Windows performance counters allow your applications and components to publish, capture, and analyze the performance data that applications, services, and drivers provide. You can use this information to determine system bottlenecks and fine-tune system and application performance. For example, you might use a performance counter to track the amount of time required to process an order or query a database, or you might monitor the size of a message queue and write code that performs a specific action whenever the queue reaches a preset limit.
Using the PerformanceCounter component and language features in Visual Studio .NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK, you can easily connect to performance counters on both local and remote computers and retrieve values from these counters. You can also write values to existing custom counters (those created with .NET) on the local computer and create your own custom counters on computers that have Windows installed.
In This Section
- Introduction to Monitoring Performance Thresholds
- Provides basic information on performance counter features.
- Creating PerformanceCounter Component Instances
- Gives directions for creating instances of and configuring PerformanceCounter components in your projects.
- Configuring PerformanceCounter Component Instances
- Describes how to set properties for the PerformanceCounter components you create.
- Category and Counter Management
- Describes the processes for creating, deleting, and querying performance counters and the categories that classify them.
- Writing Values to Performance Counters
- Gives instructions for incrementing or decrementing a performance counter's value.
- Performance Counter Value Retrieval
- Explains the process of reading values from and writing values to a counter.
- Working with Performance Counters in Server Explorer
- Gives directions for using Server Explorer to investigate the performance counters on a computer.
- Performance Counter Walkthroughs
- Lists walkthroughs that show you how to use both system performance counters and custom performance counters.
Related Sections
- PerformanceCounter Class
- Describes the major features of the PerformanceCounter class.
- PerformanceCounterCategory Class
- Describes the major features of the PerformanceCounterCategory class.
- Performance Counter Programming Architecture
- Explains the language elements used in PerformanceCounter component programming.
- Performance Counter Types
- Describes the types of performance counters that you might work with.
- Creating Installation Components
- Describes how to use the Add Installer link in the Properties window to add an installation component to applications with PerformanceCounter component instances.
- Visual Basic and Visual C# Projects
- Describes the projects types used in this chapter and how to choose between them.
- Deploying Applications and Components
- Lists the major deployment topics and the information they contain.
- Manageability
- Discusses best practices for managing distributed applications.
- Programming with Components
- Presents a high-level overview of component programming and the topics available on it.