Windows NT Performance Monitor Data
The Windows NT Performance Monitor is a tool and API that allows applications to provide performance data in a consistent way. Administrators can use the Performance Monitor tool to view this data graphically, or programs can themselves use this data for more advanced purposes, such as taking daily samples of performance data and logging to a database.
Using the Performance Monitor has a number of benefits for both the administrator and programmer. The administrator can use a single, consistent interface for monitoring performance, regardless of the application in question; indeed, the administrator can simultaneously view performance information from two unrelated applications to assist in diagnosing performance bottlenecks. For you, the programmer, the biggest advantage is that you can provide detailed performance information for your application, but don’t need to deliver any tools for viewing or analyzing this data; Windows NT and third-party tools provide all the functionality anyone could need!
In the next section we discuss the concepts behind the Performance Monitor, and how you can read Performance Monitor data using Python. Later in this chapter we will present how Python can provide Performance Monitor data for our sample Windows NT Service.
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