The Performance Monitor counters that display the numbers of anonymous and non-anonymous connections are called Current Anonymous Users and Current Non-anonymous Users. These counters display connections, not users. Users who connect more than once are counted once for each time they connect.
The following table lists the Performance Monitor counters for anonymous and non-anonymous connections. These counters are part of the HTTP Service, FTP Server, and Gopher Service performance objects.
Table 8.1 Performance Monitor Counters for Anonymous and Non-Anonymous Connections
Counter | Indicates |
HTTP Service: Gopher Service: FTP Server: HTTP Service: Gopher Service: FTP Server: | How many anonymous and non-anonymous users are currently connected to the IIS service. |
HTTP Service: Gopher Service: FTP Server: HTTP Service: Gopher Service: FTP Server: | The maximum number of anonymous and non-anonymous users that have been connected simultaneously to the IIS service since the service was last started. |
Table 8.1 Performance Monitor Counters for Anonymous and Non-Anonymous Connections (Continued)
Counter | Indicates |
HTTP Service: Gopher Service: FTP Server: HTTP Service: Gopher Service: FTP Server: | A running total of anonymous and non-anonymous connections to the IIS service since the service was last started. |
The anonymous and non-anonymous user counters display the number of anonymous and non-anonymous connections to the IIS service when the values were last observed. They do not report averages or rates. These counters might exaggerate the number of connections because closed connections might not yet be deleted when the counter is displayed.
The Current Anonymous Users and Current Non-anonymous Users counters operate based on the following definitions:
The anonymous user counters display the number of connections whose requests either did not contain a user name and password or whose user name and password were ignored because authentication is not permitted on the server. If anonymous connections are not permitted on the server, the value of all anonymous user counters is always zero.
The non-anonymous user counters display the number of connections whose requests contained a valid user name and password, or whatever authentication is required by a custom authentication scheme. If authentication is not enabled on the server, and none of the applications that run on the server request or require authentication, then the value of all non-anonymous user counters is always zero.
The anonymous user and non-anonymous user counters count successful connections only. If a client request for an anonymous connection is rejected and the client responds with valid authenticating data, the connection is counted as non-anonymous.