XADM: Restoring Lost Performance Counters for Exchange

MORE INFORMATION

During setup, Microsoft Exchange uses the Server.ins and other INS files to issue commands that create the performance monitor counters for Microsoft Exchange components. The .INS files point to *.INI files that contain instructions for Lodctr.exe on how to create the counters. The INI files contain pointers to *.H files (also known as symbol files) that include additional counter information.

An example of an entry that contains a command to create the MTA objects would be:

CreateProcessSafe:%s\bin;lodctr dsactrs.ini;180000
				

NOTE: Both initialization and header files have to be present for the counter creation to be successful.

Manually Adding Counters

The object and counter information is stored in the registry but it is too complex to be easily entered in manually. This is why initialization files are used. To restore missing Microsoft Exchange Server counters and objects for Performance Monitor:

1. Identify what objects and counters are missing.
2. Identify the *.INI and *.H files that correspond to these objects. The following is a listing of default objects and the corresponding initialization file:
   
   NOTE: Not all objects are always installed as they depend on what components are chosen during setup.

   Object                             Initialization File
   ======                             ===================
   MSExchangeDS                       \exchsrvr\bin\DSACTRS.INI
   MSExchangeIMC                      \exchsrvr\bin\IMCPERF.INI
   MSExchangeIS                       \exchsrvr\bin\MDBPERF.INI
   MSExchangeIS Private               \exchsrvr\bin\MDBPERF.INI
   MSExchangeIS Public                \exchsrvr\bin\MDBPERF.INI
   MSExchangeMTA                      \exchsrvr\bin\MTAPERF.INI
   MSExchangeMTAConnections           \exchsrvr\bin\MTAPERF.INI
   MSExchangePCMTA                    \exchsrvr\msmcon\bin\XTNPERF.INI
   MSExchangeATMTA                    \exchsrvr\msmcon\bin\MACGPERF.INI
   MSExchangeMSMI                     \exchsrvr\msmcon\bin\MTPERF.INI
   MSExchangeES                       \exchsrvr\bin\MSESPERF.INI
   						

   The following are objects specific to Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.0:

   Object                            Initialization File
   ======                            ===================
   MSExchangeDB                      \exchsrvr\bin\EDBPERF.INI
   MSExchangeCCMC                    \exchsrvr\connect\ccmail\bin\ccmcperf.ini
   MSExchangeWEB                     \exchsrvr\bin\ewsperf.ini
   						

   The object is also mapped to a 'service' name which corresponds to a registry entry. For all objects the service name is equal to the object name, except for the MSExchangeDB which maps to the EDB service.
3. All remaining counter information must be removed before attempting to recreate them again. From the location of the INI file run the following command:

   UNLODCTR.EXE Service Name

   Example: To clean up the MSExchangeMTA object and its counters:

   UNLODCTR.EXE MSExchangeMTA

4. To add the object and counter information back, run the following command:

   LODCTR.EXE Initialization file name

   Example: To add the MSExchangeMTA object and counters:

   LODCTR.EXE MTAPERF.INI

   Performance Monitor needs to be restarted after using either of these utilities.
   
   NOTE: On Windows NT 4.0, the computer must be restarted after using the Lodctr command.