11.1.3 Performance Metrics

Which of the following is true about processor performance?

A healthy system's CPU utilization should average around 40%. A healthy system's CPU utilization should average around 40%.

Where can you check your CPU's temperature?

BIOS You can check your CPU's temperature in the system BIOS, or you can use third-party software to monitor and alert you to any extreme temperature spikes.

Which of the following is the term for when a system is unable to keep up with the demands placed on it?

Bottleneck A bottleneck occurs when a system is unable to keep up with the demands placed on it.

Which of the following is a best practice when establishing a baseline?

Determine baselines over time by analyzing network traffic. You should determine your baselines by analyzing network traffic. To get a true picture of your network's activity, you want to collect data over a period of time. You should monitor different times of day and different times of year (especially if your organization has notoriously busy or slow periods). You can create baselines manually, however, there are also tools you can purchase to collect more information and to possibly create more accurate baselines, if you so choose.

Which of the following is the term for a calculation of how often bits are damaged in transit due to electromagnetic interference?

Error rate Error rate is a calculation of how often bits are damaged in transit due to electromagnetic interference (or other interference).

When packets arrive at their destination at different speeds, they sometimes arrive out of order. What does this cause?

Jitter When packets arrive at their destination at different speeds, they sometimes arrive out of order. This causes what's known as jitter.

What is the definition of bandwidth?

The amount of data that can be transferred from one place to another in a specific amount of time. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred from one place to another in a specific amount of time.

Which of the following could be to blame if your computer is regularly crashing or restarting?

The processor is too hot. An overheated CPU can result in crashing or constant restarts and shutdowns.

What is the definition of latency?

The speed at which data packets travel from source to destination and back. Latency is the speed at which packets travel from source to destination and back.

Your computer seems to be running slowly. In particular, you notice that the hard drive activity light remains lit when you run multiple applications and switch between open windows. This happens even though you aren't saving large files. What should you do to troubleshoot the problem?

Use Resource Monitor to monitor memory utilization. In this scenario, you should use Resource Monitor to monitor memory utilization. Most likely, you'll see that the physical RAM is being over-utilized. When physical memory is low, the computer must swap data from memory to hard disk (to the paging file) to make physical memory available for other applications. If you hear the hard drive constantly operating as you work or if the hard drive light on the front of the system case stays illuminated for long periods of time, it means that the computer is constantly working to move data into and out of memory. The only long-term solution is to add more physical RAM.