How to create Performance Alerts in Windows 2008

We use these to either notify with our Managed Services application or to fire off a event when a performance trigger is trapped.


You can configure alerts to notify you when certain events occur or when certain performance thresholds are reached. You can send these alerts as network messages and as events that are logged in the application event log. You can also configure alerts to start applications and performance logs.

To configure an alert, follow these steps:


1. In Performance Monitor, under the Data Collector Sets node, right-click the User-Defined node in the left pane, point to New, and then choose Data Collector Set.

2. In the Create New Data Collector Set Wizard, type a name for the data collector, such as Processor Alert or Disk IO Alert.

3. Select the Create Manually option, and then click Next.

4. On the What Type Of Data Do You Want To Include page, select the Performance Counter Alert option, and then click Next.

5. On the Which Performance Counters Would You Like To Monitor page, click Add to display the Add Counters dialog box. This dialog box is identical to the Add Counters dialog box discussed previously. Use the dialog box to add counters that trigger the alert. Click OK when you have finished.

6. In the Performance Counters panel, select the first counter, and then use the Alert When Value Is text box to set the occasion when an alert for this counter is triggered. Alerts can be triggered when the counter is above or below a specific value. Select Above or Below, and then set the trigger value. The unit of measurement is whatever makes sense for the currently selected counter or counters. For example, to generate an alert if processor time is over 95 percent, select Over, and then type 95. Repeat this process to configure other counters you’ve selected.

7. On the Create Data Collector Set page, the Run As box lists to indicate that the log will run under the privileges and permissions of the default system account. To run the log with the privileges and permissions of another user, click Change. Type the user name and password for the account, and then click OK. User names can be entered in domain\username format, such as cpandl\williams for the Williams account in the Cpandl domain.

8. Select the Open Properties For This Data Collector Set option, and then click Finish. This saves the data collector set, closes the wizard, and then opens the related Properties dialog box.

9. By default, logging is configured to start manually. To configure a logging schedule, click the Schedule tab, and then click Add. You can now set the Active Range, Start Time, and run days for data collection.

10. By default, logging stops only if you set an expiration date as part of the logging schedule. Using the options on the Stop Condition tab, you can configure the log file to stop automatically after a specified period of time, such as seven days, or when the log file is full (if you’ve set a maximum size limit).

11. Click OK when you’ve finished setting the logging schedule and stop conditions.