ELM - Performance Manager 
 ELM
Performance Manager gives you the power to see system performance
with unequaled ease and simplicity. ELM Performance Manager is a
client/server application that automates the tasks required to monitor
and manage the health of your Windows-based servers and workstations.
Companion Products for ELM Performance Manager are ELM
Log Manager and ELM
Enterprise Manager.
To compare the three, here is a product comparison grid  .
PRODUCT FEATURES
Formerly known as Performance Data Collection
Manager, ELM Performance Manager provides real time performance
monitoring and data collection of published performance objects
and counters and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) data.
ELM Performance Manager can also monitor processes for startup and
shutdown, as well as excessive CPU utilization.
ELM Performance Manager is a 32-bit, multi-threaded
application designed to monitor and collect performance data and
WMI data from Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP computers
in real-time. Its multi-layered architecture enables you to deploy
ELM Performance Manager in a manner that suits your organization's
needs.
MONITOR ITEMS
- Health and Performance - monitoring performance is an
important part of maintaining and administering business-critical
systems and networks.
- Processes - monitor individual processes with the Process
Monitor which is multi-functional; it can let you know when a
process has exceeded the threshold of CPU usage you specify, and
it can track when processes are instantiated or terminated.
- Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) - periodically
query the WMI database and generate alerts when the results of
the query change.
TYPES OF NOTIFICATIONS
- Alerts - convenient way to be notified of a critical
event, security breach, or performance problem
- SMTP Email - supports the sending of email notifications
- MAPI Email - enables you to send email notifications
through a MAPI-compliant email server such as Microsoft Exchange
or Lotus Notes
- Pagers - supports notification via many popular pager
services
- Short Message Service - supports the sending of email
notifications via SMS (the transmission of short text (160 characters
or less) messages to and from a mobile phone, fax machine and/or
IP address)
- Command Script - supports both the Windows Script Host
(WSH) as well as generic command line (cmd.exe) files
- Web Post - supports the posting of a form to an internal
or external Web site as a notification method, which is especially
useful in intranets, as well as for alphanumeric pagers
- Electronic Marquees - send event and alert information
to a supported electronic marquee via TCP/IP or via a serial connection
- Text-to-Speech - includes support for the Microsoft Speech
API (SAPI) 5.0, and has speech integration built into the ELM
Server. Using this notification method, you can configure the
ELM Server to say an event, part of an event, or a custom message
when an alert or event occurs.
- SNMP Traps - any event received by the ELM Server can
be repackaged and transmitted as an SNMP trap to any SNMP management
systems in your organization
- Syslog - supports native, integrated Syslog messages
as a notification method
- Network Messages - supports the use of network pop-up
messages (aka "Net Send")
- Forward to ELM Server - can forward any Alert, Event,
Syslog message or SNMP trap to another ELM Server
- Beeps - configure the ELM Server to play a customizable
"beep" sound
- Sound Files - supports the playing of sound files in
WAV format
ARCHIVAL AND REPORTING
- Database platforms - supports multiple database platforms
for archiving and reporting, containing alerts, events, knowledge
base articles and performance data. Choose from Microsoft Access,
Microsoft SQL Server (6.5 or later), Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE)
and Oracle. Want to use Microsoft Access? You won't need to install
Access on your ELM Server because ELM includes a licensed runtime
version of Microsoft Access that automatically creates an Access
database for use with ELM.
- Scheduled Reports - a built-in scheduler feature is included
that enables administrators to run reports at periodic intervals.
Reports can be produced on a scheduled basis in a variety of formats
(e.g., HTML, Rich-Text Format, ASCII), or sent to a printer.
- Knowledge Base - includes a built-in database repository
for custom Knowledge Base Articles that are linked to event data.
Knowledge Base Articles can be used to annotate collected events
with customizable notes and comments.
USER INTERFACE
- MMC User Interface - uses the Microsoft Management Console
(MMC) framework to host its primary user interface
- Customizable Views - you can customize any of the pre-populated
views, or create your own custom views to suit your specific needs
- Wizard-based configuration - when adding Agents, creating
views, adding a new monitor item, or doing just about anything
else, you are guided through the process with intuitive and easy-to-use
Wizards
- XML Web Viewer - enables you to view data stored in the
ELM Server and can be accessed using any Web browser that supports
XML and Javascript. The XML Web Viewer provides administrators
with a variety of functions:
- View Events, Alerts, Knowledge Base Articles, Notification
Methods, Rules, Reports, etc.
- View item Properties
- Search Events (ELM Enterprise Manager and ELM Log Manager
only)
- Enable/Disable items
- Stop/Start Services
- Kill Processes
GENERAL
- Item-level Security - integrates with and leverages the
Windows security subsystem, enabling administrators to secure
both containers and items
- Data Encryption - includes a proprietary encryption mechanism
that can encrypt the data traveling between some of its components
ELM Performance Manager also functions as a rules-based management
system (RBMS). Using filters and rules, you decide which health and
performance conditions trigger notification or corrective action.
ELM Performance Manager includes data archiving, reports, and a flexible
and easy-to-use user interface.
PRODUCT BENEFITS
Monitoring performance is an important
part of maintaining and administering business-critical systems
and networks. Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP
include built-in performance monitoring capabilities. These operating
systems collect and publish an extensive list of performance counters.
Each operating system has built-in tools for ad-hoc performance
monitoring and analysis, which are very useful on standalone systems.
However, the native tools do not lend themselves well to enterprise-wide
monitoring.
Performance data comes from two places:
- Hardware. Many hardware devices, such as CPUs, hard drives,
network cards and so forth contain internal performance data in
the form of counters. These counters are exposed to the operating
system via the device drivers that enable the operating system
to interact with the hardware.
- Software.. Many software applications expose performance
data to the operating system by publishing it via the Win32 performance
APIs.
Hardware components and applications that wish to publish performance
data register themselves in the Windows registry by adding a "Performance"
subkey to their registry entries. This subkey contains, among other
values, the name of the performance library file containing
the definitions for the performance objects, performance counters,
instances and other values required to collect and publish the data.
A performance library file is dynamic link library (DLL) of functions
grouped by object, in this case, performance objects.
Regularly collecting performance data is
important and beneficial for many reasons: you can baseline your
systems, perform capacity planning, spot bottlenecks and immediately
recognize problems. ELM includes a built-in feature for collecting
real-time performance counter data from systems running an ELM Agent.
Because the collected performance data is stored in a database,
it can be easily analyzed and charted using the built-in Reports
feature, or by using your own ODBC query tools. This makes for a
powerful yet easy way to proactively manage system resources, which
helps you to keep your systems as reliable and available as possible.
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