Windows System Resource Manager Fast Facts
Microsoft Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM) provides resource management and enables the allocation of resources, including processor and memory resources, among multiple applications based on business priorities. With WSRM, you can implement tight operational processes to predictably meet your service level requirements, maximize the return on your IT investments, and manage a changing mix of workloads.
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On This Page
 | Highlights |
| Capabilities |
| Scenarios and Benefits |
| User Interfaces |
| Availability |
Highlights
Windows System Resource Manager is available for use with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition. WSRM enables you to manage CPU and memory utilization on a per process basis. An administrator sets targets for the amount of hardware resources that running applications or users are allowed to consume. This means that you can allocate resources among multiple applications on a server according to your business priorities.
Capabilities
WSRM enables a system administrator to do the following:
| • | Set CPU and memory allocation policies on applications. This includes selecting processes to be managed, and setting resource usage targets or limits. |
| • | Manage CPU utilization (percent CPU in use). |
| • | Limit the process working set size (physical resident pages in use). |
| • | Manage committed memory (pagefile usage). |
| • | Apply policies to users or groups on a Terminal Services application server. |
| • | Apply policies on a date/time schedule. |
| • | Generate, store, view, and export resource utilization accounting records for management, service level agreement (SLA) tracking, and charge-back purposes. |
WSRM maintains an updatable exclusion list of processes that shouldn't be managed because of the negative system impact such management could create. WSRM also applies limits to process working set size and committed memory consumption. WSRM does not manage address windowing extensions (AWE) memory, large page memory, locked memory, or OS pool memory.
Scenarios and Benefits
When running multiple applications on a single server, WSRM enables you to allocate portions of a computer's resources to each application. This addresses many situations, which include:
| • | Allocating resources through server consolidation, to reduce the ability of applications to interfere with each other. This applies whether you are running multiple instances of a single application, or combining line-of-business applications with other applications or services. |
| • | Managing users in large terminal server systems by application— either individually or by security group—which helps balance resource usage more fairly across user sessions. WSRM cannot be used to strictly enforce limits on resources used per process. |
| • | Administering resource usage of Internet Information Server (IIS) 6.0 application pools on a server; for example, where one server hosts multiple Web sites. |
Other benefits derived from using WSRM include:
| • | More granularity and control of resources than in Process Control and the Job Object APIs. |
| • | Reports on memory usage and CPU time to support service level agreement (SLA) metrics. |
User Interfaces
WSRM can be administered using two different interfaces: the graphical user interface (GUI) and the command-line interface (CLI). The GUI is provided by an administrative snap-in. The CLI enables command-line scripting and supports advanced uses. Both user interfaces provide access to the full functionality of WSRM.
Availability
WSRM is included on a CD with every copy of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition ( 32-bit or 64-bit), and is covered by the license for these products. WSRM can also be downloaded and burned to CD by anyone who has Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, or Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition (32-bit or 64-bit).
WSRM will only install after verifying that the operating system is Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, or Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition.