Question

Difficulty: HardWindows Administrative and System Management Tools

A systems administrator needs to create an automated alert in Windows 11 Pro that monitors system CPU utilization and automatically executes a maintenance script whenever CPU usage exceeds 90%90\%. Place the administrative configuration steps in Performance Monitor (`perfmon.msc`) into the correct chronological order from first to last.

  1. 1Launch Performance Monitor (`perfmon.msc`), right-click User Defined under Data Collector Sets, and create a new Data Collector Set manually.
  2. 2Select Performance Counter Alert as the data collector type, add the % Processor Time counter, and set the alert threshold limit to 90.
  3. 3Open the properties of the created alert collector, switch to the Alert Action tab, and specify the Task Scheduler task that runs the maintenance script.
  4. 4Right-click the newly configured User Defined Data Collector Set and select Start to initiate active performance monitoring.

Answer

The correct sequence starts by opening Performance Monitor and creating a manual User Defined Data Collector Set, selecting Performance Counter Alert to configure the % Processor Time counter and 90% threshold, configuring the Alert Action properties to trigger the maintenance task, and finally starting the Data Collector Set.
To build an automated alert-driven workflow in Windows Performance Monitor, an administrator must first create a User Defined Data Collector Set manually (`perfmon.msc`). Next, the collector type must be set to 'Performance Counter Alert' with the specific counter (`% Processor Time`) and threshold (`90%`). After creation, opening the alert properties allows configuring the 'Alert Action' to launch a pre-created task from Task Scheduler. Finally, the Data Collector Set must be started so Windows active monitoring begins.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Launch Performance Monitor (`perfmon.msc`) and create a manual User Defined Data Collector Set.
Establishes a custom container for performance tracking rules.
Custom alerts cannot be added directly to default system templates without creating a User Defined set first.
2
Configure the collector type as a Performance Counter Alert with the % Processor Time counter set to exceed 90%.
Defines the specific metric and quantitative threshold that constitutes an alert condition.
Performance Monitor requires an Alert-type collector rather than a Data Log collector when monitoring for threshold breaches.
3
Configure the Alert Action properties of the created alert collector to run a defined Task Scheduler task.
Associates the threshold breach event with an automated action (the maintenance script).
The Alert Action tab within the collector properties is where Windows binds event triggers to automated Task Scheduler actions.
4
Start the User Defined Data Collector Set.
Activates background monitoring.
Newly created Data Collector Sets remain in a stopped state until explicitly started.

Key Concept

Performance Monitor Data Collector Sets and Alert Actions
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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