Windows System Resource Manager

The Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM) is a feature pack for Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and Datacenter Edition that allows administrators to manage processor or memory resources by process or user. By preventing an application from hogging all the resources on a server, WSRM ensures that applications will “play well with others,” allowing multiple applications to be consolidated safely onto a single server.

An application running on Windows Server 2003 can use all the processor and memory that is available at that time. This means that a relatively unimportant application could be taking resources that are better allocated to a critical application.

WSRM policies are applied by time and date to help avoid this scenario. For example, a policy could be applied to a line-of-business application to ensure it has the resources it needs during business hours, but is constrained after hours to yield resources to maintenance applications.

In addition to managing resources for applications, WSRM can also manage Terminal Services and help with resource accounting. Because each Terminal Service session corresponds to a process for a user, WSRM can stop one user from monopolizing resources at the expense of other users. WSRM can also create, store, and export resource-utilization reports for systems management, service-level agreement tracking, or chargeback.