Windows. Performance Counters. Processor

My top performances counters to messure Windows Processor performance.

These are some of the explanations that I have been able to extract from Microsoft and other web pages. The interpretations of the counters could vary according to parameters or configurations that each one can have.

[ ] Performance Counters

[ ] Processor

[ ] Processor Time

Counter:	Processor  - Processor Time
Description	% Processor Time is the percentage of elapsed time that the processor spends to execute a non-Idle thread. It is calculated by measuring the percentage of time that the processor spends executing the idle thread and then subtracting that value from 100%. (Each processor has an idle thread that consumes cycles when no other threads are ready to run). This counter is the primary indicator of processor activity, and displays the average percentage of busy time observed during the sample interval. It should be noted that the accounting calculation of whether the processor is idle is performed at an internal sampling interval of the system clock (10ms). On todays fast processors, % Processor Time can therefore underestimate the processor utilization as the processor may be spending a lot of time servicing threads between the system clock sampling interval. Workload based timer applications are one example  of applications  which are more likely to be measured inaccurately as timers are signaled just after the sample is taken. Is the percentage of time the processors spend to execute threads that are not idle. A consistent 80-90% is too high. Multiprocessor systems have a separate instance for each CPU.
Options	Total or processor
Threshold / Values	Good < 80%
Units
How to interpret the value	Amount of total CPU usage across all processors.   Is high in the Processor object, you might want to monitor it in the Process object for each individual process.

[ ] Privileged time

Counter:	Processor  - Privileged time
Description	% Privileged Time is the percentage of elapsed time that the process threads spent executing code in privileged mode.  When a Windows system service in called, the service will often run in privileged mode to gain access to system-private data. Such data is protected from access by threads executing in user mode. Calls to the system can be explicit or implicit, such as page faults or interrupts. Unlike some early operating systems, Windows uses process boundaries for subsystem protection in addition to the traditional protection of user and privileged modes. Some work done by Windows on behalf of the application might appear in other subsystem processes in addition to the privileged time in the process.
Options	Total or processor
Threshold / Values	Good < 30%
Units
How to interpret the value	Amount of total CPU usage in kernel mode across all processors.  Indicates the time spent on Windows kernel commands (SQL Server I/O requests). If both this and Physical Disk counters are high, there might be a need for a faster disk or lower load for this server. Let you monitor user mode and kernel mode activities independently. These counters can help you determine whether a bottleneck is occurring within an application or within the OS. However, it’s important to remember the architecture of the Windows OS. Most actions are performed in kernel mode, so it’s not uncommon to see 70 percent or more of the activity occurring within kernel or privileged mode.

[ ] user time

Counter:	Processor  -  user time
Description	% User Time is the percentage of elapsed time the processor spends in the user mode. User mode is a restricted processing mode designed for applications, environment subsystems, and integral subsystems.  The alternative, privileged mode, is designed for operating system components and allows direct access to hardware and all memory.  The operating system switches application threads to privileged mode to access operating system services. This counter displays the average busy time as a percentage of the sample time. Amount of total CPU usage in user mode across all processors.
Options	Total or processor
Threshold / Values	Good < 80%
Units
How to interpret the value	The percentage of time the CPU spends on user processes (SQL Server). It ss inclusive of both user mode and kernel mode OS functions. It’s technically a measurement of the time in which the System Idle Process isn’t running. The System Idle Process runs only when no other process is seeking processor time. I usually look for average % Processor Time values greater than 65 to 70 percent before I’m concerned about the processor

by GoN | Published: December 15, 2016 | Last Updated: