Simplify Performance Analysis with ExPTA

In 2004, Microsoft took the first of many steps to improve the operation of Exchange installations by introducing Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA), a tool that analyzes your Exchange organization by using rules that Microsoft regularly updates, to highlight misconfigurations and variations from best practice. Microsoft used the same concept in building Exchange Server Performance Troubleshooting Analyzer (ExPTA) 1.0, a multistep wizard tool that's based on ExBPA's framework. ExPTA collects configuration information, performance-counter data, and live tracing information from your Exchange server environment; analyzes that information; and identifies problems and possible solutions. ExPTA is easy to download, install, and operate, and it can benefit businesses of all sizes. Let's look at what you need to get this tool, how to install it, and how it works.

ExPTA Requirements
With one exception that I explain later in the "Analyzing RPC Activity" section, you should install ExPTA on a different system from the one you want to analyze; when you run ExPTA, you'll select the Exchange servers to analyze. Microsoft recommends running ExPTA on a Windows XP system, but you can also run the tool on Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows 2000 Professional. ExPTA requires a system that has a 133MHz or higher processor (I've found that 1GHz or higher is a more realistic requirement), a minimum of 256MB of memory (and an additional 256MB for every 50 Exchange servers under analysis), and 10MB of disk space (and an additional 2MB per server under analysis). If you have more than 100 Exchange servers in your environment, you should use dual-processor systems to host ExPTA. . . .