Data type: uint32
Access type: Read-only
Qualifiers: DisplayName ("Processor Queue Length") , CounterType (65536) , DefaultScale (1) , PerfDetail(400)
Number of threads in the processor queue. There is a single queue for processor time even on computers with multiple processors. Unlike the disk counters, this property counts ready threads only, not threads that are running. A sustained processor queue of greater than two threads generally indicates processor congestion. This property displays the last observed value only; it is not an average.
1. Multiple consecutive performance snapshots with 3 or more in the queue, and more than 50% processor time, would indicate some processor congestion taking place. Occasional snapshots with 2 or more in the queue indicate busy processor(s) being targeted by the queued items when the snapshot runs.
2. The Processor Queue Length is a point-in-time measurement, and not an average. While the performance data is being gathered (so using a processor core), other queued entries could be waiting to use the same processor core. Also all other cores could be working on something else at that instant.
Further information on Microsoft raw performance counters is available at -
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa394318(v=vs.85).aspxThe recommendation to monitor CPU processor utilization on the appliance is to refer to the values in Column T – "Percent Processor Time", which indicates the percentage of time that the processor is executing a non-idle thread. The microsoft (MSDN) description of the "Total Percent Processor Time" is the "Percentage of elapsed time that all of the threads of this process used the processor to execute instructions", and its values of either 100% or 0 indicate only if the process thread extracting the performance stats is running (100%) or inactive(0%).