Article: 2011-002
Product: SNMP Informant - All Performance Data Helpers
Subject: SNMP Informant Error Messages, RPC

Keywords: performance counters, error messages, event log

Last Updated: March 1, 2011

This article is intended to help SNMP Informant users  determine what SNMP Informant error messages in the event logs mean.  These are PDH API error messages, and are generated by SNMP Informant, since SNMP Informant connects to the Performance Counter subsystem using PDH.DLL.

Symptom:

Under high load conditions, you MAY see Service Control Manager message indicating a problem with the Remote Registry service.  The screen capture below illustrates such messages.

Background:

SNMP Informant Performance Providers connect to the computer' performance counter subsystem through an API (Application Program Interface) called PDH (Performance Data Helper).  There are 2 methods to connect to PDH; directly and indirectly.  Direct connection (choosing null) is faster, but bypasses (does not use) Remote Procedure Call (RPC) services, and MAY result in slightly more memory usage for SNMP.

Resolution:

1.    Navigate to:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WTCS\Informant\<provider>

2.    Select Registry Value Name: PdhInterface

3.    Change From value: "." to value: "null" (without the quotes)

4.    Restart the SNMP service