I had been having problems with our Cold Fusion web server and was trying to determine the best
way to tune the server. I picked up another book from MS Press (review coming soon) on tuning
Windows 2000, but I was not thrilled with it. While I was digging through that book, my boss dropped
this one on my desk and asked me to take a look and see what I thought.
I started reading this book and within 5 minutes had learned a couple things. The first chapter immediately
presents a few tools that can assist in performance tuning, a few of which I had not heard about. It
also immediately presents in a concise table a few performance counters and how they can help detect
bottlenecks.
As I glanced through the chapters on memory and disk systems, the author describes the technologies
in use today and how they affect performance of a Windows 2000 server. The author also spends the latter
half of each chapter providing good step-by-step methods for tuning a system. There is a good use of
charts with quick reference information and screen shots of performance monitor screens.
The book ends with sections devoted to tuning a server specifically for the various MS applications
that are available (SQL, Exchange, File Server, Web Server, Backup Server). I think this is a great
book for anyone using Windows 2000, including DBAs. Even if you do not have control of the OS for your
SQL Server, this book can help you understand why your server performs as it does.
Steve Jones
©dkRanch.net February 2001
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