Dual Processor Balancing in Win2000 Server

I have searched hi-and-lo for info on this, but I can't seem to find any. It may be that I'm using the wrong terminology.

I'm trying to dedicate one processor to run a service on Windows 2000 Server, and the other processor to run the remaining Windows junk. Can that be done in Windows 2000?

Thanks for any help you can direct me to....

 

See if this article on SMP helps.

I don't think what you want is possible unless the app was written to do just that and maybe not even then.

 

Newt,

Thanks for the article. Not exactly what I was looking for but I think you're right--I don't think I can do what I want to do. Which makes me wonder the point of having Dual Processors in the first place?

I would think that being able to specify the load each processor shares in a system would be an integral part of Multi Processor Computing. For me that's just common sense. But it doesn't look like that's possible.

Oh well, guess I just leave it up to the OS to balance the load across the processors itself and hope the Terminal Services gets the resources it needs across both processors.

Adios...

 

Eureka! Found it. It CAN be done. It's called Processor Affinity, and to use it, you right click on a process from the Task Manager, select affinity, and designate it that way. However, I'm getting an Access Denied error right now, so I'm not out of the woods yet!!

 

The system does not give you the necessary privileges to change the affinity of a *service* (or even kill a service) using task manager. It's too dangerous but it could be granted using code. There is certainly no need to do that with TS. Just set the server optimization for maximize data throughput for network applications which is probably the default.

 

In my ongoing attempts at getting this Processor Affinity to work, I've finally stumbled to a halt.
Apparently, Processor Affinity for Services is only enabled in the Windows 2000 Datacenter Server edition, and unavailable in Advanced Server. From everything I've read and squirreled out about this, it requires a microsoft tool: the "Process Control Tool" to be installed, which is part of the "Windows System Resource Manager Tool" that only becomes available with the Datacenter release. This then makes the Processor Affinity ability under the Task Manager available. In my discoveries, however, I found that interestingly enough, the .NET release (as it stands right now) will include these tools and abilities in both the Advanced Server (read "Enterprise ") and Datacenter versions.

I think I'll get a hold of Microsoft and see if there's some way around this restriction in Advanced Server. I'll post back when I find out....

Dorfmann, obviously it's dangerous, that's why they don't make it an easy thing to do, but it shouldn't be impossible for people who know what they're doing. Changing Processor Affinity for one service shouldn't cause any undue problems. Also, you can kill a service with the Kill tool that comes on the Resource Kit. It's not recommended, but it can be done.