hp toptools for desktops agent, resource monitoring and performance advisor

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LAN I/O Error Rate
This measurement shows the percentage of
network packets sent and received that
contained errors.
This is useful for spotting network errors and
for isolating problem areas. For example, a very
high error rate between a specific PC and a hub
could point to a faulty network cable between
these two devices.
This measurement is available for PCs running
either Windows NT or Windows 200 which have
the Microsoft SNMP Service installed. However,
in some cases, for Windows PCs without
Microsoft SNMP, the Toptools Device Manager
may be able to calculate an approximate value
using the LAN card’s DMI instrumentation.
LAN Bandwidth Utilization
This measurement shows the percentage of the
LAN card’s transfer capacity that is actually
being used.
This information can help to optimize a network
configuration, or can indicate network
undercapacity. If network bandwidth utilization
is nearing saturation, this is a useful warning
that network facilities must be upgraded or
reconfigured to provided more capacity in the
areas where it is needed.
The calculation of LAN bandwidth use is
available for PCs running either Windows NT or
Windows 2000 and with the Microsoft SNMP
Service installed. In some cases, for Windows
PCs without Microsoft SNMP, the Toptools
Device Manager may be able to calculate an
approximate value using the LAN card’s DMI
instrumentation.
Typical Uses of Resource Monitoring
•
You can set alerts to permanently monitor
the hard disk drive space on all systems. In
this way, you can ensure that there is
sufficient disk space on all devices for future
growth. A critical alert on a single PC may
prompt you to tell the user that they must
remove all unneeded files from their system.
Alerts are also useful for receiving early
warning of undercapacity, enabling you to
plan for major disk upgrades.
• Before the installation of a new software
application, you can install it in several trial
PCs and monitor the PCs’ page swapping
rates to determine if more physical memory
is needed to successfully run that
application.
• If a PC user complains about a slow PC or
disruptive system errors, you can monitor
resources (such as memory and network
usage) on that remote PC to help track down
and resolve the problem.
Overhead Used by Resource
Monitoring
Since resource monitoring is done by the
remote PCs themselves, no network bandwidth
is used for this task. Furthermore, less than 1%
of the processor time is used on the remote
PCs.
Alert thresholds are also stored and managed
by each remote PC. If alerts are generated, a
small amount of network bandwidth is used to
send the alert to the Device Manager.
If you are using the Device Manager to display a
remote PC’s resource monitoring, requests are
sent between these two devices on the network
to keep the display up to date. However, even
this task requires very little network bandwidth.
There are two cases in which no monitoring is
done by the remote PCs, and therefore zero
system capacity is used. Firstly, if resource
monitoring is disabled, and secondly, if the
remote PC goes into standby or sleep mode.
Toptools allows the PC to go into standby or
sleep mode, rather than waking it up to
continue monitoring its resources. If the remote
PC goes into standby or sleep mode, it implies
that the PC is not currently being used and
there is no need to monitor resources.