whole thing to log data, my guess is that there's no way to store everything over that long a time period. Some experimentation will be required. I can ask for more input from the Windows Server MVPs (the most likely group to know this kind of stuff in detail) if you'd like me to.
HTH,
--Ed--