Perfmon output: Converting from binary to CSV file

• David Sipos

  SSC Rookie

  Points: 41

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  August 17, 2012 at 6:23 am

  #1527047

  You will want to use the RELOG utility to convert the file from one type to another. Here are a few examples:

  1. Enumerates the list of counters present in a particular collection to the DOS console:

  RELOG "C:\MyDirectoryPath\MyCounterFile.blg" -Q

  It's important to remember that a collection may be configured for a object/counter that does not exist. (For example a drive letter that is not present on the server)

  2. Enumerates the list of counters present in a particular collection, recording the entries in a file:

  RELOG "C:\MyDirectoryPath\MyCounterFile.blg" -Q -O "C:\MyDirectoryPath\MyCounterList.txt"

  This is very similar to example 1, but the results are written to a txt file.

  3. Convert the binary data stored in a .blg to a flat file:

  RELOG "C:\MyDirectoryPath\MyCounterFile.blg" -F CSV -O "C:\MyDirectoryPath\MyCounterFile.txt"

  This process will convert the input file (.blg) to a CSV (.txt), which can be imported into many tools, like EXCEL. The counter list created in step 2 can be edited, to limit the counters to be imported. This criteria can be added to the RELOG command line, by adding this parameter to the command:

  -CF "C:\MyDirectoryPath\MyCounterList.txt"

  4. Import the counters collection into a SQL Server database:

  RELOG "C:\MyDirectoryPath\MyCounterFile.blg" -O SQL:PrimarySQL_odbc!CollectionName

  Create an odbc connection, in this case, called "PrimarySQL_odbc". This imports the data into the default schema, with the DisplayToID of "CollectionName".

  This process creates three tables:

  DisplayToID: describes the batch of perfmon counters loaded

  CounterDetails: describes the individual counters recorded for a particular batch

  CounterData: describes the detailed samples from each counter collection