Hi,
we're currently performing bulk OTA EA's (10-30 EA daily) but the EA's run very slowly, don't finish up completely, ... BB 8900 Curves.

We have currently 370+ users on a MSDE db, BES 4.1.6 MR3, 2 Exchange 2003 servers with 2500 users each.

I would like to run a perfmon on the BES server to confirm the performance issue, and would like to see if and how much the BES is overloaded by these EAs and make suggestions towards management if applicable.

Can anyone tell me what perfmon counters are the most appropriate to check in this case?

Thanks,

Review the attached performance benchmarking guide.

What are the specs of the BES? CPU/Memory/Disk config
Large mailboxes? Large Calendars? Big address books?
Where are the EA's hanging / failing? Do they start quickly but just seem to take forever to keep going? What happens if you tried a wired EA?

thanks, I looked at the guide but got confused because it contained a lot of information, but not really the one I am looking for.

Specs of the BES:
- OS W2K3 SP1, running on VMWare
- CPU dual core 2,6 Ghz
- 2 GB Memory
- local MSDE 2000 DB
- 2 Disks, C: containing OS and binaries, D: containing BB SW and logs
- MDS browser service enabled

I would like to know what exactly happens during an EA, to make a distinction between the load on the BES during "normal" hours and "EA" hours, with the increased load. Which counters are being used actively? Do I have to look for heavy load on the Exchange server, the BES itself, of the MSDE / SQL counters? and which ones? Does anyone have an idea?

You're not going to find a guide that'll tell you what load is added on an Enterprise Activation, but there is load added by it.

Physical / virtual won't matter as long as the underlying resources aren't over-taxed

Plenty.

Most likely enough, if your memory utilization is under 60% all the time I wouldn't worry. If it isn't add another 512 meg.

Possible bottleneck. Are the C/D phyiscally separate arrays / spindles? Is the server swapping RAM constantly?

Unless your users are animals no big deal.

Read:

KB13852 - Identifying and troubleshooting enterprise activation issues - Port3101.org : Your BES Connection

KB04566 - Enterprise activation sequence on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server - Port3101.org : Your BES Connection

KB13850 - What is the wireless enterprise activation process - Port3101.org : Your BES Connection

Honestly, look at the counters in the performance benchmarking guide and use them as a base. If you can't figure it out from the document, these are a good place to start. I'd poll once a minute or once every 30 seconds to get some real data.

Processor:
Processor\% Processor Time (_Total)
System\Processor Queue Length

Physical Disk (for each physical array):
PhysicalDisk\Average Disk sec/Read
PhysicalDisk\Average Disk sec/Write
PhysicalDisk\Average Disk Queue Length

Memory:
Paging File\% Usage
Memory\Available Mbytes (MB)
Memory\Pages/sec

Any / all! Have you tried performing a wired EA and seeing how that performs.

For Exchange Perfmon Counters:

Processor:
Processor\% Processor Time (_Total)
System\Processor Queue Length

Database:
Database\Database Page Fault Stalls/sec
Database\Log Record Stalls/sec
Database\Log Threads Waiting

Physical Disk:
PhysicalDisk\Average Disk sec/Read
PhysicalDisk\Average Disk sec/Write
PhysicalDisk\Average Disk Queue Length

Memory:
Paging File\% Usage
Memory\Available Mbytes (MB)
Memory\Pages/sec

MSExchange:
MSExchangeIS\RPC Averaged Latency
MSExchangeIS\RPC Requests


For SQL, pull from this list:

Understanding SQL Server Performance Counters - ExtremeExperts


Most importantly get accurate counters of the BES hardware to see if there are bottlenecks there.

hi hdawg, thanks for your very elaborate reply!! thanks for putting so much effort in answering my question. I will investigate and correct where / if needed.

You're welcome; glad to help